Columbus, OH — St Elmo Hero, who ran his winning streak to 23 during the month of January, has been named the Horse of the Month (for the second straight month) by the U.S. Trotting Association.

St Elmo Hero won four times in January at Meadowlands Racetrack, capped off by a Jan. 29 score in the $65,000 Complex Series final for pacers ages 5 and under, with Tim Tetrick picking up his 6,000th career win in the process. St Elmo Hero won by 1-1/4 lengths over Windsong Gorgeous in a stakes-record 1:49.1 in the snow.

St Elmo Hero also posted victories in both preliminary legs of the series, scoring in 1:50.3 in the first leg on Jan. 15 and in 1:50.1 in the second leg on Jan. 22. His first start of the month came in an overnight event on Jan. 8 at the Meadowlands and resulted in a 1:50.4 score.

St Elmo Hero is owned by John Barnard of Orland Park, Ill., and is trained by Charles Eustis III. The January triumphs brought his lifetime earnings to $197,500. Barnard says when he bought St Elmo Hero for $6,000, he had modest goals. “I was hoping I made a good claim,” he told the media after the win in the Complex final. “It’s obviously turned out really well, but we were just hoping to get a good conditioned horse and he’s exceeded every dream we ever had for the horse. From the beginning, there were a lot of people who thought he’d win a bunch in a row. There were guesses of 11, 12, 15 in a row that they thought he could win because of the competition he was going to be up against. I don’t think anyone bet on 23.”

Paul Ramlow, USTA Internet News Manager