The own name does not reveal much about the qualities of a horse.

Rather, it expresses the hopes and expectations of its breeder.

In the meticulously kept statistics of the German trotting umbrella organization, nothing can be found about the horses “Der Crack” and “Der Bomber”, for example.

Although their owners must have had high ambitions, the pair never put a foot on the track - they had no talent.

Others, such as "Very Sweetheart" wore rather cute names, but were fast as hell and feared by the opposing stable teams.

But sometimes the name fits.

Like the stallion Days of Thunder, who won the 127th German Traber Derby in Berlin on Sunday, which was worth 352,000 euros.

Because what the four-year-old horse delivered in front of an enthusiastic audience actually resembled a sporting thunderclap.

Hard to tame

That the stallion is something special was already proven at the beginning of his racing career.

The first four starts were successful.

In addition, the trotter lived up to his name, because in the decisive minutes immediately before a race he always behaved so spiritedly that his driver Thorsten Tietz could hardly contain him.

In the run-up to the derby, all experts believed he was capable of doing well.

The 44-year-old professional, who lives in the immediate vicinity of the Mariendorfer Bahn, is considered a tactical genius and ranks second in the nationwide top ten.

But there was an almost iron law: Berlin trotting racers simply cannot win the derby!

The last victory of a local hero from Mariendorf was 34 years ago.

In 1988, the sixteen-time Berlin Champion Gottlieb Jauß, who died eleven years later in a car accident, won the Derby with the stallion Tornado Hanover.

Victory against the trauma

Tietz knows almost every centimeter on the track.

But his personal experience of the derby has not been positive.

Because he too had encounters with the trauma from which the Berlin participants had been suffering for ages and which is often referred to as the derby curse.

In 2015 his ultra-favorite Cash Hanover suddenly galloped and in 2012 his stallion Chapeau stormed the finish line first, but was subsequently disqualified.

But on Sunday the knot burst.

Even as Tietz was warming up his stallion for the decisive performance, Days of Thunder radiated a fascinating energy that the stallion implemented shortly afterwards in the race.

After half a lap, Tietz ordered his protégé to the top – and that was it.

The big opponent Robin Bakker moved up with the favorite Usain Lobell on the outside lane.

But he never came significantly close to Days of Thunder, who stormed across the finish line a length ahead of his competitor.

And that in a new race record time - never before had a trotter been as fast as the stallion in a derby.

Tietz cannot say whether his horse was named after the film “Days of Thunder”, in which Tom Cruise plays a racing driver.

But he is sure of one thing: "Days of Thunder is a hero on four legs, a wonderful horse!"