Mack Lobell captivated audiences with his appearance. And the charisma is still there. He is living out his days at at Menhammar Stud in Sweden, where he has the appearance of a black ghost, a phantom. He was the best of his time and now, at an age few Standardbreds reach, he still has the appeal of greatness.

Mack Lobell was born April 28, 1984, at Lana Lobell Farm in New Jersey. He is a son of Mystic Park - Matina Hanover, by Speedy Count. At 3, Mack Lobell set a world record of 1:52.1 under the tutelage of trainer Chuck Sylvester.

The world-record race was the Review Stakes at Springfield, Ill., and it took place on a windy day. It was not a day for a world record, but Mack Lobell didn’t care. Driver John Campbell said that the wind was so strong that it felt like facing a wall coming into the stretch. He was sure that under perfect conditions, Mack Lobell would have trotted in 1:51.

Mack Lobell was owned by Lou Guida, who sold 75 percent of the horse in 1988 to a group headed by John-Erik Magnusson. Mack Lobell won 71 out of 94 career races, the most important ones being the Hambletonian, Breeders Crown, Yonkers Trot, Nat Ray, Beacon Course, Statue of Liberty, Campionato Europeo and the Elitlopp twice, in 1988 and 1990. He amassed more than $3 million in purse earnings on two continents and is undoubtedly one of the all-time greats. He set a total of eight world records.

Mack Lobell sired 444 sons and daughters in Sweden, the best being Mack Action Ås, a mare who earned the equivalent of $500,000. He was not a bad sire, but didn’t live up to the high expectations. As a broodmare sire, he is one of the best, earning Swedish champion in 2007 and 2012. He is the sire of the dam of Commander Crowe, winner of more than $4 million, including the 2014 Breeders Crown Open Trot.

The “Black Phantom” hasn’t been active in the breeding ranks since 2006. Going on 32, he seems content just the same. His caretaker at Menhammar, Anna-Karin Lindgren, is one of his greatest fans, even though she never watched him race.

When Lindgren lets him go, Mack Lobell trots away in his paddock, up to his own little house that owner Margareta Wallenius-Kleberg at Menhammar had built for him. He sighs in contentment, then strolls over to a corner, gazing for something. He is probably looking for mares.

“He is a horse with a lot of energy for his age, and he is lively, intelligent and happy,” said Lindgren.

Mack Lobell has mellowed with time. He could be a tough customer in his racing days. Eva Pettersson knows, as she took care of Mack Lobell a couple of years after he was sold to Sweden in 1988 for a whopping $5 million – for a 75-percent share!

“Mack Lobell was quite a handful on racing days, you had to look out,” she said. “Apart from that, he was a really nice horse.

“When we were racing in Hamburg, Germany, he bit a sponsor. John-Erik Magnusson (who trained Mack Lobell in Sweden) and I told the man to keep away from the horse. When I turned my back, the man went up to ‘Mack’ anyway. Luckily the guy had a thick leather jacket on, otherwise he would have bled.”

Mack Lobell loved to roll in the mud, according to Pettersson.

“Once in Cesena, Italy, I let him out in a paddock, because I thought he needed some time outside,” she said. “He rolled in the mud and the black horse suddenly turned gray. John-Erik wasn’t happy, but I managed to rub him back to black in time for the race.”

Mack Lobell also liked chocolate bonbons and he drank from bottles.

“We were racing in Germany on another occasion, and we were skeptical about the local water,” Pettersson said. “We bought bottled water and poured it in his bucket. Mack took one of the bottles in his mouth, turned it upside down and drank! He was a really smart horse.”

Mack Lobell was hard to catch in the paddock. Patience was the key word.

“You had to wait for him to come to you,” said Pettersson. “Most things had to be on his terms. If you let him have his way, to a certain extent, he was happy.

Pettersson often let Mack Lobell take to the gallop when training, but Magnusson didn’t know.

“Mack preferred to gallop, so I let him,” she said. “He was probably one of the first trotters to train at a gallop. But when John-Erik watched, I made Mack trot.”

Pettersson’s voice cracked as she talked about the horse that made such an impression on her life and career.

“I still think about him,” she said. “He was special to me. The great ones seem to be one-man-horses and we got along really well.”

Lindgren, on the other hand, never saw Mack Lobell race, but she said she is blessed to get the chance to care for such a legendary performer.

“Mack Lobell is the horse that got me interested in trotters,” she said. “I had his poster on my bedroom wall. It is awesome that I get to care for my childhood idol in his old age.”