Mighty Mel putting his stamp on his yearlings

Mel Mara, the sizzling fast son of Lis Mara and the Matts Scooter mare M L Revrac , now has his first crop of yearlings heading to harness racing yearling sales in Australia.

There were two offered at the recent Tasmanian Yearling Sales by northern Tasmanian breeder Shane Hawes. Both were colts and the lad from the Jennas Beach Boy mare Karalta Crown was the second-highest priced colt to sell at the Sale with a knock down price of $23,000.

The other colt from the Rocknroll Hanover mare Stormborn was passed in at $17,000.

“I’m not a big breeder in terms of numbers but have been breeding for many years . These two Mel Mara colts are two of the nicest horses I’ve ever bred or reared.   They were both good size, strong types, had beautiful temperaments and wanted to work with you,“ said Shane.

Next Sunday at the Melbourne edition of the Nutrien Yearling Sales, Llowalong Farms will offer another beautiful Mel Mara colt from the Fake Left mare Holdthatdream.

He will walk into the Auction ring as LOT 171 and similar comments apply to this colt –   tall, strongly built, lovely temperament and terrific work ethic.

It is not surprising that Mel Mara is stamping his progeny in this way. Aside from his blistering turn of foot on the racetrack he is a big strong stallion himself with a kind and laid back attitude to life.

His former trainer in North America, Tony Alagna , said he loved to walk into his Barn every morning to greet Mel Mara as he was such a good fun horse.

LOT 171 is the third live colt from Holdthatdream with the first two earning over $188,000 between them to date.

Being out of a Fake Left mare is a huge asset and having a 3 X 4 cross to the incomparable Cam Fella in his pedigree is a proven formula for success.   There were 12 individual Group One winners in Australia last season carrying a double dose of the Cam Fella blood.

So back to Mel Mara the racehorse. He displayed extreme speed very early in his career, blasting a 25 second final quarter in just his third career start as a two-year-old to set up the first of his 26 career victories.   He took a record of 1.47 flat and on six occasions flashed final quarters in sub 26 seconds.

So where does this extreme speed come from in the Mel Mara repertoire.   Without being definitive the clues could be in his female line. His Dam is by Matts Scooter, the former World Record holder and a horse ahead of his time in respect to his exhilarating speed.

Then his grand-dam is by Nihilator, the first three-year-old in history to pace in sub 1.50 whilst his third Dam is a full-sister to one of the fastest horses in the history of the standardbred   – the enigmatic No Nukes.

So on this coming weekend make sure you visit the Llowalong yearlings at the Inglis Complex ….. head to Barn D.

D is for Dream and LOT 171 might just make your Dream come true.

By John Coffey