Love You progeny land NZ plums

The convincing wins of Highgrove in the $100,000 Northern Trotting Derby and Masterly in the $64,400 NZ Sires Stakes Championship has strengthened their sire Love You’s grip on this season’s NZ harness racing three-year-old trotting sires’ premiership.

Love You’s three-year-olds have banked $303,960, almost $250,000 ahead of his nearest rival. He is in third position on the all-aged list.

Highgrove, last year’s NZ 2YO Trotting Colt/Gelding of the Year, has earned $126,958 from four wins and two placings in eight starts this season and is clearly the best of his age, gait and sex.

Masterly has won four of his six lifetime starts.

Ultimate Stride, another NZ bred son of Love You, is racing in great form in Victoria. The entire has won twice in open company at Melton recently and will be a force to be reckoned with in the Melbourne Inter Dominions later in the year.

Tough Love, a three-year-old filly by Love You, won her fourth heat of the NSW Foundation Series at Menangle and has won 10 of her 17 starts to date including the NSW Oaks.

Other recent Love You winners have been the three-year-olds Florencita and Lindy’s Love (both at Menangle) and Tony Mac (Winton, NZ) and the four-year-olds Love N The Port (Addington, NZ) and Nubliah Chamay (Winton, NZ).

Used To Me, the four-time Group winner, continues to churn out the winners from a comparatively small number of foals.

The French stallion sired two ‘new’ three-year-old winners in Queen Of Quebec (Bendigo) and La Perriere (Ballarat) along with the talented three-year-old filly Used To Be A Maid, who completed a winning hat trick at Ballarat.

Of Used To Me’s current three-year-old crop of 17, eight have raced and four have been successful. Overall, he has sired 18 winners from 28 starters at an average of $21,400 per starter.

To complete a great week, Quaker Jet’s first crop daughter Imamaorijet notched her fifth success in a heat of the Sweetheart Trot at Maryborough.

Love You, Used To Me and Quaker Jet are all member of the powerful siring lineup at Haras Des Trotteurs, Ballarat (VIC.).

by Peter Wharton, for Harnesslink