Weekly spotlight on breeding

Breeding authority Peter Wharton presents harness racing news on breeding from Australia, New Zealand and North America brought to you by Yabby Dam Farms & Racing!

Yabby Dam Racing, principal Pat Driscoll’s dream to breed and race world class trotters was born after seeing a billboard on the Champs Elysees in Paris advertising the famous trotting race the Prix d’Amerique. Driscoll attended the Prix d’Amerique and immediately a love affair with the trotter was formed.

Driscoll spent the next five years visiting world class trotting establishments in Europe before embarking on his own venture here in Australia where he has lead the charge in the significant advancement of Southern Hemisphere trotting.

The $500,000 Inter Dominion Pacing Championship Final, the jewel in the crown of the Australasian Grand Circuit, run at Menangle, was won by the Art Major four-year-old Don Hugo, who led for the last 1100 metres and held off the plucky Minstrel and Max Delight.

The entire won on the final three nights of the carnival, scoring over 1730 metres at Bathurst and over 2300 metres in both the last qualifying round and the Final. His winning rate of 1:50.5 on final night was a full second better than the existing track record.

Bred by Queenslander Adam Cahill, Don Hugo was knocked down for $82,500 at the Australian Pacing Gold Sydney yearling sale in 2021. Don Hugo, who holds a mark of 1:49.6, has run up a tidy score of 14 wins and 16 placings from 41 starts for $1,536,174 in stakes

He has a good deal more in his favour on the score of blood than most. By Art Major, and the first Inter Dominion champion sired by the Artsplace horse, Don Hugo is the first produce of Cinco Amigos, an unraced Bettor’s Delight mare.

Cinco Amigos, who was bred on NZ’s north island, was out of a handy racemare in Eyre To The Throne, who took a mark of 1:58.9, won three of her five starts and became the dam of winners in Cyclone Kate 1:50.3 ($341,723), a Breeders Crown champion and five-time Group winner, the Cardigan Bay Stakes winner Cyclone Prince (1:57.1), the Menangle victor Artemis (1:51.3), Senora Rapido (1:53.7) and Cyclone Milly (1:53.9).

Eyre To The Throne was a Presidential Ball mare from Erin Brockovich, by In The Pocket from a fine racemare in Advance Debra, by Vance Hanover. 

Besides Eyre To The Throne, Erin Brockovich, who was only lightly raced, left a capable pacer in Passion Stride (1:53.4), who won 16 races, Julia R (4 wins), the dam of the Listed winner Chattanoogachoochoo (1:54.5) and Chittybangbang (1:53.5) and also Snug Harbor, a Bettor’s Delight mare who became the dam of the NSW Group 3 winner Redbank Addi 1:51.4 ($222,414), the exported Three Of The Best 1:50.2 ($268,759) and the Melton winner Thesunandthemoon (1:57.5).

Erin Brockovich was a sister to the outstanding pacer and five-time Derby winner Courage Under Fire ($1.4 million), later a successful sire in NZ and Australia, and Advance Attack, a top flight NZ juvenile who is now siring winners in WA.

The family traces back through mares by successful sires in Aksarben, Gold Bar and Wrack to the foundation mare Entice (by Bribery), ancestress of the 1951 Inter Dominion champion Vedette.

Inter Dominion Trotting quinella

The $150,000 Inter Dominion Trotting Championship Final was a triumph for Pat Driscoll’s Yabby Dam Farms as the breeder of The Locomotive (1st), Keayang Chucky (2nd) and Royal Dan (4th) – rather a notable breeding feat.

Another of the Driscoll bred finalists in Parisian Artiste, a heat winner, finished 10th.

The Locomotive (Muscle Mass), who completed a clean sweep of the series, gave Driscoll his third Inter Dominion winner in consecutive years with Just Believe scoring in Melbourne in 2022 and Brisbane last year.

A $60,000 purchase at the inaugural Nutrien Equine Melbourne Yearling Sale in 2021, The Locomotive is a four-year-old entire by the Muscles Yankee horse Muscle Mass from La Coocaracha 1:58.5 ($428,911), a six-time Group 1 winner and dual Inter Dominion heat victor. 

La Coocaracha, a winner of 23 races, left 10 individual winners including the thrice Group 1 winner Dance Craze 1:55.6 ($551,780), the dual Group winner La Grange 1:54.2 ($172,236), the Breeders Crown and Vicbred champion Reina Danzante (1:57.1) and Mataderos ($200,054).

By Safely Kept, La Coocaracha belonged to a predominantly pacing family, being out of Poetry (dam of 9 winners), by Kentucky (a leading son of Tar Heel) from Morley Doll, by Royal Dollar, a dual Derby winner from the SA Oaks winner Sheffield Morley, by Sheffield Globe, a grandson of Globe Derby and a dual Hunter Cup champion.

Golden Nugget winner

Western Australia’s premier race for four-year-olds, the $200,000 Golden Nugget, run at Gloucester Park, was won by the Always B Miki gelding Mister Smartee, who downed a strong field including last season’s star three-year-old Never Ending, who finished fifth.

Mister Smartee sat parked from the outset but raced to the front rounding the home turn and finally won decisively. It was his 10th success from his last 11 starts and raised his lifetime bankroll to $555,051.

He is a four-year-old gelding by Always B Miki, an Always A Virgin horse who is a leading sire of pacers, from Luna Danza, by Stonebridge Regal from the top racemare Lento (1:56.4), by People’s Blue Chip from Orbell, by Patron Score from Light Chase, by the NZ Derby winner Good Chase and tracing to a noted foundation mare in Maud (by Berlin).

Mister Smartee is the first produce to win of Luna Danza, whose family includes such horses as Whanau (Nevele R Fillies Series), Vintage Cheddar (1:50), Strauss, Vivaldi (1:53.8), Our Toto and Future Assets. 

Mister Smartee was bred by the Famularo family’s Dancingonmoonlight Farm near Christchurch.

NSW Christmas Gift winner 

The Bettor’s Delight gelding Im The Falcon, the winner of the Christmas Gift Final at Menangle and who is undefeated in two starts on Australian soil, is a member of one of NZ’s top ranking standardbred families.

Im The Falcon, who has now won 10 races including two at Listed level, is a six-year-old by the Cam’s Card Shark horse Bettor’s Delight out of the smart racemare Tandia’s Bromac 1:53.7 ($180,434), by Art Major from Tandia’s Courage 1:53.6 ($305,236), a NSW bred mare by Stoneridge Scooter from the What’s Next mare Talk To Me, dam of the dual Oaks winner and Australian 3YO Filly of the Year Mother Courage 1:56.9 ($462,520).

Besides Tandia’s Bromac, Tandia’s Courage, a Vicbred champion at 2, left the NZ Sales Graduette winner Te Amo Bromac (1:55.8), and Tatijana Bromac (1:54.2), dam of the crack racemare Aardie’s Express 1:48.9 ($463,634), the Queensland Oaks winner Aardie B Miki 1:50.5 ($228,317) and Aardie’s Flash (1:51.7).

Another daughter of Tandia’s Courage in Tania Tandia’s (by Falcon Seelster) became the dam of six individual winners including the Group 3 winner Tommy Lincoln 1:52.7 ($220,691) and the exported Lincoln’s Girl (1:51.8).

Im The Falcon was bred by Southlanders Todd and Fleur Anderson.

Well related three-year-old

The Art Major gelding Sir Jimmy is proving himself a three-year-old of some worth in Victoria and over the past fortnight has comfortably defeated older rivals at Melton.

He has won five of his 13 lifetime starts and will be well in line for the major four-year-old classics next season.

Sir Jimmy is a gelding by the Artsplace horse Art Major from the American-bred mare Carolsideal 1:50.6 ($545,401), the dam also of Carolsdiamond (1:59.2).

Carolsideal, who was imported by Ballarat breeders Bruce and Vicki Edward, who own Sir Jimmy, was an Western Ideal mare from Camcarol (1:51.6), by Cam’s Card Shark from Belle Carol, by Slapstick, a Stakes-winning son of Meadow Skipper.

Miki Pins in top form

Miki Pins, a winner in 1:49.7 and recently the winner of the Brian Hancock Championship at Menangle, is one of the best four-year-olds in NSW at present. He has won seven of his 17 lifetime starts including four this season.

By the Always A Virgin horse Always B Miki (who sired a double at Menangle on Inter Dominion Final night), Miki Pins is out of Pretty Pins, by American Ideal from the imported mare Andress Blue Chip, by Artsplace.

Pretty Pins, who was unraced, was a half-sister to the outstanding racemare and dual Oaks winner Carabella 1:55.2 ($693,615) and to My Prima Bella, dam of the dual QBred Triad victor First String 1:51.5 ($215,354) and Racing Time (1:52.4), a winner at Albion Park on the same night as Miki Pins won.

Miki Pins ranks as a half-brother to the Melton winner Captain Pins (1:55.1) and this season’s three-year-old winner Sweet Pins.

Eleventh winner from broodmare

When the Bettor’s Delight two-year-old Fight To The End won at the Albion Park midweek meeting, he credited his dam Faith Prevails with her eleventh individual winner.

Fight To The End, who was bred and is raced by Kevin Seymour, had been placed at his previous start. Others from Faith Prevails to win have been the Group winners Fame Assured (1:50.8) and Frankie Rocks (1:52.2), the Group 1 placegetter Feel The Faith (1:53.1), Fast Tracker (1:54.9), Fearless Faith (1:55.5), Fraya, Ipanema Beach, Jet’s Girl, French Charm, Favourite Miss and now Fight To The End.

Faith Prevails, who is now in her 23rd year, has since produced a yearling filly by Bettor’s Delight and a filly foal by Colt Thirty One.

Faith Prevails was a Fake Left mare from Girl From Ipanema, by Vanston Hanover from the Oaks winner Goldrush Girl. This has been one of the most successful branches of the Browngate Girl family, whose descendants include Good Lookin Girl, Tay Tay, Leo’s Best, Fond Memories and Famous Forever (sire).

by Peter Wharton, for Harnesslink