Breeders toast first Group 1 success

A harness racing breeding partnership formed seven years ago by Grenville husband-and-wife team Chris and Haley Lang achieved its first Group 1 win when the three-year-old Hes A Hammer gunned down his rivals in the $50,000 Aldebaran Park Vicbred Platinum Home Grown Classic Final at Melton on Saturday night.

The couple bred the colt by Andover Hall out of the former 2YO and 3YO Filly Trotter of the Year Shes An Image and sold him at the 2020 Australasian Premier Trotting Sale for $55,000 to owner Domenic Martello.

The David Aiken-trained colt has now earned $39,870 from three wins and two placings in only nine starts.

The Langs are currently breeding from seven trotting broodmares. They have entered three colts in the Nutrien Equine Melbourne sale on April 3, including a Father Patrick half-brother to Hes A Hammer (Lot 237).

Another APTS sale graduate in Kyvalley Clichy won in restricted company on the same night as Hes A Hammer’s success.

Other APTS sale graduates to score this week were Dream Inception (Menangle), Make Mine Muscle (Globe Derby Park) and Dont Care and Miss Tipsy (Shepparton).