Grand trotting broodmare Sundonna dies aged 25

Harness racing lost one of its all-time great broodmares on Monday following the death of Sundonna.

Aldebaran Park principal Duncan McPherson OAM announced in a release that the dual Victorian Trotting Broodmare of the Year died peacefully at the age of 25.

“It is with deep sadness that I have to report that champion broodmare Sundonna passed away peacefully and quietly at Aldebaran Park,” McPherson said. “There is no doubt that her influence will be felt for generations to come.”

She will be buried alongside the trotting stallion Aldebaran Eagle USA in the front paddock at Aldebaran Park under the gum trees.

Sundonna, who never raced, produced 12 foals, six of which won including Maori Time and Maori Law, who both won Group 1 races.

Maori Time won five Group 1’s, including the Bill Collins Trotters Sprint on three occasions, the Maori Mile (Bendigo) and the NSW Trotters Cup at Menangle in 2018 in which she established an Australasian mile record for trotters of 1:51.5, a record that still stands.

Maori Law won five races at Group level, including the Group 1 Inter Dominion Trotting Grand Final at Menangle in 2021 and the Group 1 Australasian Trotters Championship at Bendigo.

Others from Sundonna to win have been Happy Maori, Lady Bellanique, Aldebaran Stiles and Hammers Pegasus.

Sundonna only produced six fillies and three have gone on to become successful producers in their own right with her second foal, Mangonique, the dam of the Menangle winner Meadow Valley Road and the grand-dam of the dual Vicbred finalist Scootin Around, Lady Bellanique, the dam of the South Australian cups winner Heezaladiesman, and Happy Maori, who has left three winners.

Maori Time, who contested the 2018 Elitlopp, has produced three colts in Sweden, two by the Prix d’Amerique winner Readly Express and one by the USA 2YO Trotting Colt of the Year Fourth Dimension.

Her first foal, the three-year-old Generally Speaking is in work with Jonas Czernyson in Florida and her rising two-year-old, Horizon, is based at Menhammar Stud in Sweden.

Sundonna was bred from originally by Ray and Sharon Ladd and later by retired Melbourne businessman Fred Crews, who bred and raced Maori Time and Maori Law, and then Duncan McPherson.

A daughter of the great Sundon, Sundonna was out of Maori Acacia (dam of nine winners), by Smooth Fella from Maori Trump (dam of 11 winners), by Overtrick from the dual-gaited mare Maori Miss, whose eight winners included the mighty Maori’s Idol, rated the greatest trotter ever produced in this country.

Maori Miss won the coveted Winona Award for Australian Broodmare of the Year in 1977, 1978 and 1979, while Maori Trump won the title in 1996.

The seven-horse field for the $75,000 Australian Trotting Grand Prix were all sired by frozen semen stallions. The winner Just Believe is by Orlando Vici, Arcee Phoenix (2^nd) and Callmethebreeze (4^th) are both by Trixton, Quaker Jet (3^rd) is by Quaker Jet, Keayang Ignite (5^th) by Angus Hall, Keayang Chucky (6^th) by Love You and Aldebaran Dino (7^th) by Andover Hall

Victorian-bred horses won seven of the 10 races at the Hobart twilight meeting on Sunday. They were Botany Bay Warrior (John and Christine Yeomans), Letsgobro (Greg Fleming), Lets Go Lucylou (Marc Panton), Fleetwood Rock (Helen Head), Ultimate Vinnie (Mick Carbone), Dream Maze (Allan McDonough) and Modern Jive (Kevin Clark)

Rockford Peach, the winner of the Lyn McPherson Memorial Breed For Speed Bronze Series at Melton, was co-bred and is owned, trained and driven by Lisa Miles. Lisa bred the Great Success mare with racecaller David Raphael, Tony Eley and the late Terry Wait

by Peter Wharton, for Harness Racing Victoria