More success for dual-gaited ‘Alice’

Colourful country South Australian couple Terry and Peta Brown are never afraid to try the unconventional in their harness racing pursuits – but they took it to the next level with dual-gaited Major Bronski mare Hoppers Dream.

Based at Kapunda, 80 kilometres northeast of Adelaide, the couple has more than 200 wins in the book, but Terry nominates winning both trotting and pacing races with Hoppers Dream (AKA ‘Alice’) as their greatest achievement in the sport.

“I’ve been involved for a lot of years now, but this has really meant something to us —along with our two owners who also race the mare,” Brown said.

“Not a lot of horses go from being a trotter to a pacer. It’s definitely a lot more common converting them the other way around.”

Hoppers Dream was bred by renowned Victorian vet Dr Alastair MacLean, but is now raced by the Browns with long-time friends and stable clients Andrew Dunn and his father Bruce.

“We got Hoppers Dream off some people at Port Pirie and we only paid $1000 for her.  She’d had her share of problems, probably the most serious a hairline fracture in a back pastern,” Brown said.

“I really liked her breeding.  The dam Yes Please Louise only won one race from 22 starts, but she threw Miss Condoleezza which won about 10 or 11 races. There were also other winners in Paint Me A Dream and Miss Quatro,” he said.

Although Hoppers Dream first qualified as a three-year-old pacer, she made her race debut for the Browns at Kapunda in March 2020 as a trotter, running sixth after being checked and breaking in the run.

She saluted at Globe Derby Park five starts later, driven by Terry Brown, in a mile rate of 2.07 from the stand. She had another 12 starts as a square-gaiter for a second placing, three thirds and two fourths.

HOPPERS DREAM REPLAY

“We gave her a break, then had her ready to go back to the races at one stage and she had a bit of filling in a tendon, so it was off to the paddock again,” Brown said.

“She went out in mid-October of 2020 and ended up being off the scene for nine months. When we got her back in, our son Nick kept telling us that the horse wouldn’t trot and she didn’t seem to want to,” he said.

“So we got her checked out and found that she was tight in the hamstrings. It was then that we decided to switch her back to pacing—and out came the hopples.”

Pacing bred, and with her early preparations as a pacer, Brown said the change of gait “wasn’t anything new” for the mare.

“At her first racestart (after changing her over), we just told Nick to get her around safely and they finished fourth at Port Pirie with her own mile rate being 2.01,” he said.

“She improved with more confidence and ran a few placings in Adelaide and then we sent her to Broken Hill to a friend Tony Camilleri.

“There were some feature races coming up and the idea was to help her to find her feet a bit better as a pacer up there. She’s still got a bit of action, but won two races at the ‘hill and ran three places from five starts.”

Hoppers Dream was then transferred to former SA trainer Aaron Brown (no relation), now based at Merbein South, near Mildura. The mare deserved to break through for a local win last week after running three consecutive placings.

To watch Hoppers Dream’s pacing win on May 24, click here.

“The other owners Andrew and Bruce are over the moon. I reckon Andrew has had horses with us for over 25 years, while Bruce has had a few including Lombo Redback. He also owned Sarum Prince which was a very nice horse that won 11 races in Victoria when trained by Geoff Dodd,” Brown said.

“Hoppers Dream is a lovely natured horse. She is just beautiful to have around. We think she can keep on improving because she’s only had 36 starts all up,” he said.

“It’s been some journey for her. She’s had three different trainers, eight drivers, went from trotting to pacing and has wins at Globe Derby (trotting) and got the money at Broken Hill (twice) and Mildura as a pacer. And 50 percent of the time she’s finished top three!”

Brown said it was a memorable week as apart from Hoppers Dream being successful, another of their horses in Algorithm (Great Success) also won for Victorian trainer Jason Ainsworth giving them two VicBred bonuses.

by Terry Gange, for Harnesslink