Record-breaking mare set to return home

Globe-trotting mare Maori Time (Pegasus Spur) is coming home.

Aldebaran Park principal Duncan McPherson confirmed he is bringing the multiple Group 1 harness racing winner back to Victoria from Europe, with the horse expected to arrive on our shores in late June.

Maori Time holds the Australasian mile rate record for trotters at 1:51.5 and has spent life in Sweden since retiring from racing shortly after her appearance in the 2018 Elitloppet at Solvalla.

McPherson was beaming after Maori Time’s first foal, a colt named Generally Speaking, won in the United States on Monday.

“When Maori Time stayed in Sweden, she had three foals. The first was by Readly Express which we sold to American interests and retained some shares in with Aldebaran Park Inc. in Sweden.

“That colt had his first three-year-old start and won at Oak Grove in Kentucky, which was exciting.

“The second foal is another Readly Express colt that we’ve retained to race in Sweden and the third foal is the one at foot that’s coming down to Australia by Fouth Dimension.

“Her fourth one (by Calgary Games) is on the way.”

Maori Time will be jointly owned in Australia by Aldebaran Park along with Fred and Elizabeth Crews, who raced the mighty mare during her glittering career on the track.

“The fact that the first foal is now a winner in 1.57 in Kentucky is so bloody exciting from an Australian point of view I would have thought,” McPherson said.

Maori Time was trained by Chris Lang through the first part of her career and then moved into the care of Brent Lilley where she finished with an overall record of 24 wins from 66 starts before heading to Sweden.

by Tim O’Connor, for HRV