Star trotting mare retired after brilliant racing career

The mighty little mare Pink Galahs (Skyvalley) has run her last race, with time called on a glittering harness racing career that captured five Group 1s and more than $300,000 in prizemoney.

Trainer-driver Matthew Craven confirmed this week that the daughter of Skyvalley had been retired following a third placing in the Hamilton Trotters Cup in mid-January.

“She’s been a great horse to me, (owners) Caleb, Laura (Lewis) and Bryan (Healy), but there was probably just a few too many niggles adding up that she was really battling with,” Craven told RadioTAB.

“At the start of the prep we thought she’d come up quite well, but things didn’t work out I guess and the call was made to retire her.

“It was a pretty sad day and week when you make that decision, and you know how good she is and how willing she is.

“I didn’t want to continue to race her when she wasn’t going to be at her best. She was competitive, but she just probably was missing that knockout punch that she always had.”

Pink Galahs claimed Group 1 wins in the Bill Collins Trotters Sprint, Victoria Trotters Oaks and Victoria Trotters Derby during a glorious 2020 campaign, with further elite level triumphs in the Darrell Alexander Trotting Championship Final in Queensland during July of 2021 and the Bill Collins a few months later.

In all, she won 18 races for $333,549 in prizemoney.

The Healy family bred Maori Miss, the mare who instigated arguably Australia’s most famous trotting breeding line which includes the famed Maori’s Idol but also Maori Mia, the great-great granddam of Pink Galahs.

“A mare with that terrific speed, you hope one day you get a foal in the barn out of her…,” Craven said.

“She did a fantastic job for everyone, gave us so many thrills and didn’t owe us anything.

“She’ll retire sound and happy, and you just hope that she can pass that on to the next generation.”

by Tim O’Connor, for Harness Racing Victoria