Weekly spotlight on breeding

Harnesslink presents harness racing news on breeding from Australia, New Zealand and North America brought to you by Yabby Dam Farms & Racing!

Yabby Dam Racing, principal Pat Driscoll’s dream to breed and race world class trotters was born after seeing a billboard on the Champs Elysees in Paris advertising the famous trotting race the Prix d’Amerique. Driscoll attended the Prix d’Amerique and immediately a love affair with the trotter was formed.

Driscoll spent the next five years visiting world class trotting establishments in Europe before embarking on his own venture here in Australia where he has lead the charge in the significant advancement of Southern Hemisphere trotting.

Along the way Driscoll formed friendships with many of Europe’s leading owners and breeder.

Longshot with long lineage scores on debut

NSW horseman Grant Forrest is part of a rare breed in the blue state in the fact he only prepares trotters.

The 37-year-old from Mount Fairy had a career highlight last year when running 4^th in the Interdominion Trotting Grand Final at Albion Park with his 12-win Sam Bourbon mare, Thebestbourbon.

The half-sister to Group One-winning filly, Used To Be A Maid (Used To Me), will contest the $100,000 G1 Slingsby Holdings McArthur Mile for trotting mares on Saturday night at Menangle against a stellar ensemble of female square gaiters.

Forrest will head to headquarters full of confidence having delivered one of the biggest upsets of the young racing season with the debut performance of his two-year-old filly, Jackies Gift (Majestic Son) on Tuesday afternoon (April 30).

In the first heat of the Ultra Air 2YO Trotters Foundation Series, Forrest’s filly was sent out at the lucrative odds of $101 and the rank outsider of the field. Having galloped in the score up and caused a false start in the first attempt for a dispatch, the bookies quote looked to be justified!

Jackies Gift was sent on a searching run soon after the second attempt to find the lead and it was there she remained throughout to score impressively by a margin of 27.3m in a 2:03.5 mile rate.

JACKIES GIFT REPLAY

While the margin and win dividend may have come as a surprise to many, the bloodlines would indicate that should not have been the case. The daughter of Majestic Son is out of the imported New Zealand mare, Chevron’s Sweetheart (Love You) who has already produced a Group One winning two-year-old in Dreambigaimhigh (What The Hill).

The Love You mare descends from a wonderful trotting family of the imported American mare, Catherine The Great (Royal Prestige). This is the tail lines of last season’s 2YO Breeders Crown Final winner, Val Thorens (Volstead) and multiple group race winners such as Last Sunset (Sundon), Real Deal Yankee (Muscles Yankee), Galleons Sunset (Sundon) and Chevrons Express (Muscle Mass).

Furthermore, Jackies Gift’s half-sister Chevron Muscle (Muscle Hill) produced a winner of her own on Monday at Terang with the Matthew Craven trained three-year-old gelding, Hoppy (Andover Hall) taking his record to two wins and two placings from four Australian starts.

Amore bloodlines continue to feature

Amore Infida (Captaintreacherous), the half-sister to four time Group One winning race mare Amore Vita (Art Major) continues to make a big impression on the NSW scene for her trainer Kevin Pizzuto, winning at Menangle on Tuesday night to make it two from two on Aussie soil.

AMORE INFIDA REPLAY

While she has a long way to go to reach the dizzying heights of her ill-fated sister, the sizzling mile rate of 1:51.9 having led from go to woah suggests her new North American connections might be in for a bit of fun with the former Mark Purdon trained four-year-old mare.

The victory took her career tally to 3 wins and four placings from just 13 starts for the lightly tried mare.

Amore Infida wasn’t the only imported New Zealand mare making a big impression on the night with the former Bob Butt-trained Pandaia (Downbytheseaside) scoring easily in her Australasian debut for Ricky Alchin.

PANDAIA REPLAY

She has prolific bloodlines of her own being out of the Artsplace mare, Pearl White whose grand dam is the Goshen Hall Of Fame enshrined immortal Matt’s Scooter mare, Grand Lady. She was the dam of 16 foals for 14 winners of $5.6 million in stakes including the dual millionaire, Glowing Report.

Glowing Report paced 1:49.2 and was the winner of 10 major stakes races including the Jugette at Delaware as a three-year-old. She went on to produce the New Zealand-based stallion, Net Ten Eom (Somebeachsomewhere). Her full sister Must See was the 2009 USA Broodmare of the Year having produced Well Said (Western Hanover), the sire of 126 individual winners in Australia alone with over $6 million in progeny earnings.

This sort of lineage makes the daughter of Downbytheseaside a valuable commodity at stud and with the likes of Artsplace, Western Hanover and Matt’s Scooter all bearing influence on the bottom line of her pedigree, you would be hard-pressed to find a better bred mare in Australasia!

Dominance of a different kind

Swedish Group One-winning stallion Volstead (Cantab Hall) made an enormous impression last term in Australia with his debut crop of juveniles trotting up a storm.

From a crop of just 50, the son of Cantab Hall put up 11 juvenile winners from just 19 starters including the three Group One winners, Val Thorens, Nordic Reign and 2YO Filly of the Year Violet Stanford.

This was enough to see him storm away and win the 2YO Trotting Stallion Premiership by money won, winners, and average earnings.

He’s picked up where he left off to be comfortably in front on both the two and three-year-old money lists for 2024, complemented by an exceptional April which saw his progeny winning three of the four Nutrien Finals with two seconds and two-thirds in the features to boot.

Yesterday his three-year-old son Remus Phoenix was monstrous at Ballarat for trainer/driver, Chris Svanosio, storming from last to first to beat his older and more experienced opposition to remain unbeaten in just two race day starts. Remus Phoenix is out of the Angus Hall mare One Yankee Hall who is also the dam of the G1 placed four win trotter Hephaestus Phoenix (Love You) who was third in last weeks Group Three Bendigo Trotters Cup.

This Saturday night, 20% of his daughters from his three-year-old crop will greet the starter in the G1 $75,000 NSW Oaks, with six Volstead fillies tackling the time-honoured race!

Having bred only two crops totalling 96 live foals whilst standing at Haras Des Trotteurs in Victoria, 37 (38%) of them have already started even though 45 of them are not even halfway into their two-year-old calendar.

For a bit of history, the word Volstead is infamously attached to the North American Prohibition Act of the 1920s, prohibiting the manufacture and sale of alcoholic beverages thanks in part to Andrew J Volstead, the man who had championed the bill and prohibition.

by Brad Reid, for Harnesslink