Some trotters still have pacing backgrounds

One of the huge differences between trotting in the Southern Hemisphere compared to the Northern Hemisphere is the number of elite level trotters down under that still have a lot of pacing blood in their pedigree.

With breeders in the south unable to access top line trotting bred sires until recently, a lot of the pacing sires that were available were bred over trotting line mares at the time with the result that they are still quite prominent in a lot of trotting pedigrees down under.

The most famous of those trotters of course would be the brilliant Lyell Creek 1:52.4 ($2,130,319) who did a great job in North America late in his career but there are numerous examples of other pacing bred mares who are having an influence on trotting down under.

One mare whose influence continues is Meriden.

The daughter of the Race Time stallion Farm Timer only won a couple of races on the track as a pacer but at stud produced two elite level trotters, one to a pacing sire and one to a trotting sire.

Merinai (19 wins) was a daughter of Tuff Choice, a son of Windshield Wiper who was a major disappointment at stud in New Zealand in the early 1990's.

Her half brother Rosscoe (17 wins) was a son of the champion trotting sire Sundon so we are none the wiser there as to why they both trotted.

Some times daughters of pacing bred mares such as Meriden do not breed on but that is far from the case with Merinai who has established a very strong trotting progeny record at stud.

Top of the pile todate is Sunny Elegant 1:57.2 ($102,330) who was an age group star in Australia but she is just in front of Miss Pegasus ($86,391) and Wingsonhai ($62,626).

The first daughter of Merinai to go to stud in Sun Mist has done a great job producing Pretty Sunday ($166,629), Sonofanearl ($117,798) and Rosemma ($82,994) from her six winners.

It is a family that is finding itself represented more and more at the yearling sales as each season  goes by and this year there is a well bred colt at the Australasian Classic yearling sale at Karaka on February 22nd.

Named Popcorn Sutton, he is the third live foal from Classic Armbro, a race winning daughter of Armbro Invasion and Merinai.

The first foal from Classic Armbro is the Love You three year old Tough Love who has qualified for Lou Driver from Balcairn in smart time and looks promising.

Sam Bourbon will not be a name known to a lot of Southern hemisphere breeders but he has been doing a fine job in Europe with his initial crops and is a highly regarded stallion by breeders north of the equator.

The way Merinai has bred on at stud, which has now been continued by her daughters suggests Popcorn Sutton has plenty to recommend him to lovers of the trotting gait.

Harnesslink Media