Weekly spotlight on breeding

Breeding authority Peter Wharton presents all the harness racing news on breeding from Australia, New Zealand and North America every week brought to you by Garrard’s Horse & Hound.

Amore Vita triple Vicbred champion

Amore Vita, a son of the champion sire Art Major, became only the second female pacer to make a clean sweep of the Vicbred Super Series when she captured the $150,000 final for four-year-old mares at Melton.

She joins Maajida as the only mares to complete the coveted treble.

Amore Vita is closely related to an earlier top racemare in Under Cover Lover, who won 21 races including three Oaks classics and $864,923 in stakes. She also raced successfully in America.

Amore Vita is by Art Major from Castellina Lover (1:55.3), by McArdle, a Falcon Seelster horse and half-brother to Last Call Hanover (1:49.6). Castellina Lover, a Menangle winner, was out of Delizioso (TT1:56.6), winner of four races and by In The Pocket from the grand producer Vain Franco, by Holmes Hanover.

Besides Under Cover Lover, Vain Franco, who was unraced, left a top ranking pacer in CC’s Lover 1:51.2 ($331,115), Cybersleuth 1:52 ($195,071), the NSW Spring Gift victor Rumadrum, Monarch Of The Glen (Rotorua Cup) and others.

This is the family of top horses the calibre of millionairess Bettor Cover Lover, Vampiro, Match In Heaven, Major Trojan (WA Derby), Underthesouthernsun (1:47.8), Bubbles And Bling and Chamonix.

Amore Vita was bred and is raced by Steve Dolan and the Estate of the late Grant Adamson.

Vicbred breeding treble

Ballarat breeder Pat Driscoll stole the show with a winning treble at the $1.5million Super Series Finals meeting at Melton.

Driscoll, trading as Yabby Dam Farms, bred the quinella pair in both the three-year-old trotting males and four-year-old trotting female divisions. He also bred the winner of the two-year-old colts and geldings trotting final in Valtino (Love You-Aspiring Eva).

The Locomotive (Muscle Mass-La Coocaracha), the defending champion, effortlessly beat Stevie Gee in the three-year-old final, while Gardena Ronda (Used To Me-Val Gardena) led and safely held Revelstoke in the four-year-old section.

La Coocaracha, the dam of The Locomotive, numbered the 2001 Vicbred 4YO final among her 23 successes.

Bruce and Vicki Edward were represented by the winners of both two-year-old pacing finals in Stormryder (colts and geldings) and the unbeaten Draw A Dream (fillies).

Stormryder, one of three winners on the night for Captaintreacherous, is out of the dual Listed winner The Baggy Green 1:57 ($108,700), while Draw A Dream, by He’s Watching (now at the stud in Delaware), is the 10th foal of the Artiscape mare Illustrator.

Petracca is top three-year-old

Petracca, a good looking Captaintreacherous colt, is ranked one of Victoria’s best three-year-olds this season, particularly after his success in the $150,000 Vicbred Super Series Final, one of the major classics of the season. He has won four of his five starts this year.

In the Vicbred final he was never really extended in running out the 2240 metres at a 1:55.2 rate, the last 800 in 54.2 seconds and the final 400 in 26.

Petracca belongs to one of Australia’s top maternal families, being by Captaintreacherous from the Group 1 winner Lovelist, a granddaughter of the Windshield Wiper mare Larrakeyah Lady, who established a great winning line for Peter Gleeson and Bruce and Craig Cameron.

A Vicbred champion herself, Larrakeyah Lady left the Hunter Cup winner Safe And Sound, The Good Times (Tatlow Memorial), Gold Rocket (1:51) and Massarua.

Lovelist, the dam of Petracca, won 18 races and $222,889 in stakes and took a mile mark of 1:53.2 and was a very smart racemare. Besides Petracca, she is also the dam of The Allwood and dual Southern Cross winner Treachery 1:53.5 ($296,299), the Vicbred and Breeders Crown finalist Beach Life (1:54.4) and Adapt (1:53.7).

Stormryder is some youngster

Stormryder broke the two-year-old track record when he led all the way in the $150,000 Vicbred Super Series final at Melton last Saturday. His mile rate of 1:53.1 for 2240 metres was 1.3 seconds inside the previous mark held by Partyon.

He took his stake earnings to $186,090, a worthwhile return for the $57,000 paid for him at the APG sale in Melbourne last year. He has won six of his seven starts to date – he was beaten a nose in the $400,000 APG Gold Bullion at his only other appearance.

Stormryder is certainly a splendid advertisement for the Somebeachsomewhere horse Captaintreacherous, whose frozen semen is available from Empire Stallions.

On his dam’s side, Stormryder belongs to a family which has distinguished itself by the number of top juveniles it has produced. His dam, The Baggy Green (by Art Major), the winner of 17 races and $108,700, was a daughter of the 2YO and 3YO Filly of the Year Lady Waratah 1:59.5 ($564,770), who left the APG Gold Bullion winner Steno 1:51.9 ($232,627) and Some Waratah 1:50.3 ($166,605).

Draw A Dream undefeated two-year-old filly

When she won the $150,000 Vicbred Super Series final at Melton, Draw A Dream scored her fourth success from as many starts, and she is entitled to be rated Victoria’s top two-year-old filly for the season.

Failing to reach the reserve when offered at the 2022 Victorian yearling sales, Draw A Dream is a strongly built filly by He’s Watching from Illustrator, the dam of the metropolitan winners Yankee Strutter (1:54), In A Rose Tattoo (1:56) and Graphics.

Their dam, Illustrator, was an Artiscape mare from the Moonee Valley winner Millburn Robyn (1:59.2), by Holmes Hanover from Millburn Carolyn, by Farm Timer. Illustrator was a half-sister to the Gloucester Park victor Way Of Life 1:53.8 ($240,910), the Victoria Oaks heat winner Baroque Pearl and to the dam of the prolific Albion Park winner Sam Is Perfection 1:53.1 ($216,039).

Super Vicbred win

Winner of the Breeders Crown as a two-year-old last season, Susan Is Her Name (Sebastian K) downed the top three-year-olds in the $100,000 Vicbred Super Series Final at Melton, including a top ranking three-year-old in Rockinwithattitude.

Susan Is Her Name has not been the most reliable, but has proved herself a young trotter of great ability.

Her Vicbred success was her fifth from only 10 starts and the mile rate of 1:58.3 was put up when she had nothing in her favour, drawing the outside of the back row and being a conservative 50 metres from the leaders at one stage.

By the deceased Sebastian K, and one of the third crop of the Swedish bred horse to race in Australia, Susan Is Her Name is out of Hands Of A Star, by Cool Hands Nukes (son of No Nukes) from the Guida mare Storm Star, who left the prolific Albion Park pacing winner Hands Up (1:58).

Susan Is Her Name was bred and is raced by Queenslander Bruce Wyborn.

Westbred winning line

The $215,000 Westbred Classic winner, Xceptional Arma (American Ideal), is a daughter of the Artiscape mare Arma Xpress, who won the Classic herself in 2012.

Xceptional Arma’s success was her sixth from 11 starts for $208,054. Earlier in the season she won the $50,000 APG Gold Bullion at Gloucester Park.

Raced by Jim Currie and Liam O’Connor, who bred her, Xceptional Arma ranks as a sister to the Gloucester Park winners American Arma 1:55.8 ($177,785) and Arma Xfactor (1:54.2) and a half-sister to the Mel;ton winner Arma Veyron (1:57.6).

Their dam, Arma Xpress 1:56.5 ($279,890), was a half-sister to the Westbred placegetter Arma Rich Girl (1:58.2) and to Arma Xcellent, dam of the Ashburton Winter Cup winner Sans Le Sou (1:56), and Arma Xceptional (1:57.9), the second dam of the WA 4 & 5YO Championship winner Arma Einstein 1:54.9 ($286,151) and the WA Listed winner Fifty Five Reborn 1:56.5 ($263,298).

By Artiscape, Arma Xpress was out of the NZ bred mare Arma Antoinette, by Holmes Hanover from Arma Class, by Talk About Class from the NZ Oaks winner Ar Miss, who established a most successful branch of the Lady Antrim family.

Recent winners descending from Ar Miss include Honolua Bay (A. G. Hunter Cup), Spankem (NZ Taylor Mile), Somethin Bout Eily (Nutrien 2YO Classic), Magical Maya (QBred Triad 3YO) and the APG Gold Bullion victor Irish Black Label.

Menemsha’s Classic win

Menemsha, who won the $215,000 Westbred Classic at Gloucester Park, after racing wide without cover throughout, has now won three races and is rated one of the best of his age in WA. He ranks as a two-year-old half-brother by Sunshine Beach to the Village Kid Sprint winner Bettor’s Gem 1:54.6 ($103,276).

Falcon’s Gem, the NZ bred dam of Menemsha and Bettor’s Gem, is a Falcon Seelster mare from  Payson’s Gem, by Payson’s Brother (son of No Nukes) from the imported American mare Emerald Breeze. She is also the dam of The Hope Diamond 1:58.7 (2 wins to date).

Falcon’s Gem was not of much account herself but she was a half-sister to the Chariots of Fire winner Ebony Gem 1:56.9 ($317,030) and the Victoria Derby winner Rare Gem 1:52.6 ($215,350).

Bred by Trevor Lindsay, Menemsha was knocked down for $47,500 at the APG sale in Perth in 2022. He has banked $179,711 so far.

by Peter Wharton, for Harnesslink