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.

Wonderful To Fly – the best

The Fly Like An Eagle mare Wonderful To Fly, who has been the subject of American interest recently, achieved yet another moment of glory in a brilliant career when she notched her seventh win at Group level at Gloucester Park last Friday.

Her superlative success in the Group 3 $50,000 The Kerry Clarke boosted her earnings to $541,915, the result of 27 wins and nine placings from 43 starts.

Wonderful To Fly won in the manner of a true champion, leading from the outset and carving out her last three quarters in 29.4, 28.3 and 27.4 to win effortlessly by 13 metres.

Summing up after the brace, her trainer-driver Shane Young said: “She has excellent cruising speed, and she had a soft run tonight. Once she held up early, she got away with a bit before cruising home. She is certainly getting towards being ranked as one of the better mares in the country.”

Wonderful To Fly began racing as a two-year-old when she included among her nine wins the Westbred Classic and the WA Solid Gold Bracelet. As a three-year-old she took the Diamond Classic, the Westbred Classic, APG Gold Bullion and WA Sales Classic.

One of her memorable wins as a four-year-old was the APG 4YO Final, and at the same age she won a heat of the APG series and several free-for-alls.

Bred by Kevin and Annette Charles, Wonderful To Fly is by the Mach Three horse Fly Like An Eagle (now at the stud in WA) out of the Allamerican Ingot mare Not Now Delilah, dam also of the promising three-year-old Velocipede (1:56.5).

Not Now Delilah, who was unraced, was out of Queen Delilah, by Orange Sovereign from Dainty Delilah, by Rock Butler. Not Now Delilah was a half-sister to Jumbo Operator 1:57 ($313,175), whose 16 successes at Gloucester Park included the Caduceus Club 3YO Classic, Western Gateway Pace and the Navy Cup, and Getaway Plan 1:58 ($135,549), winner of the WA Sires Stakes 2YO Final and the WA Sales Classic.

Another half-sister to Kin Of Queens, dam of the good Perth winner Star Armbro 1:55.3 ($130,182).

Redcliffe classic winners

One of the most interesting features of the Redcliffe Cup meeting was the fact that two of the main winners, Bettor Cullect (Garrard’s Redcliffe Yearling Sales 2YO Series) and Cheer Leader (Redcliffe Oaks), both belong to the one family. A third winner on the night in Muscle Bart is also a member of this family.

The pair both trace back to the mare Trixie Milne, which was sired by the imported Grattan Loyal and who won seven races and left six winners including the NZ Oaks winner Ar Miss, who has had a terrific influence on light harness breeding in both NZ and Australia.

Bettor Cullect is a Gotta Go Cullect filly from  Bettor Be Happy, by Bettor’s Delight from Miss Happygolucky, by Grinfromeartoear from Midnight Lace, by Fake Left from Mistron, who who founded the Trixie Milne family to some purpose.

Mistron is the dam of the APG and QBred Triad winner Masked Crusader, the Victoria Sapling Stakes winner Strong Don and a cup class pacer in Masterson and the grand-dam of the Queensland Derby winner Majestic Mach, the Triad winners Making Magic, Maximillion, Marshall Law and Hezarealgem and the Paleface Adios Classic victor Miss Moneybags.

Cheer Leader is an Always B Miki filly from Cherish The Moment, a Group winner by Mach Three from the dual Oaks winner Cherry Cheer, by Fake Left from Charming Reminder, by Vanston Hanover from Call Girl, a great granddaughter of Trixie Milne.

There are some notable winners in every remove of this family.

From the Call Girl branch of the family and to which Cheer Leader belongs, other smart performers in Colt Thirty One, Good Lookin Girl, Fame Assured, Rhapsody In Red, Goldrush Girl and Tay Tay, all Group 1 winners, are also members.

Bettor Cullect and Cheer Leader were both bred and are raced by Brisbane identity Kevin Seymour and his wife, Kay.

Redcliffe Gold Cup winner

Loyalist, who won the $106,070 Redcliffe Gold Cup, main event of the season at the Queensland club, is a six-year-old Bettor’s Delight gelding from the same family as that which produced a top NSW pacer in Cash N Flow, who won the Free-for-all at Menangle on the same night.

Loyalist, who won the Christmas Gift in 2022, has shown up as a very useful pacer since arriving in Australia last September, and it was a strong field he beat at Redcliffe.

Loyal Arden, the dam of Loyalist, was an Art Major half-sister to the NZ Cup and A. G. Hunter Cup winner Arden Rooney, being out of Tosca Hanover, by Walton Hanover from Tosti, by Soky’s Atom from Aberfeldy, dam of the Inter Dominion Consolation winner Reba Lord and the crack racemare Megaera.

Spirit Of St Louis wins Golden Mile

One of the most important races of the winter racing at Menangle, the $30,600 Golden Mile, was won by the Sweet Lou gelding Spirit Of St Louis, who downed a top field including Taipo, Mahomes and South Coast Arden.

It was his 11th success at Group/Listed level and pushed his stake earnings to almost $1.17million.

A six-year-old gelding, Spirit Of St Louis is out of Spirit Of Art (1:56.5), a useful racemare by leading sire Art Major from Spirit Of Eros, by In The Pocket from Spirit Of Bethlehem, by Soky’s Atom from the Able Bye Bye mare Tabella Beth.

This is the family of the champion pacer and now emerging sire Lazarus, the NZ Cup winner Self Assured, the four-time Derby winner Stars And Stripes, Light And Sound, Betterzippit (1:48.6) and many others.

Brothers win at Melton

Two of Victoria’s star pacers at present, and both winners on the same card at Melton last weekend, are the three-year-old Final Collect and his older brother Major Collect.

Both bred by Brian West’s Studholme Bloodstock are by Art Major from Collectable (TT1:57), a Group winner, and who left an earlier Melton winner in Pur Dan (1:54.9).

Collectable was by the Matt’s Scooter horse Mach Three (Meadowlands Pace and Metro Pace winner) from Stage Talent, by Soky’s Atom from Stage Queen, by Stampede and tracing eventually to the taproot Bonnie Belle.

On their latest form, Final Collect and Major Collect promise to be a force in the feature races in the spring.

Major Grace is Ladyship Cup material

Major Grace (Art Major), who has won eight of her nine starts on Australian soil including an effortless win at Melton and the George Johnson in Hobart, is regarded as Ladyship Cup material of the highest order.

A four-year-old mare by Art Major from Zariya, Major Grace is a member of an old NZ family, which was represented by Pacing Hope, a sister to Major Grace who won at Cambridge Raceway two days before she won at Melton.

Zariya was a Bettor’s Delight mare from the grand producer Pacing Grace (1:57.7), by In The Pocket from Jessie Grace, a mare by Vance Hanover. 

Only lightly raced, Zariya was a half-sister to a top NZ juvenile in Pacing Major 1:52 ($745,212), the exported All U Need Is Faith 1:49.4 ($623,483), the NZ Listed winner Symphony In Motion (1:59.4) and the Gloucester Park winner Amazing Art 1:57.4 ($165,363).

Two sisters to Zariya in Maddison’s Delight and Pacing Delight bred on with distinction. Maddison’s Delight left four winners including the NZ Sires Stakes champion and Queensland Derby winner American Dealer 1:49.4 ($565,320), the Leeton Breeders Plate winner Sugar Apple (1:52.9) and the Perth winner Sweet Maddison (1:57).

Meanwhile, Pacing Delight produced four winners including the NZ Harness Million and SA Derby victor Aladdin 1:57.5 ($205,253), the NZ Group 2 winner Virgil 1:52.3 ($212,478) and the Menangle winner Mason’s Delight 1:51.9 ($119,240).

A half-sister to Zariya is Grace Way 1:56.8 (by Dream Away) also proved a very successful broodmare. She left six winners including the Victoria HRSC 3YO Cup winner Three Ways 1:53.8 ($283,274), the exported Shanway 1:51.8 ($212,768), the Redcliffe Derby winner Make Way 1:51.7 ($175,420) and Forgotten Highway 1:55.6 ($152,360).

Major Grace promises to do this fine family further credit.

Foundation Trot to Maximus Meridius

The $25,500 Foundation Final, one of the feature races for two-year-old trotters in NSW, was won by Maximus Meridius, a heavily favoured colt by Sebastian K from Maximiser. He was bred and is raced by the McDowell family.

Sebastian K, a Swedish born trotter who held the world record at 1:49 for four years, was a successful sire in America, Europe and Australia prior to his untimely death in 2020.

He has sired such winners as Next Level Stuff, a USA Breeders Crown champion, and, in Australia, the classic winners Susan Is Her Name (Breeders Crown 2YO), On Advice (NSW Foundation 2YO and 3YO), Paris Kay, Agent Black and Flashy Seb.

Maximiser, the dam of Maximus Meridius, and a Foundation Series winner herself, was by Majestic Son, the leading sire of trotters for the last decade, from Frozen Funds, a NZ bred mare who won several features in NSW including the Oaks, by Pine Chip from a top racemare in Inda Bank.

This has been a most successful family, as The Almighty Johnson, a half-brother to Frozen Funds, won 14 races in NZ and America and $218,598 in stakes. 

The latest NSW Foundation winner Maximus Meridius has certainly a wealth of successful trotting blood on both sides of his pedigree.

by Peter Wharton, for Harnesslink