Weekly spotlight on breeding

Breeding authority Peter Wharton 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.

Redcliffe Gold Cup record

A fresh race record mile rating was established by the Art Major horse Aroda of 1:58.6 – bettering the previous record of 1:58.9 held by Sole Ambition by 0.3 second – when he won the Group 2 $106,070 Redcliffe Gold Cup.

Aroda, who has now won 10 races and $154,365, is a member of the same family as the former top WA pacer Our Corelli.

Aroda ranks as a half-brother to the Auckland Cup and dual Derby winner Akuta 1:51.8 ($1.1million) and the Group 3 winner Lady Avana 1:55 ($132,403), being by Art Major from the Christian Cullen mare Adore To Our Dreams, whose dam Enchanter Franco (TT1:57.5) was by Badlands Hanover from Emily Franco, by Nero’s B B from Eastwood Jubilee, by the NZ Derby winner Bachelor Star.

Enchanter Franco was a half-sister to the Australian and Queensland Derby winner Franco Enforce 1:50.6 ($593,738) and to the dams of the WA Group winner Eden Franco (1:54.1), Franco Emirate 1:53.8 ($332,830) and the good Menangle winner Little Rascal 1:50.2 ($362,689).

Others from the immediate family have been the WA Oaks winner Artemis Belle, Eagle Rox (WA Diamond Classic), Franco Edward (WA Golden Slipper and Pearl), Gayle Force and My Ultimate Skeeta (1:52.9).

Redcliffe Sales Classic winning line

The $129,000 Garrard’s Redcliffe Yearling Sales Classic 2YO Final winner Sinabun is a half-brother by the Bettor’s Delight horse Ultimate Machete to earlier winners of the series in Mathilda Diventa (2014) and Couldntresist (2012).          

A half-sister in She’s Miss Devine won the Redcliffe 3YO Classic in 2021, while Mathilda Diventa left the winner of the same race last year in Regazzo Di Tilly.

All bred by Burwood Stud, they are out of the Holmes Hanover mare Holme Call whose dam, Prompt Call (1:58), was by Tuapeka Knight from Alarm Call, by Knowing Bret from the Stormyway mare Prompt and tracing to the noted foundation mare Regina.

Sinabun, who brought the top price of $36,000 at the 2023 Redcliffe sale, has earned $85,144 from two wins and three placings from five starts.

Derby winner’s deeds

Ellis Street (Ohoka Punter) is proving himself a three-year-old of some worth in Queensland and over the winter racing has numbered the $52,000 Garrard’s Redcliffe Yearling Sales Classic and the Group 3 $52,000 Redcliffe Derby, beating a pair of very good three-year-olds in Major Hot and Dele Row (both by Art Major).

He has won 11 races including five on end and $130,146 in stakes.

Bred and raced by Laurie Feelely, Ellis Street is a graduate of the Redcliffe Yearling Sale in 2022, and is gelding by the Bettor’s Delight horse Ohoka Punter from Party In Paris, by Partywiththebigdog (son of Artsplace) from Wizard Of Aus, a half-sister to the smart juveniles Indisputable and Role Model.

Perfect In Pink is well bred

Perfect In Pink, who won the Benstud Standardbreds Mares Final at Melton, after coming from worse than midfield, has now won six races and $134,440 in stakes and is rated one of the brightest prospects in her class. She ranks as a four-year-old half-sister by American Ideal to the outstanding racemare Ladies In Red, the winner of seven Group 1’s and over one million dollars.

Kabbalah Karen B (1:52.8), the American bred dam of Perfect In Pink and Ladies In Red, was a Western Terror mare from Mib Hanover (1:55.6), by Tyler B from Mighty Impressive and has proved a most successful broodmare. She is also the dam of the Victoria Derby winner and dual Breeders Crown champion Our Little General 1:49.8 ($765,566), Kasbah Kid 1:53.1 ($185,520), Our Little Jet (1:55.9) and Beautiful Woman (1:56.4).

Kabbalah Karen B, a winner of $285,098 in North America and Australia, was a half-sister to the top Free-for-aller Cammibest 1:50 ($961,177), later a leading sire in Queensland, and the Stakes winners It’s That Time (1:49.4), Only The Best (1:50.8) and Marietta Hall (1:51.2).

This has been one of the most successful branches of the Venus (by American Star) family,  Mib Hanover being a full sister to the dam of the Canadian Derby and USA Pacing Classic victor Noble Ability 1:49.2 ($1.7million) and King Tutpankhamen (1:50.2).

Redcliffe Oaks winner

Ever Art, who won the Group 3 $52,000 Redcliffe Oaks in class record time, showed ability as a two-year-old last season when she finished second to Rylee Rhayne Bow in the QBred Triad Final.

She has opened her three-year-old season on a winning note and will be well in line for the major juvenile classics.

She is a filly by the Artsplace horse Art Major from the top flight racemare Forever Gold 1:51.7 ($700,593), the best of whose several progeny has been Eternal Gold (1:56.8).

Forever Gold, a winner of a dozen Group races, was by the brilliant but ill-fated Famous Forever (son of Fake Left) from Making Gold, by Bookmaker from the Fake Left mare Abbe Gold, and thus boasts a double strain of the blood of the Little Brown Jug winner and seven-time premier Australian sire.          

Ever Art was bred and is race by Gold Coast enthusiast Murray Cole and his close friend and business partner Beau Watson.   

A star from Our Golden Goddess

A star three-year-old in WA so far this season is Dark Eyes, bred in Victoria by Benstud Standardbreds, John McGeechan and Peter O’Shea.

A gelding by Bettor’s Delight, he is out of an outstanding racemare in Our Golden Goddess 1:53.1 ($442,410) and the second of her produce to race. He won his fourth race at Gloucester Park last weekend beating older horses and looks a three-year-old with the potential one would expect of his breeding.

Rainbow Jester leading two-year-old trotter

When he won the Foundation Final at Menangle last Saturday Rainbow Jester proved himself the top two-year-old trotter in NSW of the current season.

It was his fifth success from six starts and he soundly trounced the best two-year-olds in the State in the Final after being required to overcome a wide barrier draw. 

RAINBOW JESTER REPLAY

Bred by John Markham, Rainbow Jester is a colt by Majestic Son from the unraced Miss Maori Rainbow, by Sundon from Maori Australis, by Walton Hanover from Maori Trump, by Overtrick from a fine racemare in Maori Miss, a dual Inter Dominion heat winner and whose family is widely and successfully spread today. 

Mirragon in 1:49.8

The Art Major gelding Mirragon has become the 127th Australian bred performer to enter the 1:50 list. The seven-year-old clocked 1:49.8 winning an $11,000 race at Pocono Downs, Pennsylvania on Saturday.

Bred by former Victorian studmaster Ross Gange, Mirragon is the first foal of the Mach Three mare The Waratah (1:57.9), who produced others in The Cid (1:54), Neatntidy (1:57.7) and Fightnfury (1:57.9).

by Peter Wharton, for Harnesslink