Monthly Archives: January 2024

The Group Two Knight Pistol at Ballarat on Saturday night has attracted a ripper field of the best trotters in Australia.

Pat Driscoll’s Haras Des Trotteurs multiple Group One winning millionaire French stallion Callmethebreeze makes his Australian debut in a field which includes Driscoll’s Yabby Dam Farms bred duo of mare Im Ready Jet and the globe-trotting dual Inter Dominion winning gelding Just Believe.

The field also includes the pinup girl of Australasian trotters in Queen Elida and last start Group One Maori Mile winner Arcee Phoenix.

A Group One winning 2yo and 3yo and multiple Group One winning aged mare, Im Ready Jet has won 23 of her 60 starts and has earnings of $572,540 and has drawn the inside of the second row in the 2200 metre event.

A winner last Saturday in the Derby Royale Free-For-All at Shepparton, Im Ready Jet will take her earnings over the $600,000 mark should she win.

Yabby Dam Farms has a half-brother to Im Ready Jet listed in the catalogue as Lot 248 in the Nutrien Melbourne Yearling Sale in April.

This colt is slightly more than a half brother as he is by the first season sire Classic Connection which is an imported French bred son of the highly successful dual hemisphere stallion Love You.

Im Ready Jet is by another French bred son of Love You in Quaker Jet.

Classic Connection won the 3yo Group One German Breeders Crown on his way to a career record of 11 wins and $614,631 and his dam is the USTA and Canadian 2yo Filly Trotter of the Year Crys Dream tr,3,1:54.0 $997,378.

Im Ready Jet is a half-sister to Victorian Trotters Oaks runner-up Imsettogo tr,1:59.5 $119,135 and also to Need For Speed Princess placegetter La Perriere tr,1:59.5.

The grand-dam of Lot 248 is a half-sister to multiple Group One placegetter Diedres Pride tr,2:03.7 $230,243.

Diedres Pride is the dam of NZ 2yo Trotting Colt of the Year Diedre Don and she is also the grand-dam of the Love You’s richest Southern Hemisphere winner Monbet tr,1:55.2 $771,862 which was voted NZ 2yo Trotting Colt of the Year and twice voted NZ Trotter of the Year.

Lot 248 is being prepared for the sale by Yabby Dam Farms and pre-sale inspection can be arranged by contacting Yabby Dam Farms on 0428 792 834.

For full details and catalogued yearlings in the five Nutrien Standardbred 2024 Yearling Sales, click here.

by Nutrien Equine Standardbred Alan Parker

Photo Credit – Stu McCormick

Once in a generation horses such as Somebeachsomewhere are very rare and Somebeachsomewhere wasn’t just a once in a generation race-horse, 20 wins from 21 starts and 3,221,299 in stakes, he was also a once in a generation sire.

This coming Thursday is the six year anniversary of the passing of Somebeachsomewhere due to cancer. He was euthanized at the relatively young age of thirteen.

Small supplies of frozen semen have been almost exhausted on return services and the numbers of foals by Somebeachsomewhere have dropped to just ten foals in 2022.

There were just four fillies among those ten foals and there is only one filly by Somebeachsomewhere being offered at a yearling sale in Australia in 2024.

In fact there is only one filly by Somebeachsomewhere being offered at a Southern Hemisphere yearling sale in 2024.

That filly is Lot 35 in the Nutrien Sydney Yearling sale and is being offered by J E & W E Loader and is out of the Christian Cullen mare Millwood Charlie – a sub 2:00 winner of three races.

Lot 35 is a half-sister to Craftmans Charlie which has won six races and was runner-up in the 2023 3yo NSW Breeders Challenge Regional Final.

Millwood Charlie is a three-quarter sister to the multiple Group One placegetter Top Tempo p,1:56.5 $225,513 which is now the dam of 3yo Vicbred Super Series and Australasian Breeders Crown winner Speak No Evil p,1:50.9 $354,300 and the 2yo Group One Australian Pacing Gold winner Musical Delight p,3,1:53.1 $248,910.

Musical Delight’s first four foals have each won in excess of $100,000 and two of them are by Somebeachsomewhere and a third by a son of Somebeachsomewhere in Captaintreacherous.

In the Southern Hemisphere Somebeachsomewhere is the sire of 549 winnners 3yo or older from 830 foals born in either Australia or New Zealand.

That is a winner/foals percentage of 66.14% – none of that thoroughbred winners/starters bulldust here.

When looking a yearling fillies there is always the residual value as a potential broodmare and Somebeachsomewhere is already showing his worth as a broodmare sire in the Southern Hemisphere with 79 winners from his daughters with six individual $100,000 earners including the 2023 2yo NSW Breeders Challenge winner Nathan Street p,2,1:50.5 $138,759.

Lot 35 is being prepared for the Nutrien Sydney Sale by Jackie Gibson from Success Stud and Jackie would love to show this unique filly to prospective buyers prior to sale day.

Jackie can be contacted on 0409 844 230.

For full details and catalogued yearlings in the five Nutrien Standardbred 2024 Yearling Sales, click here. by Nutrien Equine Standardbred – Alan Parker

Former Australian 2yo Pacing Colt of the Year The Storm Inside made the perfect start to his siring career when he sired the quinella in the 2yo race at Bendigo this afternoon.

Three of the seven runners in the opening 2yo race of the season in Victoria were sired by The Storm Inside with the filly Viva Storm beating the colt Stormy Woods.

Ace reinsman Chris Alford made his move with Viva Storm turning into the back straight with 800 metres to run and the filly quickly raced up to the favourite Alighieri before hitting the front turning for home.

Runner-up Stormy Woods finished strongly but just failed to catch Viva Storm which shifted up the track under pressure.

Viva Storm is out of the Falcon Seelster mare Viva La Nina and was bred by Jane Hearn and John Nalder.

It was a timely win for vendors Chris Garrad OAM and Burwood Stud who each have a yearling by The Storm Inside listed for sale in the 2024 Nutrien Sunshine Stars Yearling Sale set down for the weekend of February 10th and 11th.

Mr Garrard’s yearling is a colt and the first foal from the Group One 2yo Redcliffe Sales Classic winner Heart Of Change p,3,1:58.9 $90,331. He is Lot 43 in the catalogue.

Burwood Stud’s The Storm Inside yearling is Lot 25 and is also a colt and is out of the well-performed Grinfromeartoear mare Annika Magic p,1:51.4 $197,191.

Nutrien’s Bathurst Yearling Sale on March 24th this sale has a The Storm Inside colt set to go through the ring.

Being offered by Kasey Orr, Lot 64 is the first foal from the Shoobees Place mare Pocket Of Bees which is an unraced half-sister to three winners including Bathurst Gold Tiara heat winner Shootforthestarzzz p,1:56.0 $73,607.

All three pedigrees will have the sires reference updated next Monday for the online catalogues.

When the A Rocknroll Dance 3yo filly Sheza Rebel won at Newcastle on January 5th she provided a timely boost for Lot 148 in the Nutrien Sydney Yearling sale on March 10th.

Beautifully driven by Chris Geary for trainer Allan Ellul, Sheza Rebel finished strongly in the home straight to down favourite Ohwhatiwouldgive and win running away.

She ran the mile in a handy 1:56.3 with the closing sectionals being 28.3 and 29.0 to give her dam Early Exit the perfect record of two foals of racing age for two winners.

Lot 148 is the third foal from Early Exit and is a filly by the imported Lather Up whose first crop of Southern Hemisphere foals will commence racing this year.

Lather Up’s first North American crop of 82 foals raced as 2yos in 2023 and his 55 2yo starters saw 28 winners of 48 races and $861,622 in stakes.

Those numbers were enough to ensure that Lather Up finished third behind only Captain Crunch and Bettors Wish on the 2023 USTA’s Leading First Season Sires list.

Early Exit, the dam of Lot 148, is a winning half-sister 10 other winners including former top-flight 2yo and 3yo winner Lively Exit which won the South Australian Derby and was runner-up in both the NSW Derby and Australian Derby before retiring with 15 wins and $215,617 in stakes.

The $75,000 Group One Aldebaran Park Maori Mile at Bendigo on Saturday night was taken out by the Trixton 5yo Arcee Phoenix.

The gelding was driven by his trainer Chris Svanosio and he sizzled over the mile trip in a slick 1:53.8 winning by an impressive nine metres from Mufasa Metro and star mare Queen Elida.

The win was Arcee Phoenix’s tenth in his 27 start career and lifted his earnings to $230,375.

The 2024 Nutrien Melbourne Yearling Sale with see Robert Haynes and Christopher Shaw offer a half-brother to Arcee Phoenix as Lot 255.

This colt is by Australia’s leading sire of trotters for the past eight seasons in Majestic Son.

In 2023 Majestic Son produced 100 individual winners of 240 races and his progeny earned stakes of $2,686,232.

Lot 255 is out of the 3yo Princess Of Speed winner Justa Phoenix tr,3,2:00.2 and he is one of four winners produced by Justa Phoenix from her five foals 3yo or older.

Messrs Haynes and Shaw are offering a total of five yearlings at the Nutrien Melbourne Sale and all five are from the immediate maternal family of Arcee Phoenix.

In addition to Lot 255 prospective purchasers should check out Lots 222, 227, 299 and 304.

All five yearlings are being prepared by Benstud’s Victorian operation and they can be contacted on 0429 950 055 to arrange a pre-sale inspection in the coming weeks.