Two Petraccas – both stars
Christian Petracca might be a star for the Melbourne AFL club but he would struggle to catch Petracca the Standardbred which won the second heat of the 2022 Nutrien Sales Classic at Menangle today.
Sold at the inaugural Nutrien Sale for $80,000 Petracca had a pedigree to die for being by the boom sire Captaintreacherous from the smart race-mare Lovelist p1:53.2 $222,889.
Lovelist’s first two foals were both winners including Petracca’s full-sister Treachery which had already won the Group One The Allwood and banked $116,691 by the time of the sale.
Today’s win was Petracca’s fourth in five starts and he showed scintillating speed to scoot over the final 400 metres in just 25.3 seconds for driver Nathan Jack to beat his stablemate First Responder and Dangerous.
This time equalled the 25.3 final quarter of Cash N Flow NZ when he won a Free-For-All at Menangle in July 2020 in the midst of a string of 12 consecutive wins at the track.
Petracca and First Responder are both trained by Emma Stewart who is on the cusp of her 100th Group One success as a trainer and the $175,000 Nutrien Final on August 27th at Menangle may bring up the milestone win.
Bred by B J Cameron and C W Cameron, Petracca is raced by Melbourne fanatic Danny Zavitsanos and the colt was named not long after the drought-breaking AFL premiership last season when Christian Petracca took home the Norm Smith medal for best-on-ground.
Emma Stewart has three runners in colt’s final
Emma Stewart made the trip to Menangle today with three colts and the first of the Nutrien heats was taken out by another Emma Stewart runner when Major Celebrity, driven by Mark Pitt, rated a slick 1:56.5 for the 2300 metres and downed Our Vinnie and Captain Hammerhead.
Major Celebrity was sold for $40,000 at the inaugural Nutrien Sale and he is a son of Art Major from the Presidential Ball mare Celebrity Ball.
So what you may say – Celebrity Ball is a half-sister to the Classic Garry mare Lifeline which is the grand-dam of the second of today’s heat winners Petracca.
Former Australian Broodmare of the Year Larrakeyah Lady is therefore the grand-dam of Major Celebrity and the third dam of Petracca.
Major Celebrity was bred by Richard Camilleri and is raced by David McLennan, D Callipari, R McLennan and C Egan.
Wins as both a breeder and an owner
Danny Zavitsanos, in partnership with W R Viney, bred today’s 2yo Fillies Nutrien Sales Classic prelude winner Scheming which downed Ludacrous and Somethin Bout Eily rating 1:59.0 for the 2300 metres to break her maiden status in style.
Trained by Danny Thackeray and driven by Amanda Turnbull, Scheming was a $24,000 yearling and is raced by the Triple A Racing Group, L J Walls and P L Owen.
Scheming becomes the 22nd individual 2yo winner this season for Australia’s leading first-season sire Huntsville.
Such has been Huntsville’s impact with his first crop his semen will again become available to Australian breeders in 2022 after a four year hiatus.
Scheming is the first foal from the Bettors Delight mare War Dan Bad Girl p,3,1:55.2 $75,650 which is a full-sister to Weona Sizzler p,1:50.0 $400,210.
Legend on the track and at stud
There are some who say that a champion race-mare will never be a star broodmare but that certainly doesn’t apply to the remarkable La Coocaracha which has to rank as the worst-named Standardbred in history.
La Coocaracha translates as The Cockroach but with her racetrack exploits earning her honours as both Australian Trotter of the Year and New Zealand Trotter of the Year and her 23 wins earning her $428,911 she is anything but a cockroach.
She has carried her remarkable record over to her stud career with her 13 foals producing 10 individual winners including the Australian Trotter of the Year Dance Craze tr,1:55.6 $551,780.
Eight different stallions have been involved in La Coocaracha’s ten winners.
Her 13th and final foal is the current 2yo colt The Locomotive which brought up a hat-trick of wins when he took out today’s Nutrien Equine Haras des Trotteurs Classic prelude at Menangle for trainer Wayne Potter and driver Nathan Jack.
The Locomotive is by Muscle Mass and today’s win took his record to two wins in three starts and lifted his earnings to $31,798.
Runner-up this afternoon was the Centurion ATM filly Venus Love, which was having just her third race-start for Queensland trainer Chantal Turpin, with Suga Daddy finishing third.
A $60,000 yearling, The Locomotive was bred and sold at the inaugural Nutrien Sale by Yabby Dam Farms Pty Ltd and he is raced by G B Holland and W R Potter.
Yabby Dam Farms is a companion entity to Haras de Trotteurs which is a major sponsor of the Nutrien Race Series for trotters so today’s win was certainly fitting.