Tomorrow afternoon at 5:52pm Australian Eastern Standard Time eight horses, representing the cream of Australasian trotters, will line up in the $600,000 TAB Trot at Cambridge with not only a lot of money on the line but a lot of bragging rights at stake.
On Sunday at 11:00am auctioneer Darren Macaulay will get the 2024 Nutrien Melbourne Yearling Sale underway with Lot 162.
This Pastor Stephen filly, from the outstanding maternal family of Australian Trotter of the Year Sumthingaboutmaori, will be the first of 66 trotting bred lots offered on Sunday.
Five of those 66 lots have close relatives in the TAB Trot and everybody involved in Sunday’s Sale will have their fingers crossed for a good result.
There is no better advertisement for the trotter in the Southern Hemisphere than Friday’s race and then Sunday’s Sale.
Lot 168, on account of Aldebaran Lodge, is a filly by the highly successful French stallion Brillantissime from the Muscle Hill mare Aldebaran Aliza.
Aldebaran Aliza’s first foal, Aldebaran Abel, made his debut last night at Bendigo and finished fourth behind Rainbow Jester in the second heat of the 2yo Nutrien Sales Classic.
Aldebaran Aliza’s dam Kyvalley Aldebaran is a half-sister to the seven times winning Cabaletta which is the grand-dam of the Greg and Nina Hope trained Midnight Dash which will start from barrier five in Friday’s $600,000 race with legendary driver Tony Herlihy at the reins.
Lot 242, on account of Yabby Dam Farms, is a colt by Australian 2yo Trotter of the Year Always Ready from a Majestic Son half-sister to the millionaire Just Believe in the Group Three RC Freestone Trotters Cup winner Heavenly Sister which won 11 raced and took a record of tr,1:56.5 and earned $129,745.
The truly remarkable Just Believe, which will start from barrier three tomorrow night, has won 28 races including two Inter Dominions and a total of six wins at Group One level on his way to earnings of $1,131,523 and a record of tr,1:54.9.
Lot 242 is Heavenly Sister’s second foal and her first was the 2023 3yo winning filly Keep Believing.
Lot 255, on account of Robert Ashley Haynes and Christopher Anthony Shaw, is a colt by Australia’s and New Zealand’s Leading Sire of Trotters in Majestic Son from the four time winning Sundon mare Justa Phoenix.
This colt is a half-brother to a rising star in the trotting ranks in Arcee Phoenix which has drawn ideally in barrier two on Friday and will be out to repeat his last start when led throughout at Melton to down a gallant Just Believe and rated a career best 1:53.5 over the 1720 metres.
Arcee Phoenix has now won 11 of his 33 starts and has a further 11 placings for earnings of $271,805.
As if that isn’t enough credentials, Lot 255 is bred on the same cross as 29 $100,000 earners including the millionaire Sundees Son tr,1:56.4 $1,401,248.
Lot 275, on account of Alabar Bloodstock, is a colt by Australian 3yo Trotting Colt of the Year Elite Stride from the Group One placed Pegasus Spur mare Miss Blissful tr,1:58.5 $118,728.
Miss Blissful is out of the Majestic Son mare Paramount Bliss which is a half-sister to Paramount Faith (by Pegasus Spur) – the dam of Muscle Mountain which won his second Group One New Zealand Trotting Championship at his most recent start on 30th March.
Muscle Mountain will be driven by Ben Hope tomorrow night and will start from barrier seven over the 2200 metres.
Lot 294 is another on account of Yabby Dam Farms and this filly is out of a seven race winning half-sister to the imported star Callmethebreeze which won at Group One level as a 2yo, 3yo and 4yo in Italy and in the past couple of months has become a multiple Group One winner in Australia.
Possessed of a blistering turn of foot, Callmethebreeze has run sub 1:54 times at each of his three wins in Australia since January and is drawn in barrier four tomorrow night.
Lot 294 is out of the Italian bred Cantab Hall mare Onestar LB whose seven European wins earned $144,271 and her yearling filly is a half-sister to the Scotch Notch Mile winner Courmayeur which won six races as a 3yo including a heat of the Need For Speed in 1:58.4.
As a music guru once said “Do yourself a favour and tune in tomorrow night, or better still, watch the best field of trotters ever assembled and dream about what you will witness on Sunday at the Nutrien Sale.
The depth of trotting blood in the catalogue is quite remarkable.
For full details and catalogued yearlings in the Melbourne Nutrien Standardbred 2024 Yearling Sales, click here.
By Alan Parker