Hautacam, a three-year-old trotting gelding named after a Pyrenees ski resort synonymous with the Tour De France cycling classic, won his second race from only seven starts at Ararat on Wednesday.
A Vicbred and Breeders Crown finalist at two, the Muscle Hill gelding, a $50,000 buy at the Australasian Premier Trotting Sale in 2020, led for the last two laps to win by just over a length.
“Robert Mann, one of his owners, is a cyclist who once rode to the top of Hautacam,” trainer Matt Craven said. “He’s also a successful trainer and driver from Mount Gambier.”
Craven said that Hautacam is “a nice little racehorse and that will take him a long way.”
“We’re hoping he can improve a little bit more and contend for the major classics later in the season,” he said.
Other members of the syndicate who race Hautacam are Elizabeth Crews, Geoff Barnes, Robert Blanche, Brett Grose, Bernadine Condon, Brian Austerberry, Des Carruthers, Ray Boldiston, Jeanette Templar and the Hill Dash Group.
Bred by Alabar Bloodstock, Hautacam is the second foal of the Kadabra mare Glenferrie Dash, a half-sister to the multiple Group-winning square-gaiters Glenferrie Dreamer and Glenferrie Burn.
“I trained his mother after she broke down. She won three races for me,” Craven said.
Victree Hill, who won on the same card as Hautacam, is also an APTS sale graduate. Other recent winners from the APTS sales were Aldebaran Ursula (Menangle), Who’s The Man (Shepparton) and Yankee Lover (Charlton).