Harness Breeders Victoria has announced Pat Driscoll of Haras des Trotteurs and Yabby Dam Farms as its 2024 Ian Daff Memorial Award recipient.
Since 2014, the award has recognised significant and tenured contributions and service to the broader Victorian breeding industry.
Driscoll joins luminaries such as Mick Lombardo, Graham and Helen Head and Kevin Newbound in being recognised in this way.
He was presented with his trophy - kindly sponsored by Metro Printing - at the opening of the Nutrien Equine yearling sales on Sunday. This seems appropriate given one of the reasons Driscoll has been recognised with the Ian Daff Memorial Award is his recent work in developing the Nutrien sales from its origins in 2021 and through the attached race series, which is sponsored by Haras des Trotteurs and is the richest sales-linked series for squaregaiters in the country.
This is Driscoll’s latest endeavour which has helped build the strength and profile of trotting in Victoria.
With a passion sparked by the Prix d’Amerique, Driscoll established his own “little piece of Europe” in Victoria through stud Haras des Trotteurs. Predominantly offering high-quality French stallions from a state-of-the-art facility near Ballarat, his choices in sire lines, with horses like Classic Connection and EL Titan, have since shaped the breed across Australia. His importation of mares has also served to bolster the genetic pool for trotters in Australia and as an active seller of both mares and fillies, these lines have spread to new breeders too.