I Am Wilma, the convincing winner of the fastest heat of the APG Yearling Sales Vicbred Super Series for three-year-old trotting fillies at Melton, was the result of a breeding program hatched by Jeparit enthusiast Wayne Schulze and his former breeding partner Dale Eastman that goes back to 2000.
The Father Patrick filly is the great granddaughter of She’s Cool, a blind mare who was owned by Koyuga couple Darryl and Sue Wegmann, the 2015/16 Victorian Breeders of the Year.
“We bought one of her progeny named Aleppo Lady as a weanling out of the paddock from the Wegmann’s for $4,000,” Schulze said.
Aleppo Lady showed above average ability at the lateral gait, winning 13 races including three at Moonee Valley and finishing third in the Vicbred 4YO Final before her untimely death.
Inspired by the success of Aleppo Lady, the breeding partners later bought her older sister Insulated for a modest $2,500 from Swan Hill identity Arthur Graham.
“We bought her primarily as a broodmare because she had broken down. But then we decided to put her back into work and sent her to Andy Gath. He won three out of four starts before she bowed the tendon again,” Wayne said.
Insulated became the foundation broodmare for Schulze and Eastman.
In all she left nine foals, seven of whom were successful with three at Group or Listed level and they won 64 races and $624,778 in stakes between them.
“Aleppo Midas was the best one from the family,” Wayne said. “She finished in the money in 28 of her 50 starts. She ran second in a heat of the Great Southern Star but galloped on the home turn in the $300,000 Final.”
Aleppo Jewel (by Angus Hall), the eighth foal of Insulated and a capable racemare in her own right, ranks as the dam of I Am Wilma.
Schulze offered the filly at the 2023 Nutrien Equine Melbourne yearling sale but she was passed in after failing to reach the reserve price of $44,000.
He then leased her to a syndicate and she was broken in and educated by Goulburn Valley horseman Stacey Towers before being entrusted to Riddells Creek conditioners Chris Lang and Sonia Mahar.
“Earlier on she was headstrong but she has developed over the past three months as a racehorse,” Schulze stated.
“Before I Am Wilma came along the boys in the syndicate had a lot of luck but it had all been bad!”
From 13 starts I Am Wilma has posted three successes with seven placings for $32,280 in stakes and there’s no telling how far she may go.
A half-brother by Orlando Vici to I Am Wilma has been nominated for the Nutrien yearling sale at Oaklands Junction next April. The colt is part of Schulze’s three-prong consignment which includes a filly by Pebble Beach out of Aleppo Mia, a granddaughter of Insulated, and a Vincent filly from Diamond Inthe Dust, a granddaughter of She’s Cool.
- Alabar Bloodstock had a NZ Cup Day to remember with their stallions producing six winners on the card including three of the four Group 1 features – the NZ Cup with Kingman (by Always B Miki), the Dominion Trot with Gus (by Majestic Son) and the Nevele R Series 3YO Final with Celestial Sea (by Always B Miki)
- The Victorian bred trotters Tracy The Jet and Gatesys Gem ran the quinella in the $500,000 The Ascent at the Show Day meeting at Addington. Tracy The Jet, who completed her seventh consecutive success, was bred by Pat Driscoll’s Yabby Dam Farms
- Champion horsewoman Kerryn Manning bred and part-owns the three-year-old filly Surfe La Mer, the winner of an APG Yearling Sales Vicbred Super Series semi-final at Melton
