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A trotting mare conceived in Sweden, born in Victoria and boasting an all-European breeding background broke her maiden status at her first start this season.
Aldebaran Lovisa, a four-year-old bred and raced by Duncan McPherson’s Aldebaran Lodge, trained by Alison Alford and driven by her husband Chris, scored at Melton last Thursday.
McPherson bought Aldebaran Lovisa’s dam, Excellent Boko, a daughter of the top American sire Broadway Hall, as a yearling from John Bootsman’s Boko Stables during a visit to Scandinavia in 2012.
Trained by the legendary Swedish-based, Finnish-born horseman Timo Nurmos, Excellent Boko in a brief racetrack career won three races and $21,133 in stakes and took a mile record of 1:58.1.
Impregnated in Sweden to southern hemisphere time, Excellent Boko was shipped to Victoria in foal to the dual Swedish Horse of the Year and Prix d’Amerique winner Readly Express, who stands at the prestige Menhammar Stud, in 2017.
Aldebaran Lovisa was the resultant foal.
Prior to winning at Melton, Aldebaran Lovisa had registered four minor placings in 14 starts.
“Every win is a good win … but boy is there a tonne of satisfaction that goes with this win for our team,” Alison Alford posted on Facebook. “Thank you to Duncan for his patience and trust in us, and a huge thank you to Melinda and Danny Thackeray for taking the reins (literally) with her pre-training and conditioning.”
Since producing Aldebaran Lovisa in 2017, Excellent Boko has produced a two-year-old filly by Southwind Frank in Aldebaran Brooke, who has qualified for the Alfords, and a yearling colt by Tactical Landing named Aldebaran Boston, who was knocked down to Jim Connelly for $70,000 at the Nutrien Equine/APTS sale earlier this month.
She is carrying a positive test to the great American sire Muscle Hill.
Aldebaran Lovisa has a truly international pedigree, boasting the blood of four European countries – Sweden, France, Italy and Norway – as well as numerous strains of top North American blood.
“The pedigree of Aldebaran Lovisa is in keeping with the aspirations of Aldebaran Park as we continue to focus on improving genetics by importing our northern hemisphere racemares either to race on and become dual hemisphere winners or in foal to stallions not available here in Australia,” Duncan McPherson said.
“This will ultimately improve the overall herd genetic and breeding pool as we strive for internationalisation and globalisation of the sport here in the southern hemisphere.”
