Frozen semen stallions are well and truly making their presence felt on Australian and New Zealand racing and breeding, particularly among the ranks of trotting sires.
In fact, four of the ten richest square-gaiters ever bred in the southern hemisphere – Just Believe, I Can Doosit, Muscle Mountain and Queen Elida – were sired by stallions based north of the equator.
The last four Inter Dominion Trotting Grand Finals, three of the last four NZ Rowe Cups and the last three editions of the Hammerhead Mile and the Bill Collins Sprint have all been won by progeny of frozen semen stallions.
Haras Des Trotteurs, the Ballarat stud farm owned by trotting devotee and benefactor Pat Driscoll, is offering an impressive roster of stallions this season including the frozen quartet Orlando Vici, Bird Parker, Back Of The Neck and Ecurie D.
As the sire of the highest stakes-winning trotter bred in Australasia and the dual Inter Dominion champion Just Believe, and Cravache d’Or, the 3YO Trotting Colt of the Year, Orlando Vici is without question one of the most proved trotting sires available to breeders ‘down under’.
Orlando Vici, a nine-time Group winner himself, has a 100 percent strike rate with his Australian born progeny, siring 28 winners from 28 starters.
To date they have banked $3.6 million at an amazing average of $130,000 per starter.
In his first season the French bred stallion left 11 foals and all were successful including Just Believe, the NSW Derby winner Xebec, the $100,000 earners Brandlo Prince and Orlando Storm, and in NZ, the dual Group winner Adelle.
The dual Inter Dominion heat winner Ollivici, the Vicbred champions Visionary and Rapid Return, Lady Vici, Royal Dan and Beau Garcon have been other winners by Orlando Vici from his first crops.
Bird Parker, the winner of more than $3 million and one of the greatest sons of the legendary French sire Ready Cash, boasts stud credentials second-to-none.
He won seven Group 1 races, six Group 2’s and four Group 3’s highlighted by the French Triple Crown – the Grand Prix de Paris and the Grand Prix De Belgique twice – and established a world record mile rate of 1:56 winning Sweden’s major staying test the Harper Hanover Lopp over 3150 metres.
At the stud in Europe, Bird Parker has been represented by such outstanding square-gaiters as the dual Group 1 French winners Hussard du Landret and Ideale du Chene, Izoard Vedaquais, a Group winner in six different countries, and the Swedish Group 1 victor Sparven.
Bird Parker’s oldest Australasian crop are yearlings and a colt was knocked down for the top price of $180,000 at this year’s NZ National Sale at Christchurch, while another colt realised $85,000. A filly sold at the Nutrien Equine Melbourne Sale in April fetched $42,500.
A second son of the mighty Ready Cash on the Haras Des Trotteurs roster is the royally bred, well performed American stallion Back Of The Neck.
A top performer on all-sized tracks, Back Of The Neck competed with real distinction at the elite level from two to five years, earning $1.4 million and taking a mile record of 1:51.
He won the Reynolds Memorial as a two-year-old, annexed the Stanley Dancer Trot, Bluegrass Stake and Reynolds Memorial and ran third in the Hambletonian at three, while as an older horse he captured the Dayton Trotting Derby twice and the Canadian Maple Leaf Classic and finished runner-up in the Yonkers International Trot and Breeders Crown.
Back Of The Neck belongs to a very successful maternal line, his first four dams having left 31 foals for 22 winners with 19 in 2:00. He is closely related to the 2024 USA 3YO Trotting Colt of the Year Sig Sauer (1:49.6), now standing at Hanover Shoe Farms, the Breeders Crown and Hambletonian Oaks winner Broadway Schooner and the world champion two-year-old filly Cooler Schooner.
Standing at the prestige Blue Chip Farms in New York, Back Of The Neck’s first American crop are yearlings.
Born in Denmark, Ecurie D began his racing career as a three-year-old winning all seven of his starts including the European Championship and set a world record mile rate of 1:56.1 over 1640 metres.
He was later exported to North America where he raced against and defeated the best trotters in commission, winning the Breeders Crown twice, the Cutler Memorial, TVG Free-for-all and the Allerage Farm, all Group 1 events.
He was voted the USA Older Trotter of the Year in 2022.
In all, Ecurie D won 20 of his 31 starts, banked $1.6 million in stakes and retired as the equal fifth fastest trotter of all-time with a mark of 1:49.2.
A striking individual with a beautiful head and a powerful gait, Ecurie D is a product of the combination of the best European and American blood, being by the Pine Chip horse Infinitif from a mare by Muscles Yankee.
He stands at Southwind Farms in New Jersey alongside Walner, Muscle Hill and Tactical Landing.
