Goulburn Valley horseman Eddie Tappe has an eye for a bargain, and the products of one of his purchases turned into a Cups double at Shepparton over the weekend.
Tappe, who conducts a small hobby farm with cattle and horses, bought the Skyvalley mare Aldebaran Peggy from a mixed sale at Shepparton in 2017 for a modest $3,000.
“We bought her when she was in foal to Majestic Son with Abbie,” Eddie related.
“I have always liked the Majestic Son’s but I went to the yearling sales a couple of times and thought they were just making too much money.
“I saw that there was a mare in foal to him at Shepparton and I thought that might be a better way to try and get hold of one. So we took the punt and thankfully we did.
“She is very well bred and goes back to Maori Miss.”
The only two foals that Tappe bred out of Aldebaran Peggy – both by Majestic Son – were Abbie and Im Bobby, two of Australia’s star trotters at present who promise to be a force in the forthcoming square-gaiting features.
And, on Saturday the siblings delivered a red-letter night for Tappe with Im Bobby setting a new track record defeating a top field in the Group 3 $30,000 Shepparton Trotters Cup and Abbie taking out the Goulburn Valley Regional Trotters Cup Final.
“I was very presently surprised. I didn’t expect to able to achieve that at all. Winning the cup at our home track was exceptional,” Tappe said.
Aldebaran Peggy suffered a paddock injury as a younger horse.
“Danny and Mel Thackeray from Aldebaran Park put her on the jogger a couple of times, but she never looked like she was getting over the injury. They didn’t even break her in,” he said.
After producing Im Bobby in 2018, Aldebaran Peggy failed to get into foal to What The Hill the following year.
“I thought that it’s going to take a long time to get the next one, so I advertised her for sale and Merv Campbell bought her. Merv and I both worked at the Cobram race meetings, Merv as a track attendant and me with the on-course TAB,” Eddie said.
Aldebaran Peggy has since left two foals for Campbell, a five-year-old mare by Great Success and a three-year-old colt by Elite Stride, but both have not raced.
- Talented three-year-old filly Quatro Moth, who was bred and is raced by Maryborough couple Len and Irene Parker, stretched her unbeaten winning skein to three in the Graham Head Memorial on Shepparton Cup night
- Russ and Pauline Thomson, great supporters of the Victorian yearling sales, brought out a handy pacer in City Rockstar, a fighting winner at the Kilmore midweek meeting
- Horatius Speculo, an Art Major entire bred by Victorian enthusiast the late Garry Rogers, added the Burnie Cup to his CV when he led throughout in the coastal feature on Sunday
PHOTOS: SHEPPARTON NEWS
