The ingenuity of Camperdown veterinarian Dr Steve Williams helped pave the way for the breeding of Australia’s latest two-year-old trotting superstar, Verbici.
“After his dam Verbier failed to produce a live foal for four consecutive seasons, we decided to send her down to Steve at Total Livestock Genetics. He’s the guru in the reproductive field,” Clarendon breeder Louise Toulmin said.
“Steve finally got her in foal to Orlando Vici and Verbici is the result.”
Trained by Chris Lang and Sonia Mahar, Verbici stretched his unbeaten winning skein to nine when he downed a top field in the Group 1 $60,000 Aldebaran Park Redwood Classic at Maryborough on Sunday.
“We have been in awe of what he has done. He has exceeded all our expectations after we sold him at the sales,” Louise said.
Verbier, who was bred and raced by Pat Driscoll’s Yabby Dam Farms, won four races, including the Listed Bathurst Gold Coronet, and $50,785 in stakes.
Driscoll bred only one foal out of her in Fredrhys, who won three races at the Victorian provincials and was a Vicbred finalist.
“Pat had a lot of horses around him at the time and was looking to disperse some of his broodmares. He asked my husband Gary and me if we would be interested in taking a couple of the mares, and we selected Verbier and Donegal Flat,” Toulmin, the stallion manager at Yabby Dam Farms, said.
The Toulmins’ Oakbank Estate offered Verbici at the Nutrien Equine Melbourne Yearling Sale in 2025, and the colt was knocked down for $75,000.
Verbier’s next foal, a colt by the well-credentialled American horse King Of The North, sold for a modest $10,000 at the Nutrien sale last April.
“No one wanted him, but we sold him because all the horses that we take to the sales are for competition. We don’t bring them home,” Louise stated.
“Verbier has now got a beautiful filly by Classic Connection on the ground, and she’s been bred to Orlando Vici this season.”
The Toulmin couple are certainly no strangers to feature race success. They bred and raced the 1988 Victoria Sires Stakes champion and Queensland Oaks winner Handibank, the Harold Park free-for-all winner Nidya, who ended up winning almost $600,000 in America, Mo Cushla, the brilliant but injury-plagued Blacktie Lightning, the Nutrien Trotting Classic winner Maori’s Mac and the cups-winning square-gaiter Van Sank.
Redwood Day notes
• Keayang Kurki, the very impressive winner of the Alabar Farms Matchmaker Mile at Maryborough, has strong connections with the Redwood carnival. The four-year-old’s grand-dam Box Brownie was sold for $3,200 at the 2005 Redwood Sale to Michael Pangrazio, while the Matchmaker Mile itself was the brainchild of John Peck, the editor of the Harness Racing International magazine, in 2004.
• Majestic Son took the siring honours on Redwood Day, landing a double with Mister Devereaux (Trotters Derby) and Kenny’s Son, while his daughters left the winners Jilliby Connection and Little Miss Valley.
• Popcorn Friday, who won at Melton last Saturday, was bred by well-known Wedderburn vet and studmaster Dr Greg Hargreaves.
