Ninety-eight-year-old Shepparton breeder Helen Head is living proof that age is just a number.
A mainstay of the Victorian yearling sales since 1990, Helen and her late husband Graham established Grenada Park Standardbreds in 1974 with their foundation mare being the New Zealand-bred Madame Han.
Since then Grenada Park has been the birthplace of countless Group and classic winners including the Victorian ‘Cups King’ Safari, the Derby winners Garnet River, Astronaut and Lively Exit, the 2YO Colt of the Year The Storm Inside, the Oaks winner Indigenous, the Vicbred champions Tell Me Tales and Our Maid Marianne and many more.
And the list does not end there! Among the recent winners bred and sold by Helen have been Wicked Mitzi and the metropolitan winners Vintage Blu, Letsgetrowdy and Impermissible.
In all, 33 of the Head breed have amassed more than $100,000 in stake earnings with 34 in the 2:00 list and two inside 1:50.
The Head couple were recognised for their achievements in the sport with the Harness Breeders Victoria Breeders of the Year award in 2007.
Helen will be represented by two fillies, both from the same family, at the Australian Pacing Gold Melbourne Yearling Sale at Oaklands Junction on Sunday, February 15.
Lot 151 is a daughter of the 2020 USA Horse of the Year Tall Dark Stranger, the third leading first crop sire in Australia with 18 individual two-year-old winners last year, and the five-time Group winner Tell Me Tales (1:49.3), the winner of 20 of her 32 starts and $360,870.
The filly is a member of the same branch of the prized Millie C tribe as the NZ 3YO Filly of the Year Smooth Performer and the Australian Derby winner Franco Sequel.
The second half of Helen’s offering is Lot 144, a filly by the USA Breeders Crown champion and Canadian 2YO Colt of the Year Stay Hungry, whose first two Australian crops have produced 48 winners from 73 starters at an average of $22,000.
She’s out of the unraced Shes Offlimits, an Art Major half-sister to Tell Me Tales who has thrown two sub 1:58 winners from three starters including last year’s dual Albion Park juvenile winner and APG finalist Impermissible.
“Both fillies are nice types and very well put together,” Teela Park manager Albert Davis, who is preparing the Grenada Park draft, said.
For further details of these or any other lots in the APG Melbourne Yearling Sale then check out their Online Catalogue or Register as a Buyer today!
