With a peerless 12 Group 1s the Vicbred Super Series stands alone as a night of dreams, with Victoria’s best bred two, three and four-year-olds changing lives and rewarded their backers.
Enjoy the night’s many highs with thetrots.com.au rolling blog, celebrating all the big on track and TrotsVision moments.
YABBY DAM DOMINANCE
Haras des Trotteurs is the proud sponsor of the Vicbred Super Series trotting finals and their investment in the squaregaiters produced immediate dividends at Melton.
Not only did Pat Driscoll’s breeding farm train the winner (The Locomotive) and runner-up (Stevie Gee) in the first final, which was for three-year-old trotting colts and geldings, but they then repeated the dose in the second.
Anton Golino, trainer for Haras des Trotteurs, produced the quinella in the four-year-old trotting mares final with Gardena Ronda winning ahead of Revelstoke.
Golino chatted with Nick Hooper afterwards on TrotsVision from The Breeders’ Paddock at Melton.
The first final was also an emotional one for The Locomotive’s driver Nathan Jack, who dedicated the win to the late Tom Hogan, a key support of Jack and the sport. He spoke to Brittany Graham.
TOM REMEMBERED AS STORMRYDER SALUTES
The late Tom Hogan was honoured in the fourth event on the Melton card, with drivers wearing black armbands for the running of The Storm Inside Vicbred Super Series two-year-old pacing colts and geldings’ final.
The race was won in dominant fashion by the Emma Stewart-trained Stormryder, who backed up the deeds of stablemate The Lost Storm on New Year’s Eve last year.
A son of Captaintreacherous, Stormryder was bred by Bruce and Vicki Edward and is owned by well-known horsewoman Jayne Davies and Stewart’s brother Sam.
The victory was driver Mark Pitt’s second for the night after previously saluting with Gardena Ronda in the final for four-year-old trotting mares.
FROM NEW YORK TO THE SAHARA
Having piloted Aldebaran Zeus to a trailblazing fifth at Yonkers, Chris Alford reannounced he was back in town with a Group 1 victory.
‘The Puppet’ steered Sahara Breeze to a popular win in the Always B Miki Vicbred Super Series final for three-year-old pacing fillies, gifting Gary and Deb Quinlan their first Group 1 win as co-trainers.
He spoke to Brittany Graham post-race on TrotsVision.
LIVE FROM THE BREEDERS’ PADDOCK
Alabar Farms has again thrown its support behind the Vicbred Super Series, sponsoring the pacing finals.
Its general manager Brett Coffey chatted with Harness Breeders Victoria president Nick Hooper in The Breeders’ Paddock, a new addition to the Melton lawn on the big Group 1 night.
MORE SPOILS FOR KEZ
Kerryn Manning received her medal as a member in the General Division of the Order of Australia (AM) on Thursday and capped off a huge week with a Group 1 victory in the Art Major Vicbred Super Series final for two-year-old pacing fillies.
Manning was at the controls of Draw A Dream, who kept her unbeaten career record in tact with a dominant display in the Group 1 decider.
THE SECRET’S OUT
In the aftermath of Solesseo Matuca’s Group 1 victory in the Ride High Vicbred Super Series final for four-year-old colts and geldings, driver Kate Gath revealed the horse’s identity was kept secret in his initial days at her Long Forest stables.
Gath’s husband and trainer Andy had purchased the gelding with long-time owner Norm Jenkin following his last run for previous connections in early July and the son of A Rocknroll Dance added a third victory from six starts for the new camp on Saturday night.
“The truth is that I didn’t know who it was for three days when (he) arrived at the stables because Andy wouldn’t tell me,” Kate said.
“He knew that I’d be like ‘why did you buy that for?’, but he knew exactly what he was doing.
“The horse has been so honest since we purchased him… he’s always been up to this grade as a two and three-year-old.”
Solesseo Matuca had not won since December 2021 before his victory, for team Gath, on August 12.
I WANT AMORE
A big slice of history was enjoyed at Melton tonight with Amore Vita becoming only the second filly/mare to sweep all three of her Vicbred Super Series finals.
In Chris Alford’s hands she won the Rock N Roll Heaven four-year-old mares class comfortably, placing her beside another Emma Stewart runner (Maajida) in securing the rare triple crown.
Alford celebrated the feat with Brittany Graham post-race.
