Victorian breeders were celebrated on Sunday with the announcement of the 2021 season IRT Victorian Breeder Awards.

HBV president Nick Hooper said it was “one of the principal functions" of the association "to recognise the achievements of our members and their contributions to the wider industry and our awards program is one of the principal ways we do that”.

“Breeding is a marathon effort, often with many ups and downs, and being able to celebrate along the journey is so important,” Mr Hooper said. 

The stars of the show were the broodmares, with both winners based on Goulburn Valley farms located within half an hour of each other.

The Aldebaran Victorian Trotting Broodmare of the Year was collected by Congupna’s Rhiannon Park for their young mare, Gypsy Flair, who has just two progeny old enough to race, juvenile fillies Banglez and Just A Bit Touchy, who both won Group 1 features in 2021. She also had a filly bring $60,000 at the 2021 Nutrien Yearling Sales.

The Benstud Victorian Pacing Broodmare of the Year was a close run thing between two mares, Australian Broodmare of the Year Beninjurd and Coppagoodone, both bred with by Bendstud Standardbreds at Katunga and won by the latter.

Three of her progeny were old enough to race in 2021 – Catch A Wave, Yambukian and Better Coppagoodone – who together banked more than $333,000 in earnings from their 17 wins.

Nominees for the association’s premier award, the Woodlands Victorian Breeder of the Year, were announced with the winner to be named at the industry's Horse of the Year Awards on June 19. Benstud Standardbreds, Durham Park and Lauriston Bloodstock all posted outstanding results for the season, with a dozen Group 1 winners between them. 

The Ian Daff Memorial Award, which recognises tenured services to the Victorian breeding industry, was awarded to Blanche and Dean Poole of Rhiannon Park.

The farm was established in 2006 and has been at the forefront of developing techniques and best practice in AI and conception strike rates, yearling preparation and mare scanning.

They have also been able to teach and mentor scores of veterinary students and trainees the finer points of standardbred breeding and technology.

In a new development to widen the scope of the award, HBV invites members of the public to nominate candidates for the Ian Daff Memorial Award on the 2022 program. Details on criteria and submission can be found on the HBV website, www.hbv.org.au.

The association also used the platform to announce a posthumous Life Membership to Rod Pollock, who passed away during the season. As well as serving on the HBV executive, Pollock was the keeper of the stud book for a time and was instrumental in developing regulation that improved the breed including DNA typing.

In a first for the $65 million Victorian breeding sector, the presentations were made live on Harness Racing Victoria’s dedicated streaming platform, TrotsVision.

“Unfortunately the events space is still quite challenging in Victoria and as a result we needed to perform a last-minute pivot to a virtual event,” Hooper said.

“Thankfully, both Harness Racing Victoria and Campbell’s Comments were available and willing to support us in making this happen and the format has proved popular.”

A replay of the full show can be seen below.

The other half of the breeding equation – the stallions – were recognised for juvenile production.

The Alabar Pacing Sires of the Year were both taken by sires stood by Empire Stallions at Avenel, the now-deceased Somebeachsomewhere (2YO Sire) and his burgeoning son, Captaintreacherous (3YO Sire).

Ballarat-based farm Haras des Trotteurs claimed both Trotting Sire of the Year awards with Love You (2YO Sire) and Used To Me (3YO) with the best foal-winner ratio across 2021.

Named the best of their year in their gender and gait were two-year-olds Courage Stride (Emilio and Maria Rosati, Sydney), Catch A Wave (Benstud Standardbreds, Katanga), Just A Bit Touchy (Rhiannon Park, Congupna) and Encipher (Tyson Linke, SA); 3YOs Aldebaran Zeus (Aldebaran Lodge, Nagambie), Act Now (Durham Park, Ballarat), Fancy (Yabby Dam Farms, Ballarat) and Ladies In Red (Lauriston Bloodstock, Melbourne); and aged horses Maori Law (Fred Crews, Melbourne), Lochinvar Art (Daniel Cordina, Sydney), Pink Galahs (Laura Lewis, Portland) and Maajida (Atworthy Park, Wagga).

More than a dozen horses received Group 1 plaques, more than 100 recorded times considered to be excellent across the season for the first time and commercial outfits Cahillio Pty Ltd and Yabby Dam Farms were recognised for their high-earning yearlings at the 2021 yearling sales across the country.

ENJOY HARNESS BREEDERS VICTORIA'S 2021 AWARDS: