A breeding and racing partnership formed 52 years ago between Peter Watkinson and Bruce Paul was thrust into prominence when Sahara Tiger outsprinted a smart field in a career-best 1:51 at Melton last Saturday night.

“We first met at the City of Nunawading offices back in 1972. I was a planning cadet and Bruce was one of the building surveyors,” Watkinson said.

“We’re extremely pleased with his 1:54 effort on a cold night at Melton.  He’s not fully wound up yet.”

The speaker is Aldebaran Park principal Duncan McPherson OAM after watching his homebred star Aldebaran Zeus outsprint a smart field in the Aldebaran Park Trotters Free-for-all last Saturday night.

Promising four-year-old You Beauty and jovial Horsham owner-trainer-driver Aaron Dunn achieved an important milestone in their careers when they combined for a last-to-first success in the Beraldo Coffee Mares’ Final at Melton last Saturday.

The Sportswriter mare is a fourth generation winner for the Dunn family from a line tracing back to the Keystone Scotch mare Koomberkine.

Well known Riverina breeder-owner-trainer Paul Kahlefeldt achieved yet another moment of glory in a 30 year involvement in the sport when he was crowned the Woodlands Stud Victorian Breeder of the Year for 2023.

Respected Woolsthorpe breeder-owner Ian Stanley and his son Michael have qualified two runners - Exotic Bushranger and Ubetcha Tigerpie - for the $25,000 Sulky.App-The Future Of Form Metropolitan Pace Final (2240 metres) at Melton on Saturday night.

However, the father-son combination is undecided as to which is their best chance of lifting the trophy.

One of the most interesting features of the Melton meeting last Saturday from a breeding viewpoint was the fact that three of the winners, Let Her Roll (Alabar Sapling Stakes), Keayang Tokyo and last season’s Breeders Crown champion Perfect Class, who looks one of the most capable young pacers in the country, all belong to the one family.

All three trace back to the Windshield Wiper mare Larrakeyah Lady, a Vicbred champion and a mare who has had a terrific influence on light harness breeding in Australia.

Mary Helen Pearce, the owner of Eldarin Park stud, which for many years has been one of Victoria’s most prominent breeding establishments, has decided to retire from commercial breeding.

Newly elected Harness Breeders Victoria chairman John Coffey, one of the most respected figures in harness racing in this country, has viewed his concerns regarding a number of issues confronting the breeding industry.

Seven horses sold for $100,000 or more at the 2024 Nutrien Equine Melbourne Yearling Sale at Inglis Oaklands Junction on Sunday.

Following on from the successful Sydney sale, the Melbourne auction saw quality lots attract plenty of interest.

The results of the heats of the Nutrien Sales Classic at Ballarat on Thursday night provided a timely boost for the Nutrien Equine Melbourne Yearling Sale at Inglis Oaklands Junction on Sunday.

The Captaintreacherous filly Miss Australiana, the runaway winner of the second two-year-old fillies’ heat, has a half-brother by leading first crop sire Stay Hungry in the sale as Lot 198.

Champion breeder Pat Driscoll and the American horse Volstead combined to win half of the six heats of the Nutrien Equine Haras Des Trotteurs Trotters Classic at Bendigo on Wednesday night.

Driscoll’s Yabby Dam Farms brought out three winners in the two-year-old colt Enchauffour, the three-year-old gelding Derek The Jet and the three-year-old filly We Can Have It All. All three were sired by Volstead.

Close relations to classics and cups winners, in particular, those that have won at the top tier level, are always a highlight of a yearling sale.

The Victorian standardbred breeding industry will be on show next weekend when more than 190 Vicbred-eligible yearlings go under the hammer at Oaklands Junction for the Nutrien Equine sale.

The 2024 Nutrien Equine Melbourne Yearling Sale is set to kick off on Friday, April 12 with inspection day, followed by the Woodlands Stud yearling parade on the Saturday and the yearling sale on Sunday, April 14 starting at 11am.

With a blockbuster lineup of 198 lots –including 69 trotters, the William Inglis complex has been well worn by prospective buyers looking for their next Leap To Fame, Catch A Wave, Ladies In Red or Just Believe.

Just three years removed from that vaunted two-year-old pacing group of American bred stars that included Always B Miki, Betting Line and Racing Hill and brilliant local Bling It On, another crop is emerging that may end up fairly deep as well.

Goulburn Valley horsewoman Jane Hearn has good reason to feel pleased that she retained the quaintly named Dun Me Up Francy after offering her at the Nutrien Equine Melbourne Yearling Sale in 2021.

At Melton Entertainment Park last Saturday, the Four Starzzz Shark four-year-old sprinted brilliantly on the passing lane to notch her fourth and most important success in the inaugural Angelique Club-sponsored The Pearl Final.

Bettor’s Delight was foaled in 1998, while Art Major was born in 1999, and yet these two stallions, despite being in their twilight years, are still highly influential today in the sport and it seems their influence is getting stronger as the two lines become more and more entwined.

The results of Miracle Mile night at Menangle emphasizes this.

The first three placegetters in the $1million Garrard’s Miracle Mile were all by Bettor’s Delight – the winner Leap To Fame, runner-up Sooner The Bettor and the third placed Speak The Truth.

Loddon region breeder-owner Graham Maxted was provided with his first ever Group 1 success when Modern Bliss roared home to annex the prestigious $150,000 Hobart Cup at Elwick on Saturday night.

Maxted, who owns a sheep and cereal crop farm in the small hamlet of Jarklin, followed in the footsteps of his father, Harvey, in breeding and racing pacers.