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.

The Woodlands Stud horse Sweet Lou, who topped three-year-old sires’ list in Australia and North America last year, was the busiest stallion in Australasia in the closing season.

The first-season sires’ table always makes for interesting discussion, and 2024 sees a host of well-bred stallions that were well-performed on the track have their maiden crop of runners hit the track as two-year-olds.

These include the crack American imports Captain Crunch, McWicked, Stay Hungry and Lather Up and the colonial stallions Soho Tribeca, Poster Boy, The Storm Inside and Soho Lanikai.

An unwavering faith in European bloodlines has reaped rewards for prominent Ballarat breeder-studmaster Pat Driscoll in the case of Callmethebreeze, the track record-equalling winner of the $300,000 Yabby Dam Farms Great Southern Star at Melton.

Trained by globetrotting horseman Anton Golino and expertly driven by Nathan Jack, the handsome Trixton entire has pocketed $195,600 from three starts since being imported from France by Driscoll last year.

The Australian Pacing Gold Yearling Sale, to be held at Oaklands Junction on Sunday, offers buyers the chance to own some of Australasia's best-bred yearlings available with 33 yearlings either out of or siblings to Group/Listed winning mares.

The youngsters represent the cream of the crop from many of the leading breeders in Victoria, New South Wales, South Australia and Tasmania.

First season sires are poised to make a strong impact at the 2024 Australian Pacing Gold Yearling Sale at Oaklands Junction with eight new stallions testing the water.

Several Victorian sires lead the way in terms of representation with solid drafts by Tall Dark Stranger (3 lots), Ride High (4), Bettor’s Wish (2) and the trotter Elite Stride (2).

Colonial bred stallions are making their present felt whenever they are given reasonable stud chances. The results of the first two-year-old races in Victoria and WA emphasised this.

Three of the first four placegetters at Bendigo were by locally bred sires, the winner Viva Storm and runner-up Stormy Woods both being by The Storm Inside and the fourth placegettter Alighieri by Soho Tribeca.

For the 12^th consecutive season, Bettor’s Delight was once again the leading sire in Australia.

The Woodlands Stud stallion was again in a class of his own in 2023 as his offspring won $13,733,364 and 963 races.

Earlier in his working life Bungaree enthusiast Maurice Hanrahan served as a strategist in the Victorian Premier’s Department, forming and implementing strategies for the State’s leaders Jeff Kennett, Steve Bracks and John Brumby.

Hanrahan, who was introduced to trotting by his late father Tom, a successful breeder and owner, is now developing a breeding and racing program of his own from a select group of broodmares at his Western District potato property.