A feature of the Christmas meeting at Melton was the fact that three of the Final winners of the Vicbred Platinum Homegrown Classic in Captain Perfect (2YO colt), Looks Perfect (2YO filly) and Iron Women (2YO trotting filly) were all bred in the same region.

There is a Victorian influence about the breeding of the two Inter Dominion champions – Don Hugo and The Locomotive.

Victorian bred square-gaiters make up two-thirds of the 12-horse field for Saturday night’s $150,000 Inter Dominion Trotting Championship Grand Final at Menangle.

The eight-strong Vicbred contingent is headed up by ruling favourite The Locomotive who is attempting to make a clean sweep of the series.

Passionate Melbourne hobby breeder Shayne Last has enjoyed a productive fortnight with a small, select band of broodmares.

A total of 15 Victorian-bred horses will contest the opening round of heats of the Inter Dominion pacing and trotting championships at Newcastle on Friday night.

The victories by Valtino and Enchauffour at last weekend’s Breeders Crown meeting at Melton Entertainment Park raised the total of Pat Driscoll’s Yabby Dam Farms’ Crown winners to 11 and he is clearly the most successful breeder in the time-honoured series.

The Woodlands Stud stallion Sweet Lou and Llowalong Farms’ frozen semen sire Volstead have the largest entry for the Breeders Crown finals at Melton for pacers and trotters respectively.

Sweet Lou has eight runners and Volstead 10.

Other stallions with strong representation on the pacing side are Bettor’s Delight with six, as well as Art Major (five), Always B Miki (four), American Ideal (three) and Downbytheseaside (three).

Layden, who cost a modest $17,000 at the Australian Pacing Gold Melbourne Yearling sale in 2019, is proving one of the success stories of Victorian harness racing.

Trotting phenomenon Volstead reached an important milestone when his three-year-old progeny broke through the $1 million barrier at the Redwood carnival at Maryborough.

Melbourne breeder and financial advisor Harvey Kaplan has been at the forefront of the standardbred breeding industry, both in his home state and New Zealand for more than 20 years.

Among the top flight performers he has brought out are Bling It On, Baby Bling, Mach Doro, Fly Like An Eagle, Flaming Flutter and Arctic Fire, just to name a few.

Victoria’s reputation as the hub of the Australian standardbred breeding industry was further amplified with the results of the huge Victoria Cup meeting at Melton Entertainment Park.

Three of the six Group 1 winners were bred in Victoria….Best Deal, winner of the $200,000 Woodlands Stud Victoria Derby, Just Believe, who took out the $75,000 Aldebaran Park Bill Collins Trotters Sprint, and Keayang Zahara, the runaway winner of the $75,000 Catanach’s Jewellers Victoria Trotters Oaks.

The steady flow of Australian and New Zealand horses to North America continues unabated, and the class of horse being sold ranges from Cup class pacers down to virtually maiden class horses.

Australian Pacing Gold have added a new yearling sale to their roster this year in South Australia, bringing their nationwide total to five States.

A carefully planned, well managed breeding program is starting to reap rewards for enthusiastic Goulburn Valley breeder-owner and businessman Frank Jessup.

The profound influence exerted by the immortal Western Hanover on the pacing breed and Muscles Yankee on the trotting side was emphasized with the results of the $1.5 million Vicbred Super Series meeting at Melton.

The American horse Volstead and Ballarat breeder Pat Driscoll were the dominant forces from a breeding standpoint in the heats of the Haras Des Trotteurs sponsored Vicbred Super Series for trotters at Geelong.

Many of Victoria’s leading standardbred breeders were to the forefront in the heats of the Alabar Bloodstock sponsored Vicbred Super Series for two, three and four-year-old pacers conducted at Bendigo, Kilmore and Melton last week.

A feature of the first crop sires’ statistics to date this season is the strong showing by colonial bred sires in the two-year-old racing.