Colonial bred stallions are making their presence felt whenever they are given reasonable stud chances. The results of metropolitan racing around the country last weekend and the national sires’ premierships emphasised this.

Poster Boy (Llowalong Farms) landed a double at Melton with the talented three-year-olds Its Confidential and Cigano, while Vincent (Alabar Bloodstock) and the trotting sire Skyvalley (Aldebaran Park) also produced winners on the same card in Surfingmakescents and the royally bred three-year-old Alrighty respectively.

Skyvalley also figured as the sire of the winner of the opening heat of the Inter Dominion Trotting series at Albion Park in Golden Sunset and Soho Tribeca (Llowalong Farms) produced the winner of the South East Oaks, Manhatten Chick.

At Menangle, Australasian bred stallions left three winners on the nine-race card in Nosaer (by For A Reason), the winner of the Waratah Final, More Gooda (by Highview Tommy) and the $50,000 Trot NSW 2YO victor Gladiatrix (by Elite Stride).

The deceased dual WA Pacing Cup hero My Hard Copy sired the winners of both Westbred features at Gloucester Park in Copy Cat Queen and Last Hard Copy, while Caribbean Blaster was represented by Chekker, the winner of the Westsired Classic for three-year-old fillies.

On the national sires’ lists, colonial bred stallions feature prominently in a number of different categories.

Ride High and Elite Stride, who both stand at Alabar, are the season’s leading first crop stakes-winning sires for two-year-old pacers and trotters respectively.

Poster Boy, Soho Tribeca, Vincent and For A Reason are all ranked among the top bracket on the three-year-old sires’ money-winning list, while Skyvalley is currently in third position on the all aged trotting sires’ table.

The quality and quantity of colonial bred pacing and trotting stallions available to breeders in Australia and New Zealand this season is on a par with any in the previous 50 years.

  • Three Victorian bred horses won on the opening night of the Inter Dominion carnival at Albion Park in the ID heat winners Sure Thing Captain and Golden Sunset and the South East Derby victor Seathestars
  • Lauriston Bloodstock’s Bill and Anne Anderson landed a two-State double on Saturday night with Sure Thing Captain and the impressive Melton three-year-old winner Its Confidential, who both belong to the same maternal family
  • Talennted three-year-old trotter Alrighty, who defeated older rivals at Melton, is another member of the famous Maori Miss tribe. The gelding was bred and is raced by Bryan Healy, who enjoyed spectacular success with numerous members of this family, most notably Maori’s Idol