An empty broodmare who changed hands for a modest $500 more than 30 years ago has established one of Victoria’s most successful families of trotters that was underscored by the runaway success of Dichotomy at Melton last Saturday night.

The mare was Always Alone, who was bred and owned by legendary Goulburn Valley studmaster Chris Howe and bought by square-gaiting aficionados Paul Graydon and John Peck.

When put R C’s Dee Jay, a stallion imported from America by the pair and rated the fastest trotting stallion brought ‘down under’ at the time, Always Alone produced Midnight Till Dawn, whose four successes included the 1992 Bathurst Gold Coronet by an official margin of 100 metres.

The Globe Derby Park winner Tennessee Dee Jay and the successful broodmares The Wallflower and Thel Pride were others left by Always Alone.

 “Paul and I arranged for the first ever impregnation of a mare with frozen semen in the southern hemisphere joining Always Alone with Anders Crown,” Peck said. “The foal ended up with John Campbell who named it First Frozen.

“He bred her to Classic Adam to get Chilly Pepperell, the dam of The Penny Drops.”

Midnight Till Dawn left four winners including the Group winners Action After Dark and Stoned At Midnight, who became the dam of five winners including a top flight trotter in Stoned I Am, the Bathurst Gold Coronet winner Left In The Dark and the lightly raced Box Brownie, the dam of the dual Vicbred champion and multiple country cups winner Brunelleschi.

Another daughter of Midnight Till Dawn was Stoned Till Dawn, who left Dichotomy (by Aldebaran Eagle), the winner of six races so far and $89,090, and last season’s two-year-old winner Tunbridge.

Dichotomy was bred by Paul Graydon and well known identity Nick Hooper, who sold Stoned At Dawn with the foal in utero to leading trainer Jess Tubbs and her mother Kate.

The Always Alone family has produced three Inter Dominion finalists in Stoned At Midnight, Action After Dark and The Penny Drops and the Group 1 winner and Australian Trotting Grand Prix fourth placegetter Brunelleschi.

Graydon rates The Penny Drops, an Inter Dominion heat winner and the winner of five cups, Action After Dark and Brunelleschi as the best horses from the family, while Peck ranks The Penny Drops, Stoned At Midnight and Brunelleschi as his top three.

“I so enjoyed watching Stoned At Midnight winning nine in a row and 12 out of 13,” Peck stated.

For Us All, a young Bettor’s Delight mare from the family of million dollar winners Leap To Fame, Swayzee and For A Reason, topped the Australian Pacing Gold Online Mixed National Sale at $90,000

The battle for the leading first crop sire is intensifying with Captain Crunch (12 winners) leading Stay Hungry (10), Poster Boy (nine) and Soho Tribeca and The Storm Inside with five apiece

The A Rocknroll Dance gelding Pablo Rocks, a winner at the Kilmore midweek meeting, is proving a handy money-spinner for the Kiel family, keen sponsors of the Swan Hill club

The opinions expressed in The Forum are those of the author and may not be attributed to or represent policies of Harness Racing Victoria, which is the state authority and owner of thetrots.com.au.