A lifetime of contribution and service to the breeding industry has culminated with the Pangrazio family of Rochester winning Harness Breeders Victoria’s annual Ian Daff Memorial Award.

Growing up in Heathcote, the brothers Michael and Dennis began their association with harness racing when they purchased Junior Raider off St Arnaud breeder Jack Hoare for a paultry $500 in the early 1960’s.

This really sparked their interest in the sport and in 1975 they bought a chestnut filly by the champion sire Thor Hanover for $3,750 at the Victorian yearling sales. Named Sheffield Thor, she went on to win 25 races including a heat of the Victoria Oaks and later finished third in both the Winfield Cup and A. G. Hunter Cup.

Sheffield Thor became the foundation mare at the brothers’ newly established Cottonwood Farms in the early 1980’s. She left three winners and was the ancestress of a dozen performers earning in excess of $100,000. Perhaps the best of her progeny was Earl Of Sheffield, who won 14 races and $156,497 including the Tatlow Memorial, Young Bucks and a heat of the Victoria Derby.

Among other top pacers descending to Sheffield Thor have been the Australian Pacing Gold winners Mindarie Priddy and Waranga Drive, Sheffield Mark (Mildura Cup), the Vicbred champion Village Driller and Nathan’s Courage.

In 1986 Michael and Dennis moved to Rochester and bought dairy farms and set up separate breeding programs.

Michael and his wife Fay, trading as Staffordshire Park, bred the inaugural winner of the Victoria Sires Stakes for three-year-old colts and geldings in Pascinelle in 1983. Tennotrump, a Vicbred champion, Derby winner and successful sire, the dual Vicbred winner Brunelleschi, Tendaho and Apennyspent, winner of the 2007 Ian Daff Memorial, were other smart performers bred by Michael and Fay.

The best horses brought out by Dennis include the Paleface Adios Sprint winner Our Luciano (1:49.8) and Fields Of Honour ($526,184).

Michael’s son Neville and his wife Louise have also enjoyed great success with horses they have bred including the Vicbred Final winners Broke As Usual ($428,192) and Needabacardi.

Michael and Neville bred the Breeders Crown and dual Vicbred winner Moonshine Linda, while Louise and her parents Malcolm and Joan Shaw bred The Holmfield winner Shesawish and emerging star Jilliby Ballerini.

Neville and Louise are breeding up to 15 mares every year and are regular vendors at the Victorian yearling sales.

“It’s been a long haul. My father Neville and my uncle Dennis started out way back in the 1970’s and we’ve been breeding ever since,” Neville told Trots Vision’s Bronte Nieuwenburg.

“My dad’s favourite horse was Tennotrump but we’ve all bred a nice horse.”

  • Jazzy Melea, the fighting winner of the Ian Daff Memorial at Melton, was bred by well known Western Victorian horseman the late Barry Dunn and is raced, trained and driven by his son Aaron
  • Mystery Fred, a three-year-old trotting winner at Melton, was bred and is part-owned by champion poker player Gary Benson. He is out of Garston Girl, a half-sister to Plymouth Chubb, who ran third in the Free-for-all on the same night
  • Misty Miller, a smart racemare in the early 2000’s, has left a smart type in Isolation, who won the Warragul Pacing Cup Consolation. The gelding was bred by successful Bendigo horseman Gary Donaldson