Three harness racing trotting winners on two continents in one day.
That was the remarkable achievement of progeny from Yabby Dam Farms’ former Australasian Grand Circuit champion mare La Coocaracha this week.
First out of the blocks at Bendigo was La Coocaracha son Mataderos, a 3YO Dream Vacation colt who was driven by Yabby Dam Racing’s Finnish track driver Anti Ruokenon in his first ever Australian race start.
Trained by Anton Golino, and rated in front to perfection by Ruokenon, Mataderos cleared out to win by 8.5m to record his first win in impressive fashion, and also give the young Finn the perfect start to his Australian race driving career.
To watch the video replay of this race click on this link.
The Golino stable’s star Dance Craze was the next up for La Coocaracha, competing in the first heat of the Lynn McPherson Breed for Speed Gold Series after her stunning win in the Great Southern Star.
Glen Craven patiently drove the 5YO mare at the back of the field before unleashing a brilliant burst of speed in the home straight to claim the victory, the mare’s 16th in 26 starts.
To watch the video replay of this race click on this link.
And then as the day turned night at the famous Yonkers track in North America, La Grange A won impressively in 1.56.3 on his American debut in a $20,000 conditioned event.
Despite the dreaded eight pole, driver Yannick Gingras using his charge’s gate speed to get to the lead early and proved too strong for this conditioned field.
La Grange, was sold in December through JC International’s John Curtin to Renee Spahr, and is a full brother to Dance Craze being a son of Muscle Hill out of La Coocaracha.
Like his two siblings, he was bred by Yabby Dam Farms and Haras des Trotteurs in Cardigan, Victoria and was a Group 2 winner during his 2- and 3-year-old seasons in Australia.
A November 2014 foal, La Grange is still a 4-year-old by Australian time, but is a 5-year-old in the U.S. because of the different breeding calendars and has now won seven of his 23 career races.
“He’s a nice horse,” trainer Per Engblom, told the US Trotting Association website prior to the race.
“From the way he feels when we’re training, that he’s a very strong horse. He can take a lot of air. He’s very clean gaited; I just hope he’s fast enough. He’s more of a grinder than a speed horse, but I think he’s OK.”
Engblom’s feelings as it turned out were spot on.
“Hopefully we can get him into the Meadowlands in a class where he fits so we can get started there. He’s basically missing his 4-year-old year, so it’s going to be a big transition. We’ll see how he handles it. He was maybe a notch below the best ones Down Under, but he’s a real good horse.
La Grange Is yet another product of the blossoming Australian trotting breeding program, which is now showing that it can produce trotters that can be competitive on the international stage, a path that has been successfully blazed by Down Under pacers for several years.
Last year, another Muscle Hill colt Aldebaranwalkabout won two races, including a division of the Bluegrass Stakes, for owner and breeder Duncan McPherson’s Aldebaran Park Inc.
Engblom also told the US Trotting website will point La Grange toward several upcoming series for older trotters and also made the stallion eligible to some stakes races.
“I don’t know if he’s going to be ready for the early stakes, but by this fall I wouldn’t be surprised if he is,” Engblom said. “He’s got a series at Pocono, then we’ll see. We’ll see if he develops. He’s a big horse, so I think he’s going to be better with age. I think he’ll be OK.”
Back at Yabby Dam Farms and Haras des Trotteurs in Australia, La Coocaracha is proving to be every bit the champion in the broodmare paddock as she was on the track.
She is also the dam of former Group one winner Reine Danzante (now in foal to Muscle Mass) while a yearling colt by Andover Hall is breaking in beautifully and she also has a lovely filly by French sire Quaker Jet. Meanwhile La Coocaracha’s 9-win daughter La Biscuit is also the dam of a Group one winner in
Royal Treat.
The results are also in line with Yabby Dam Farms/Haras des Trotteurs mission to breed world class trotters while also continuing fellow breeder Duncan McPherson’s long stated ambition to internationalise trotting.