Melb 2004 - Trotters Series

2004 Trotters Series
Moonee Valley, Melbourne, Vic

2004 $200,000 Inter Dominion Trotting Championship Series Heats: 13 & 21 February 2004 Final: 28 February 2004
Victoria’s Sumthingaboutmaori has become the first Australian trotter to be invited to contest the prestigious Breeders Crown in the USA following her tough victory in the grand Final of the Inter Dominion Championship for trotters at Moonee Valley. It was a case of fourth time lucky for owner-breeder-trainer Bryan Healy and his late father Ric. In 1966 the Healy's had a tight grip on the Inter Dominion Trotting Grand Final with Maori Miss until it broke up and missed a place. Then, in 1978 her son the great Maori’s Idol (going for 25 straight) looked a certainty beaten in that Grand Final when Bryan left his run far too late. Another member of this famous family, Maori’s Glory, started favourite in the Grand Final of 1992 only to be beaten into fourth. Sumthingaboutmaori, driven by master reinsman Gavin Lang, overcame their backmark in the 2004 Grand Final to outstay Martina H NZ and Sophocles. It was the first time in 15 years that New Zealand has failed to win the trotters section of an Inter Dominion. Sumthingaboutmaori is eligible for the Hambletonian Society’s Breeders Crown under the Foreign Winners Eligibility Clause identifying that the Winner of the Inter Dominion Trotters Championship and other international races can participate subject to the payment of the prescribed fees. An added factor is that the mare is by the outstanding American sire Pine Chip. Soon after the Australian Harness Racing Council six years ago approved the use of frozen semen, Healy went to the expense of importing semen from what was then one of the outstanding American bred sires now standing in Sweden for his mares Maori Princess and Maori’s Glory.

While Sumthingaboutmaori was a highly promising two-year-old, Bryan Healy at the time rated the colt by Pine Chip from Maori’s Glory to be the better of the two. Named Wind Cries Maori, it seriously injured a leg and went off to stud without having raced.

Some 100 metres from the post and this latest Inter Dominion Grand Final also looked lost to Bryan Healy when Martina H NZ swept up to the short-priced favourite. But Sumthingaboutmaori showed her true fighting qualities and simply refused to give in.

While Australia’s latest champion trotter is a shining example of the value international frozen semen is to our breeding industry, both Sumthingaboutmaori and Martina H NZ are splendid examples of another major breakthrough in the rules of breeding. They both have produced foals (now yearlings) through the use of impregnating one of their eggs and having a surrogate mother raise the foals. This has enabled both mares to stay racing longer.