January Breeders’ Bulletin

Breeders Bulletin

28 Jan

Written By Harness Breeders Victoria

Our latest newsletter is available now - read below or click HERE to access the version with live links.

View this email in your browser

Committee Notes

Another year has passed us by in the world of breeding - let's celebrate some highlights. Firstly congratulations to the breeders of the two Inter Dominion Grand Final winners – both bred in Victoria. Don Hugo (Art Major) had a break out season and advanced his earnings to $1.53 million. The Locomotive (Muscle Mass from the champion mare La Coocaracha) recorded a super win in the Trotters Grand Final and took his earnings to almost half a million. We also celebrate the emergence of perhaps the most exciting horse to be bred in Victoria since Popular Alm – Keayang Zahara. A perfect 14 from 14 three-year-old season is just the entrée for what is to come in 2025.

Secondly we applaud the emergence of four of our home grown stallions who are all based in Victoria - namely Poster Boy, Soho Tribeca, The Storm Inside and Vincent. Two of these stallions finished in the top ten on the Australian two-year-old sires table, whilst all four were in the top 17 on the two-year-old pacing sires list in Australia.

Finally, we wish all Victorian breeders the best of luck at the two Victorian Yearling Sales coming up at Inglis Oaklands in February (APG) and April (Nutrien).

Another successful Vicbred day

The 2024 edition of the all-maiden, all-Vicbred Humbletonian was another success, with HBV partnership for the 12th year to sponsor the meeting at Maryborough Harness Racing Club. With a nine-race program and big fields, the day – as always – delivered plenty of excitement, highlights and great stories. Read all about it HERE.

You've come a long way, baby!

Aldebaran Demi, the trotting star of our 2020 Follow A Foal campaign thanks to Aldebaran Park, continues to record an impressive record with a new 2025 victory at Bendigo - read the full story about this special HBV project HERE.

2025 Yearling Sales

The sales will be a big event again in 2025 and this year Oaklands will host two big catalogues of trotting and pacing yearlings for astute buyers with lots of Vicbred value on offer - click for catalogues:

APG Melbourne - Sunday 2 February

Nutrien Melbourne - Sunday 13 April

Harness Breeders (Vic) Annual General Meeting Notice

10:30AM SUNDAY 16 MARCH 2025
CLICK HERE TO JOIN THE AGM OR SAVE THE LINK

The next Harness Breeders Victoria AGM will be held as a virtual conference via Google Meets to enable as many members to take part as possible. This AGM covers our full season year from 1 January to 31 December 2024. Notification has also been sent as part of the 2025 renewal letter by post.

The Agenda can be downloaded below and the Annual Report will be published closer to the event on the HBV website and linked through our various social media channels and emails.

Nominations to join the committee will be due no later than the Thursday before the event (get your form here) - we are always looking for new committee members and there are currently vacancies and executive rolls that need to be filled. 2025 will be a critical time for breeders and for our industry - we need a full and functioning committee to advocate for breeders' interests as best we possibly can. Meetings are generally held online for best accessibility and the current Executive are happy to support members who've never served on a committee before.

Please mark the date in your diaries - good representation from our membership is really important to effect a successful AGM.

Download the Annual General Meeting Agenda HERE

FoalQuest 2025

We'll be soon on the lookout for a Vicbred foal to grace the cover of next year's edition of the Australasian Standardbred Stallion Guide, so make sure your cameras are at the ready this season - T&Cs are HERE, and be sure to tag us on Facebook & Twitter so we can share the foal love this season! You can also submit your photos to APG for their terrific new gallery HERE.

HBV Membership

New season membership for 2025 are now open with renewal notices to be issued to current and recently lapsed members in the last few weeks. Membership in this coming season is more important than ever to ensure the breeders' collective voice is truly being heard - support your very active kindred body in continuing to lobby government, HRA and HRV on behalf of Victorian breeders and commit to representation to the Harness Racing Advisory Council. Membership benefits will remain the same, including a hard copy of the 2025 Australasian Standardbred Stallion Guide delivered straight to your door.

Renew Your Membership For 2025 Here

Member Group Results

Congratulations to Group 1 & top line race winning member-breeders in December:

Yabby Dam Farms - The Locomotive (GR Australasian Trotters Inter Dominion Final)
Cahillio Pty Ltd - Don Hugo (GR1 Australasian Inter Dominion Final)
Benstud - We Walk By Faith (GR1 NZ Pacing Derby)

HBV now on BlueSky

Remember how Twitter used to work? The original makers of the news feed social platform have now made their latest development open to everyone - you'll find HBV there at @harnessbreeders.bsky.social or HERE.

Advocacy Update

The HBV committee continue to actively advocate for the interests of Victorian and Vicbred breeders, keep up to date with the latest submissions on our website, including our December statement HERE.

Breed To Succeed - Why We Breed

Dr Hugh Cathels caught up with Paul Campbell of Campbell’s Comments to discuss the importance of being prepared before you have a foal and what to do post foaling for the best chances of success.

Harness Breeders Victoria Committee Meetings

The next meeting of the HBV committee is scheduled for Tuesday 28 January and a summary of proceedings will be posted on our website shortly after. We invite members and interested parties to submit papers or correspondence for consideration by the Committee by post or email. Please refer to previously summaries on our website to ensure the issue has not previously been addressed by the Committee. For consideration at the each meeting, members should email papers or correspondence to contact@hbv.org.au.