Gerry Harvey’s been at the breeding game for a good few decades now, but still talks about it like a kid who discovered it last week. Every sentence ends with an exclamation mark. They rise in tone as if to end in astonishment and wonder. He speaks with a boyish enthusiasm, which probably explains why... Read More

Emotions ran high, amid remembrances of people and horses past, when Silent Sovereign (Dalakhani) stormed home to take Saturday’s Queen Of The South Stakes (Gr 2, 1600m) at Morphettville. And they’ll run even higher if she can win the Caulfield Cup (Gr 1, 2400m) this spring. The five-year-old mare owes her existence to a giant... Read More

It’s well known how success in breeding hinges on family connections. And now some such linkages – of the human kind – have led over several decades to a new stakes winner, in Adelaide last weekend. Around 1980, then-emerging breeder David Hains looked north, way north, and imported the Danish Oaks winner Love Song (Warpath),... Read More

You can say this much about the broodmare Peckish (Snitzel): she may be no oil painting and was excruciatingly slow, and she does have a shocking personality. Well, yes, but we can all wax sentimental about our horses now and again, especially the mares. Now, before you think we’ll pull that old gag about these... Read More

Verona’s black type breakthrough at Randwick last Saturday not only brought more endorsement for the eye of the Ciaron Maher and David Eustace stable, it showed New Zealand shuttle sire Belardo (Lope De Vega) may have breathed some overdue life into the breeding line of an all-time great mare. Maybe Mahal (Maybe Lad) was one... Read More