Pedigree auctioned off as horse racing community embraces resurgent sport

Sprint racing has seen a recent resurgence across Australia, with northern communities over the last 10 years helping to rebuild the sport to the standard it is today.

Sprint horse owner Jody Murray, Uanda Station, Hughenden said sprint racing picked up in North Queensland after towns like Normanton and Sedan Dip lost race dates and the community rallied to bring horse sports back to the town.

"They started out using the fastest horses from local stations," Ms Murray said.

"Since then people have been looking for the well-bred sprint horses. It's growing."

"The horses are suited for all sorts of event, not just sprint racing but also barrel racing, roping, campdrafting."

Some breeders are importing modern racing genetics from the United States, introducing a new wealth of pedigrees to the market, some of which will be available at the Merrie Elliott Breeders Performance Horse Sale on Friday, January 31.

The AuctionsPlus sale will raise money for the $20,000 Merrie Elliott Breeders Cup race series prize money, the richest prize pool in Quarter Horse racing in the country.

The remainder of the prize money is raised by funds from the Merrie Elliott Online Performance Auction, held through AuctionsPlus, as well as sponsorship from Richmond Bush Sprints and Chris Wallin of Strategic Minerals, a major sponsor of the Richmond Bush Sprints meetings which features the Merrie Elliott Breeders Cup.

Victorian Quarter Horse breeder Allan Sulllivan was behind the creation of the Breeders Cup, where sprint stallion progenies have competed for the past four years.

"It is my sincere hope that the racing people of North Queensland can come together, keeping lines of communication open, losing no opportunity for discussion and forever keeping the big picture in front of them to ensure that the concept of the Breeders Cup has every chance to succeed with local racing communities benefitting as a result," Merrie Elliott said.

Mr Sullivan has helped pave the way for sprint Quarter Horses in Australia.

He purchased export Ima Go Man as a colt from the States and raced him successfully for several years.

For him, pedigree goes a long way for breeding race-winning horses.

"He's always at the top of my mind when I do a pedigree analysis for matings. I guess I like the 'underdog' who's had to get to the top the hard way," Mr Sullivan said.

The first two Breeders Cups were held at Normanton and moved to Richmond in 2023.

"Some of our fellow racing Americans have been taking a keen interest in the progress of the Merrie Elliott Breeders Cup and sprint racing in NQ and have offered support to help us grow the sport," Mr Sullivan said.

"Lazy E has been very generous with the donation of services to some of their top racing stallions in the USA. Hopefully, we can entice more leading breeders of stallions in Australia to nominate for the Merrie Elliott, which would not only help support our race but increase the quality of our performance product."

As the Breeders Cup grows, more people are expected to breed the stallions and further develop the sport in the north.

In 2004 and 2005, Mr Sullivan imported two mares Scoot N Fly and Shez Nobodys Darling.

"Both were by stallions that I considered were two of the best broodmare sires of all time - Strawfly Special and Heza Fast Man. The mares were in foal to Stoli, who had just won the All-American Derby and was regarded as the hottest sire to stand at stud in many years," he said.

"These two mares became the foundation of my breeding program. I've since imported [in 2022] another filly, Nauti by RC Me Leaving You."

After testing his breeding programme in North Queensland's sprint racing circuit, Mr Sullivan decided to launch the Breeders Cup to support the sport.

The Cup is funded by breeders who nominate their stallions to allow the progeny to qualify for entry.

"In Australia, given the shortage of running-bred horses, the progeny of non-nominated stallions have initially been accepted at a higher fee until such time as more of the progeny of the nominated sites is old enough to race," Mr Sullivan said.

Mr Sullivan was also the owner and breeder of last year's Merrie Elliott Breeders Cup winner, Sullivans Fleetwood, ridden by jockey Cheryl Bethel.

Jody Murray said sprint racing picked up in North Queensland after towns like Normanton and Sedan Dip lost race dates and the community rallied to bring horse sports back to the town.

"They started out using the fastest horses from local stations," Ms Murray said.

"Since then people have been looking for the well-bred sprint horses. It's growing."

"The horses are suited for all sorts of event, not just sprint racing but also barrel racing, roping, campdrafting," Ms Murray said.

Nominations for sprint horses to enter the auction are still open.

Overall, 16 horses from Hughenden, Victoria, Alton Downs, Charters Towers, New South Wales are up for auction.

The AuctionsPlus Merrie Elliott Performance Horse Sale starts 12.30pm Friday, January 31 and ends Tuesday, February 4 at 5pm.