Racing: Looking for swans among ducklings

They are harness racing's ugly ducklings.

They look more or less the same as the strutting glamour boys of pacing and they almost certainly have a better chance of success on the racetrack.

But one of the certainties at the Australasian Classic Yearling Sale at Karaka today is the trotting-bred yearlings won't get the love they deserve from buyers.

A larger than usual number of superbly-bred trotting yearlings will be through the ring - some of them truly world class - but it will be a surprise if any of them fetches half the price of the most expensive pacer.

Talk to the 10 top trainers at yesterday's yearling parade and most weren't even looking at the trotters.

This even though New Zealand's richest standardbred is Lyell Creek. Even though we almost always win the trotting Interdoms and almost always lose the pacing series.

The problem is trotters take time and time is money. They take time to mature, they take time to train and, more importantly, they take time to start returning your investment.

Add that to the fact young trotters race for far less money than their pacing cousins and you can see why they are the lost children of the harness racing world.

Of course the beauty is if you get a good trotter it can race until it is just about old enough to vote and these days they can win an enormous amount of money.

A perfect example is today's Lot 72, a Sundon colt out of champion mare Pride Of Petite.

Two years ago his sister bucked the trend by fetching over $100,000 and already this season the next foal from the mare, Petite Sunset, looks top class.

But he will be lucky to fetch more than $50,000.

"He is worth more than that but we have to be realistic and that is what he might go for," said owner Frank Weaver.

The colt looks worth the punt because his pedigree makes him the rare sort of trotter that could be sold to the huge Scandinavian market in the future if he was any good and he is the best-looking of Pride Of Petite's three foals.

Not too far from him yesterday stood another trotting-bred standout, an Armbro Invasion half-brother to Interdom champion Buster Hanover.

His dam, Broomfield Ann, has had five foals to the races and the worst of them won five races. An outstanding-looking colt, his credentials would see him go close to fetching $100,000 if he was a pacer.

But because he is a trotter from a great sire who doesn't leave horses known for their success as youngsters he will be sold for far less.

There are plenty of others too, including a filly from former Horse of the Year, Merinai and mares who either reached open class or have left open class horses.

They may be the best value at Karaka today and almost certainly one of the ugly ducklings will grow into a group-one winning swan.

But that raises the age-old question of yearling sales day: Which one?