Port Au Prince winning.
Photo credit – Club Menangle

Last foal a Group 2 winner

By Peter Wharton

The Somebeachsomewhere four-year-old Port Au Prince, who won the Group 2 $50,000 Carousel Final at Menangle and has won two of his three starts on Australian soil, is the last foal bred by well known Auckland Trotting Club official Rod Croon.

He was sold as a weanling for $12,000 along with his dam Maheer Princess as part of the dispersal of Croon Bloodstock at NZ Bloodstock’s All Aged Sale at Karaka in 2018.  Gentle Audrey, the dam of the Bathurst Gold Crown winner Tasty Delight, was also sold at the auction.

The following year Port Au Prince was knocked down for $20,000 at the National Yearling Sale at Christchurch to clients of Ryal Bush horseman Peter Hunter.

Port Au Prince began racing as a three-year-old, notching a win and six placings from 21 starts. As a four-year-old he won twice and was twice placed from 15 starts before being sold to New South Wales interests in August.

Maheer Princess, the dam of Port Au Prince, won four races and $39,984 in stakes and took a mile mark of 1:58.8 and was an above average mare. At the stud she left six foals of racing age for four winners – all inside 2:00 – including Feel The Burn, a sister to Port Au Prince, who was sold as a yearling by Croon Bloodstock for $125,000 and has earned $77,896 from 10 wins and 17 placings highlighted by the Tasmanian Mother of Pearl and a 1:52 Menangle success.

Others from Maheer Princess were the Rotorua Cup and Tasmanian country cups winner Full Speed Ahead 1:57.1 ($171,632) and the multiple Gloucester Park winner Good Times Ahead 1:57.8 ($134,517).

Maheer Princess was a half-sister to the WA Pacing Cup and NZ Sires Stakes 3YO Championship winner Maheer Lord 1:53 ($515,470), the Moonee Valley winner Lavros Glen 1:54.4 ($122,984), the exported Maheer Maid (1:55.8) and to the dams of the Victorian Marathon winner Ideal Success 1:54.4 ($217,459), the Gloucester Park victor Carrera Mach 1:54.9 ($152,341) and Gamma Lady 1:54.8 ($146,599).

Their dam, the Group-winning filly Fern Glen, won 10 races and left eight winners. She was a half-sister to Hawera 1:51.2 ($179,799), a winner of 16 races in NZ and North America.

The most distinguished member of this family was the champion Australian pacer Lucky Creed, who, at one stage, won a record 24 races in succession. He took a mile record of 1:59 and won 35 races and $94,595 in stakes when they were much below their present level. His successes included the Miracle Mile, Carousel and a heat of the Inter Dominion.