Horse: Extrahot (best presented filly in 2023 Sydney Sale)
One of our most loyal supporters – since its inception in 1989 – has no right to be alive, let alone breeding the winner of last month’s $150,000 Melbourne 2yo Sales Graduate Series.
In fact, Loucasso’s 15.2-metre victory in 1,720m mobile at Tabcorp Melton on May 24, is one of many APG and Group victories, that Goulburn owner, and breeder, Mathew Day, has put through our Sales since his first venture into the Sales Ring 36 years ago.
But the 55-year-old should have died in his teens and then again in his late 40s.
“I was just 17 and we were coming back from the races and a driver of a truck and trailer fell asleep and veered into us. I broke my back and lost an eye, and sadly couldn’t carry on training. That’s when I changed track and ventured into breeding.
“Then in September 2019 I was involved in a quad bike accident and fractured my skull in two places. I also broke my neck, back, jaw, and ribs, and was unconscious for a month. I’ve still got eight blood clots in my legs, but my partner Jannine (Thomson), my two daughters Emma (20) and Brooke (19), and my horses have kept me going,” Day said.
“They are what I live for,” he added.
The second youngest of the late Frank and Edna’s 10 racing children (six boys) has bred champion after champion, and most of them have gone through the APG Sale.
“I’ve always been a big supporter of APG sales right from when they first started. I suppose success has ensured that, but they do a good job. Times have been a bit tougher in recent years, but I put that down to the downturn of the economy and poor management from Harness Racing Australia.
“I’m hoping it will pick up because my bloodlines are still very strong. My families go back generations. I have grand-daughters and grandsons; and sons and daughters of Group One winning champions that have proven successful both on the racetrack and the sales Ring. I know there are plenty more to come as well,” said Day who farms on 35 acres and Goulburn, and also houses his mares on a separate 100-acre property nearby.
“There’s no bigger critic of my horses than myself, that’s why my horses always look well when I present them, and they always have a reasonable reserve price, which I would pay,” he added.
Apart from Loucasso (1:54.8), who sold for $40,000 at last year’s Yearling Sale in Sydney, and has now won four of his five starts and $92,204, Day has had many other APG Sales success stories.
But the best broodmare that Day has bred from is the 2008 Christian Cullen – Threepence (Holmes Hanover) one-win mare, Perfect Penny.
“She has produced champion after champion. Four of her eight foals so far have won more than $100,000 each, with probably the best mare I’ve bred being her third foal, Anntonia. Wow she was a real beauty who won 15 races, three of them Group Ones, and more than $400,000,” Day said.
“She also went under 1:50 (1:49.8) for the mile,” he added.
Anntonia is a 2017 brown Bettors Delight mare, who was sold at our Sydney Yearling Sale in 2019 to Thorn Harness for $90,000.
Her 15 wins and $411,835 in purses came largely from the $200,000 Group One NSW Oaks at Menangle in 2021; the $100,000 Group One Yirribee Pacing Stud Gold Bracelet at Bathurst in 2021; and the $150,000 Group One NSW Breeders Challenge 3yo Final at Menangle in October 2021 where she recorded her fastest mile.
Cawdor (NSW) horseman, Paul Fitzpatrick, also got himself a bargain when he paid $55,000 for the Anntonia’s younger half-sister – foal two, Miss Halfpenny (1:55) in 2017.
That 2015 daughter of Perfect Penny and Christian Cullen is a Group One champion, and amassed $3=235,403 in stakes money from her 10 victories and 13 placings between March 2018 and March 2021.
Miss Halfpenny nailed the Group One $125,000 NSW 2yo Fillies Breeders Challenge Final at Menangle in July 2018, and three months earlier ran second in the Group One $328,000 APG Final for 2yo Fillies at Menangle in April 2018.
She was also placed that same year at Bathurst in the $100,000 Group One Gold Tiara Final.
Then there’s foals four (Rocknpenny 1:54.6) and six (Humble 1:50.6) from Perfect Penny that have also won nine ($127,035) and 14 ($186,999) races respectively.
Rocknpenny, a 2018 A Rocknroll Dance gelding was sold for $31,000 to Paul Fitzpatrick at our 2020 Yearling Sale in Sydney, while Humble, a 4-year-old American ideal colt, who was bought by M. Boots at our 2022 Yearling sale in Sydney.
Rocknpenny was a Group Three winner and ran second in the $125,000 Group One APG Gold 2yo Gold Bullion Final at Menangle in April 2021.
Humble has won several races in the United States including a 1:50.6 mile.
Day said the 2014 Somebeachsomewhere – Bettorthanyou (Bettors Delight) chestnut gelding, Sicario, was another Sales success story that immediately came to mind.
Victoria’s Jean Feiss paid $120,000 for Sicario (1:50.4) at our 2016 Yearling sale in Sydney. He then went on to win 27 races and placed 27 times between April 2017 and September 2023 – including the 2019 Group Two South Australia Pacing Cup and was a multiple Listed Classic and Group Three winner as well as Group One placed on three occasions.
Sicario recorded his scintillating 1:50.4 mile at Tabcorp Park, Menangle, when winning the 2021 Allied Express Pace by 4.4 metres when driven by Luke McCarthy.
He is the second of eight foals (so far) out of the maiden 2007 Bettors Delight – Intrude (Fake Left) mare Bettorthanyou. Her first three foals have all won 12 races or more, and the fifth is a Group One winner.
Foal one, the 2013 American ideal gelding, War Dan Apollo (1:53.9) won 14 race and placed 24 times for $92,568, while foal three, the 2015 Christian Cullen bay gelding, Imperious (1:54.4), was also a Sydney Yearling Sales pacer, who was bought by Glenn Holland for $82,500.
Imperious, who is still racing, has so far won 12 races and placed on 45 occasions between May 2019 and June 2025 and banked $114,031.
Foal five has proven to be no slouch either. That 5-year-old Captaintreacherous bay gelding named Jorge Street (1:54.9) has so far won eight of his 36 starts and placed in 15 others for $160,060.
Jorge Street’s best moment on the racetrack to date came at Elwick on March 22 this year when he nailed the Group One $150,000 Tasmania Cup Final.
“I’ve had several other good horses including Bettors Creation (Bettors Delight – Cullens Creation, who won first up a Pre-lude of the APG Fillies Heat at Menangle on June 3) who have gone on to good things. I’m breeding from Bainfield Washington, Delightfully Better, Cullens Creation (related to Courage Under Fire), as well as Perfect Penny and Bettorthanyou, and of course Loucasso’s dam, Our Little Artist.
“Amanda Turnbull paid $34,000 for a lovely brown King Of Swing colt out of our 2010 Art Major (16-win) mare, Our Little Artist. Hopefully the future will be even brighter and HRA will make some overdue changes so things look brighter for harness racing,” said Day who breeds from 12 to 14 mares each year.
“All I know is none of this would have been possible had I not had the support and help from my partner, Jannine. She has her own fulltime job in town but still spends many hours doing the hard yards on the farm. We are still breeding and hopefully there will be many good APG Sales horses to come in the future,” he added.
From APG Media
