Lifelong besties are certainly used to each other

Most harness racing horses buddy up with dozens of stablemates during their racing careers – but not Victorian square gaiters Against The Bridle and At The Distance.

The two six-year-old geldings have been lifelong companions, sharing the same paddock almost every day since they were born just 11 days apart in October 2019.

If one is nearby, chances are the other isn’t far away!

Bendigo breeder Leigh Graham believes their easy-going nature stems from their sire, the French-bred Used To Me, whose progeny quickly won him over.

“The Used To Mes seem to have a really nice temperament and that’s why we went to him with our mares,” Graham said.

“We’d broken a few in for Pat (Driscoll) and they were all really nice horses to get along with, so we decided to go that way.”

Graham took four mares to the outstanding stallion Used To Me resulting in four foals in 2019 – Against The Bridle, At The Distance, Avant Guard and the mare Dossier – all born in the same paddock and all progressing through their early handling and education together with Graham and his brother and trainer Ross.

“The three geldings still share the same paddock at Ross’s place,” Leigh said.

“Avant Guard probably prefers his own company a bit, he can be a bit of a loner, and Dossier is a lovely little mare with a beautiful temperament.  But Against The Bridle and At The Distance are two peas in a pod,” he said.

“They’re very fond of each other. They eat out of the same feed bin and I don’t really know how either of them would cope without the other.  There’s no boss dog, they’ve got a bit more of a democratic system going! They’re both very laid-back customers.”

Today, all four of the Grahams’ 2019 crop of Used To Me progeny continue to fly the flag for the stable.

Against The Bridle has raced 94 times for 11 wins, 15 seconds and 11 thirds, banking more than $53,000 in prizemoney.

At The Distance has made 86 appearances for 11 wins, nine seconds and eight thirds, earning just over $56,000.

The pair has raced at the same meeting on 10 occasions this season alone, often lining up against one another before returning home to the same paddock.

Avant Guard has also built an outstanding record, with 11 wins, including a Metropolitan level success, and more than $110,000 in earnings.

And, remarkably, Dossier too has recorded 11 career victories from 75 starts.

Used To Me is part of the internationally respected Yabby Dam Farms roster, where proprietor Pat Driscoll has spent decades pursuing a vision to elevate the standard of Australian trotting through world-class bloodlines.

A vision that began by chance during a European ski holiday when Driscoll visited the famed Prix d’Amérique meeting at Paris’ Vincennes racetrack, igniting a passion for trotting that has ultimately changed the direction of Australian breeding.

“I thought, ‘Why can’t we do this in Australia?'” Driscoll has often recalled.

“I loved that trotting was truly international. It was one of the major sports in France, Sweden, the United States and Canada. That really captured my imagination.”

That ambition has seen Yabby Dam Farms at Cardigan, near Ballarat, import some of the world’s finest European and North American trotting bloodlines, helping lift the quality of Australian squaregaiters while producing stars such as Just Believe and a succession of Group 1 winners.

The 2025-26 Yabby Dam Farms Roster: https://www.yabbydamfarms.com.au/stallions

 

by Terry Gange, for Harnesslink