Scar Struck: A story of firsts

When the two-year-old colt Scar Struck emerged successful in 1:58 at his debut at Albion Park recently he brought up a number of significant firsts. 

He was the first two-year-old winner in Queensland this season, the first Australian-bred winner for his sire Dancin Lou and is out of the first mare ever owned by a syndicate of tyro NSW breeders. 

The Scar Struck story began in 2018 when Brendan Micallef, the new general manager of Harnesslink, and his father Paul, bought the three-start maiden Kotiro from New Zealand. 

“The late Darrell Kidd of Global Bloodstock picked her out for us. He helped start me out in ownership and breeding, thus creating BPM Bloodstock,” Brendan said. 

“I raced Kotiro in partnership with family and friends, before entering breeding operations with Mark and Nicole Tiedemann of Summerhill Pastoral, who have over 3000 acres at Young.” 

“Her grand-dam was Lento, who won eight Group races in NZ and Australia.” 

The Changeover mare totted up six wins in NSW and Queensland and put an exclamation mark on her career when she won a Mares’ Qualifying at Albion Park in 1:54.5 for trainer Christina Monte. 

The Albion Park race carried a free service to the then Egmont Park-based stallion Ohoka Punter and Tamatine Tane was the result. The gelding was a winner at Newcastle last year in 1:58.5. 

The following year Kotiro was mated with the USA Breeders Crown champion and millionaire pacer Dancin Lou (1:47.4), whose frozen semen was available from Trump Bloodstock in Queensland. 

“He was a really clean pacer and an incredibly fast horse. We were looking for a sire with speed and gait. They were the two major factors in sending a mare to him,” Brendan said. 

“We wanted the foal to be QBred and NSW Bred and we thought that Dancin Lou represented the best value for the bloodlines in Queensland.” 

Scar Struck, the result of the service, was the very first starter by Dancin Lou in this country.  

The Sweet Lou horse stood the following season in the flesh at the Cobbitty Equine Farm in NSW but has not shuffled back to Australia since returning to Canada in 2023. 

He sired 22 foals in each of his two seasons ‘down under’. 

Back to Kotiro. Since producing Scar Struck in 2023, she missed to the cover of A Rocknroll Dance and has a lovely Cattlewash filly foal at foot. She was not bred from last season. 

“We are thinking of going to another son of Sweet Lou for her next service,” Micallef said. 

Dancin Lou, who retired the richest and fastest entire son of Sweet Lou, has sired the winners of almost $US1.2 million from two racing crops in North America. 

 

by Peter Wharton, for Harnesslink