Christen Me comfortable but... There were no real concerns for Christen Me in Friday night’s Maurice Holmes Vase, but as a Cup qualifier and form guide, not a lot if anything was learned. In fact the race was essentially a glorified trial for a stake of $25,000 and it probably provided for more questions than answers. None of this was a surprise at this point in proceedings – none of the legitimate Cup contenders want a gutbuster first up and it was always likely to be case of ‘let’s follow the leader around and see how strongly we can hit the line’. Christen Me certainly did the latter along with Jason Rulz and Choise Achiever after they’d sped home in 56 and 27 but the overall time of 3.17 is often run by maidens. The fact that Belkmyster and c4 horse Provocative Prince finished within 2-3 lengths of Christen Me just summed things up. “He was near enough and felt pretty good, but the only way to get race fit is with racing and he’ll improve plenty with that,” said Dexter Dunn. Cran Dalgety is going to leave no stone unturned in ensuring Christen Me is cherry ripe for what looks like his best ever chance at winning the Cup for a first time. With Adore Me and Terror To Love gone and the likes of Beautide and For A Reason not coming, the field is not looking overly strong to say the least, to such an extent that this is looking like ‘Christen Me’s Cup to lose’.
Dalgety has added this week’s Hannon to Christen Me’s agenda, where Saveapatrol is also among the nominations and Mossdale Conner is expected to be over a touch of greasy heel. Ricky May was also “rapt” with Jason Rulz’s run but in a lead-trail sprint home scenario, anything less from the noted speedster would have been disappointing. Tim Butt was also encouraged by the return performance of Choise Achiever, who took the most ground off Christen Me before pacing into a pocket within the last 100m. But he doesn’t expect the now 9-year-old to be in the Cup, a fact underlined by the story below. “He’s had three wind ops and hock issues so we’ll probably set our sights on a less demanding race like the Junior FFA on Cup Day,” said Butt. “A bit later we might look at a race like the Hunter Cup though,” he added. The Courage Under Fire gelding won that race in February, 2012, beating Auckland Reactor, but he’d been off the scene since December, 2013. Butt won’t back him up in the Hannon after so long out. Butt’s vet Bill Bishop has always been involved and no doubt very helpful with the ops, but Butt now owns the balance of Choise Achiever following the withdrawal of the other owners including Merv Rodgers. - by Frank Marrion.
Butt booked for Franco Nelson Anthony Butt might be based in Melbourne these days, but that won’t stop him from eyeing up his fourth New Zealand Cup win. The champion international reinsman, who first took out the great race in 1992 when partnering Blossom Lady to victory, will be taking the reins on last year’s runner-up Franco Nelson after being booked by owners Clive and Rona McKay. “I will come over to drive him in the lead up races to get a feel of him,” said Butt, who is yet to sit behind the richly talented son of Christian Cullen. “I think Michael (trainer House) only plans on starting him in a couple of the Cup precursors. “The Ashburton Flying Stakes is likely to be one of them,” he explained. Butt said while he will go back and forth from Australia for the lead-up races, he plans on staying in New Zealand for all of Cup week. “I’ll also be driving Tim’s (Butt) recent import Daryl Boko if he is ready in time and will be available to drive for the entire week.”
House said he was pleased with how Franco Nelson was coming up. “He’s been an interesting project, but at this stage we’re on top of everything,” said the West Melton conditioner. The multiple group one winner will have his first public appearance for House at the Ashburton workouts tomorrow (Tuesday). “He will have a couple of trials before resuming. I will drive him myself in both of them,” said House. He said Franco Nelson had been given a solid preparation and that he had been doing a lot of cantering with him to get him fit without putting unnecessary stress on his legs. “We all know he can run fast so it’s just a matter of keeping him fit, sound and healthy.” So, could the man who denied House group one glory in the famous Inter-Dominion Trotters’ Final of 2003 provide him with his first New Zealand Cup? One thing is for sure. Anthony Butt will definitely be trying. – by Mitchell Robertson.
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EDITORIAL by Frank Marrion against a panel of ‘expert tipsters’ over the course of a month. Basically if our guest selector can win more on the tote with their $1000 phantom bets each week than the experts, they will win $1000 cash. More about that later though. I don’t doubt for a second that this magazine is going to be appreciated and well received by most. But to succeed in the long term it is going to need some support from advertisers, to return something to the people who are producing it. For a start we’ve got Garrick Knight covering Auckland and the Waikato and Mitchell Robertson and Stu Bailey are on board to help out in Canterbury and further afield. If things develop as hoped, we’ll spread our ‘tentacles’ wider as we go along. While a magazine as a PDF is far from ideal – if you have any problems reading it may we suggest printing it out - the advantages far outweigh the disadvantages. There are no printing costs, no printing deadlines, no mailing costs or mailing problems whatsoever. As soon as a magazine is ready to go – just push send and it is in your inbox. Most weeks that will be a Monday for the ‘review issue’, but if we heard about some ‘breaking news’ come Monday lunchtime for instance, it can be held back. That is the beauty of this beast – there are no rules of engagement and we can pretty much do what we bloody like! Particularly as an independent publication where there’s no need to worry about ‘upsetting the boss’. So within reason we’re going to be thought provoking at times and not look at everything through rose tinted glasses. At the end of the day, you can’t get pinged or sued for telling the truth or presenting the facts and everybody is allowed an opinion. To that end, we will be welcoming letters and wider contributions from those who have a concern or legitimate gripe about something. We’ve already lined up future columns from a prominent horseman and others are joining the queue. The people involved in running this industry need to know that they are going to be held accountable. Anyone involved at the coalface is well aware that the game has been going down the gurgler for several years now and any attempts to turn the ship around have been akin to rearranging the deck chairs on the titanic. Apathy and a ‘head in the sand’ attitude are simply not good enough when there are people in this industry trying to make an honest living and there are answers which aren’t that difficult. So there you are and here we go. We’ve done our preliminary and the tapes have been released…
Welcome to the first edition of the HarnessXpress. Hopefully this has come as a pleasant surprise for those who have been lamenting the loss of their ‘Weekly Fix’. I’ll make no bones about the fact that this publication has been designed to fill that void. Outside of arriving as a PDF file attached to an email, the HarnessXpress will hopefully ‘look and feel’ a lot like old NZHR Weekly, minus all the results and other official info which can be easily obtained on line. We’re going to focus on the sort of news, previews, reviews, columns etc that we think people want. As an example, you won’t see any race, trial or workouts results here, but you will see reports from them by ‘troops on the ground’. The content will be topical and timely, as opposed to timeless – hopefully it won’t be bland or boring anyway. I must admit to being one of those traditional old fogies who hates change and doing stuff on line. But the only thing that stays the same in life is that changes are inevitable so we’re getting with the programme. The seeds for this were sewn at the yearling sales back in February when I was accosted by numerous people complaining about the demise of their Weekly. Having been aware that a similar sort of publication as this had been coming out of America for several years, I wondered whether a New Zealand version could work. So we set about building an extensive email database and the more people we spoke to, the more encouragement we got. So this is going to be a case of ‘better to have tried and failed…than never tried at all’. In a few weeks we’ll also start producing a preview issue which will go out most weeks on a Friday morning. This will focus on the feature race meetings that weekend and will be sent at a point which allows for as much time as possible to provide for the most accurate and up to date previews, news and ‘tips’ as possible. It will include a ‘phantom punting comp’ where a guest selector will pitch their skills and wits
CONTACT DETAILS THE HARNESSXPRESS PO BOX 9261 Tower Junction Christchurch 8149 Phone: 03 981 5645 or 021 065 6793 Email: frank@harnessxpress.co.nz Managing Editor: Frank Marrion Contributors: Stu Bailey, Garrick Knight, Mitchell Robertson 2
Just briefly...
The Earth Moved again at Addington on Friday
Nice bonuses from broodmares Trotting mares bought by Greg and Nina Hope to be broodmares have been doing rather well as racehorses in the meantime. Not surprisingly, the Hopes have been getting rather keen on their trotters since breeding Monbet from their only trotting mare at the time in Diedre Darling. Earlier this year, they set about finding a Love You broodmare and settled upon Unyielding Spirit for $5000. That diminutive now 6yo, which as a yearling could have easily been mistaken for a weanling, has raced nine times for them for two wins and three seconds and won around $14,000. Those stakes would be almost $20,000 if Unyielding Spirit hadn’t come up a nose short in a Golden Girls final at the end of last season. From an S J’s Photo daughter of Enthuse in Merlene O, a half-sister to Enthusiast, Inspire (dam of Waterloo Sunset), Call Your Later and Red among others, Unyielding Spirit certainly lacks nothing on the score of pedigrees and her value has been boosted significantly by this form in recent months. There’s probably another win or two in her yet before the stud season gets underway as well. More recently, the Hopes have found an even better one though in The Earth Moved. That 5yo daughter of Monarchy and Dear Diedre also raced in the Golden Girls but was disqualified from fourth. Then purchased for $12,000 from Neil Edge, The Earth Moved has raced twice for two impressive wins and has already picked up $10,000. Her Washdyke win was easy enough but last Friday night’s performance was something else again. From 10m in a strong and even full field of c1-c3 trotters, The Earth Moved made a midrace move to sit parked over the last lap and had them covered a long way out to complete the journey in a very solid 3.21.3 for this class and the cold conditions. “Ricky said she would have won by more if she hadn’t over raced down the back,” said Greg. The Earth Moved, foaled the day of the first Canterbury earthquake on September 4 exactly five years earlier, was bought as an insurance policy as much as anything. A sister to the nice mare Duchess Diedre (MR1.59.3 1700m), The Earth Moved is the second foal from Dear Diedre (2 wins), a Sundon sister to Monbet’s dam Diedre Darling (1 win) and also Diedre Don, their dam being the top mare Diedre’s Pride. Diedre Darling produced Donaldson (7 wins, $93,000) and McConway (2 wins) to Earl and Thanksgiving before Monbet came along. Thanksgiving belongs to the same family along with Breeders Crown winners Hurricane Flyer and now Conon Bridge. “Diedre Darling hasn’t left a filly yet so we bought The Earth Moved just in case we lost the mare. “I guess she’ll have to go to Love You, but I’m not sure where Unyielding Spirit will be heading, other than something to upsize.” Hope said The Earth Moved had clearly improved with beach training and “a really good blacksmith. “Kerry (Estreich) is a perfectionist and goes the extra miles. “He shod eight of the nine Jewels winners this year and not a thing was said. “I also think trotters appreciate the straight line training.” 3
Adore Me has had her immediate future decided by majority owner Charles Roberts. The daughter of Bettor’s Delight will be served by Christian Cullen in what was an eagerly-anticipated decision. The favourite for some had been Sweet Lou, the new shuttle stallion to stand at Woodlands Stud this season. Beyond that, Woodlands’ other pin-up boy, American Ideal, was at a short quote to do the honours. However, Christian Cullen is of course the sire of Roberts’ other superstar pacer Christen Me, a son of Adore Me’s half sister Splendid Dreams. * * * Popular Hamilton horseman Dr Luk Chin had a big night at the Park last week when a rare double also brought up a century of driving wins. Djokovic brought up the latter and Chin added another two races later with Tereskova to take his training tally to 105. Chin won a double at Cambridge in March, 2011, with Babinski and Lysenko and before that the only one was way back in 1999 at Cambridge, so it was his first training and driving double in Auckland since he began winning races in 1979. * * * Jonny Cox was down in the dumps at Addington last Friday night though after losing last season’s Dominion Handicap winner Jaccka Justy to colic the previous day. Cox moved to a new Rolleston property only a few weeks ago so he could be closer to the action with the 9yo who’d won 13 races and $235,000 for breeder-owners Charlie and Ailsa Smail.
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Promising Jereme’s Jet filly Hu R U has been sold out of the Frank Cooney and Tate Hopkins barn in Kumeu. Cooney told HarnessXpress he understood the horse would be joining the Victorian stables of Lance Justice. Cooney said he was not fussed on selling as he rated her highly, but her inability to race the Alexandra Park way forced his hand. Justice has had immediate success with another ex kiwi sired by Jereme’s Jet - the ex Nicky Chilcott-trained Love Ina Chevy who is currently unbeaten in three Australian starts.
Retired Escapee back on track The somewhat surprising reappearance of class trotting mare Escapee lately will add plenty of interest to the open class ranks on both sides of the Tasman in coming months. She will also be adding a serious second string to Trevor Casey’s bow – Stent resumed at the Motukarara workouts on Saturday and won’t be long rejoining the fray either. The now 7yo Escapee blew out over the closing stages when trotting roughly battling into fifth in the feature trot at Addington last Friday night, but that was hardly surprising in what was her first race in almost two years off the back of one trial a fortnight earlier. In the interim, Escapee had a filly foal by Muscle Hill last season. Second beaten half a length by Flying Isa at the Ashburton Jewels as a 2yo, Escapee was the class act of her 3yo season, winning eight of nine races going into the Cambridge Jewels. That stellar run included the Hambletonian, NZ Trotting Oaks, NZ Trotting Derby and GN Trotting Derby, beating Stent in the latter. But things were never that simple for Mark Purdon and things came to a head at Cambridge, where Escapee was an abject failure, bolting after striking the sulky. As a 4yo, Escapee had to settle for seconds to the likes of I Can Doosit, Stig and Sovereignty in feature races before she headed to Australia and brilliantly won the Maori Mile at Bendigo in 1.57.4 and the Melton Cup over Sundon’s Gift.
Things were building again nicely in the spring two years ago as well, with Casey looking forward to another Australian campaign among other things, but all that changed on the eve of the Cup meeting when Escapee was just beaten by Phil’s Gift at Addington and then found to have suffered suspensory damage. So instead of looking forward to the Cup meeting with her and yet another trip away, Casey had to sit down and think about consorts for a broodmare. Escapee’s filly foal was born with two badly clubbed feet and is unlikely to race, although Casey notes that I Can Doosit had one too. Regardless of the outcome there, the filly is on the whole an excellent type and will make for a very valuable broodmare herself one day. Escapee was not served last season as Casey said “even though I thought she was effectively retired at the time, it was always in the back of my mind to perhaps try her again. “She had only raced 30-odd times and was hardly an old mare. “When I broached the subject with Mark, he suggested it might be worth giving someone else a go because he was going to be away so much.” With Blair Orange having driven Escapee on occasions and having worked with her at home, it naturally followed that Escapee would join him in Ken Barron’s stable. Clearly not a lot should be read into Escapee being beaten home by some lesser lights last Friday night. She will improve immensely with the outing and more importantly, she got around in one piece and did things properly. With Sheemon clearly in for another big season and the likes of Habibti, Master Lavros and Stent not far away, and imports such as Daryl Boko and Used To Me (lookout for this one) amongst the others as Dominion nominations, Escapee just adds more class to what was already going to be an exciting spring.
Middleton passes away during Sale Popular Mid Canterbury horseman Carl Middleton passed away last Thursday during the one hour course of his dispersal sale at the Ashburton raceway. Middleton was driving until a few months ago and still active a week prior to the sale, but his health had deteriorated so rapidly that he was forced to watch the sale from Christchurch Hospital via a digital video link. Carl passed away moments after Another Love had been knocked down – “he went with the horses he loved”. It was sad and sombre ending to the well attended sale for a true gentleman who ‘made many friends and no enemies’. After winning his first race with Winter Gold in September 7, 1976, the highlight of Middleton’s career was winning an Inter-Dominion Final in Auckland in 1991 with Fraggle Rock. Middleton bred, owned, trained and drove him, as was the case with most his good performers, such as Fabian, Acapulco, Little Rock, Outer Reach, Millburn Segil, Mighty Dragon, Westland Sun, Damian Carlos, Millburn Michael, Pink Diamond, Savona and Another Love, the latter providing for his 260th and last training win in June last year. The imported Lilly The Pink was another good trotting mare for him, while he also trained the speedy Trip’s On Me and the Peter Craig-owned Scottish Hostess (9 NZ wins) was his best pacer. Carl is survived by his wife Heather, son Greg and daughter Robyn.
The more the merrier... If you know someone who has missed getting on the HarnessXpress, or who hasn’t received one and would quite like to, just advise us of the email address and we’ll quite happily add it to the database. 4
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FOCUS ON BREEDING by Frank Marrion
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Scuse us for talking about Me again Like most you’ve probably got a bit sick and tired of hearing people talking about ‘Me’. People who only want to talk about themselves tend to get boring very quickly, but of course we’re referring to the quite amazing deeds of the Scuse Me family. This has been going on for quite sometime now, but last season was something else again. And it needs to be highlighted and said again because from what we’ve seen, not nearly enough has been said, or not nearly enough has been made of it. For a start, the three biggest pacing stake winners in New Zealand last season were from the same family. That has never been done before but that is just the start of this story. Because the two biggest winners were siblings – Adore Me ($598,232) and Have Faith In Me ($544,729). Then came Christen Me ($367,815), who actually won a lot more in Australia ($843,907), leading to the NZ Horse of the Year title. But no sooner had his season been wrapped up on a high in the Easter Cup, then along came his little half-sister Dream About Me, whose unbeaten season proceeded to march through G1 wins in the Sires Stakes and at the Jewels and Breeders Crown. Christen Me and Dream About Me are from a Dream Away half-sister to Adore Me and Have Faith In Me, meaning Dream About Me is a three-quarter sister to both.
That is more than just extraordinary - it is just unbelievable Adore Me provided for probably the two biggest highlights of the season – that is her superb performance in the New Zealand Cup in 3.54.6 to smash the race and national 3200m record and that simply jaw dropping romp in the Ladyship in an even more astonishing 1.47.7 mile. The race that will live just as long in the memory however was Adore Me’s last and in defeat – beaten a nose by Christen Me in the Auckland Cup in another race and national record (MR1.55.5 2700m) when she had quite clearly broken down before the home turn. In the end that photo finish probably decided the Horse of the Year Award as well. Have Faith In Me might have been a bit of an upset on Cup Day when he won the Sires Stakes in a national 3yo record 1.53.2 mile rate for 1950m, but he went on to sweep the Sales race, GN Derby, NZ Derby and an Emerald at the Jewels to totally dominate the 3yo ranks. These two sets of siblings won 14 G1 races and around $3m in stakes in about 10 months last season. That is more than just extraordinary – it is just unbelievable. And while Adore Me might be finished gracing our racetracks, the others are obviously far from finished. And then there’s those that haven’t been sighted yet, or this season’s 2 and 3yos from the family which could add to the further exploits of Christen Me, Dream About Me and Have Faith In Me. Could the family actually exceed the exploits of last 5
season? Such a question or prospect seems a bit silly. But then again a year ago, who would have predicted what has happened since? No doubt a bigger or better question for most breeders is just how the hell did all this happen? One can only answer that one with the benefit of a bit of hindsight, but there’s been enough clues along the way. Add them all up, and none of all this comes as a complete surprise or shock. What we do know is that top maternal lines come and go. Remember the family deeds of the imported Estella Amos? This started with Indianapolis and led to Adio Star producing four Derby winners while a daughter produced the brilliant filly Bionic Chance. But where is that family now? More recently there was the huge success and sales popularity of the Black Watch tribe, but that family has largely faded from the scene, outside of the odd top performers in recent times such as Alta Christiano, Arden Rooney, Lauraella and Pembrooks Delight. What we also know is that these sort of success stories or top families have invariably started with one mare. In this case it was Scuse Me, a 1993 filly foal by B G’s Bunny and the first foal from an unraced Smooth Fella mare in Super Smooth. This is a family which got going in the 1920s through the Logan Pointer mare Daisy Pointer, but the line leading to Scuse Me had been nothing out of the ordinary. Super Smooth was from a nice enough mare in Time Lag (6 NZ wins), who ironically was the first horse owned by Mark Purdon. She had won three races in the early part of the 1986/87 season with a 22yo junior driver in Purdon handling her in two of them, when Brian Notman decided it was time to move her on. Purdon took up the challenge and the daughter of Farm Timer won three more races towards the end of that season before going amiss. He had bought her with a view to selling and making a profit, but wound up getting ‘sucked into’ breeding. Purdon ventured into breeding at an age where he now admits he probably had more enthusiasm than common sense. He hasn’t done much in the way of breeding outside of this family anyway. Time Lag was a last foal and a half-sister to the Out To Win mare Remit, a first foal from Gold Heritage who wound up in Australia, and who led to the very serious Whitby family in Western Australia. But nobody knew that was coming when Purdon began breeding from Time Lag. Purdon bred her to Smooth Fella, Soky’s Atom and Vance Hanover among others but got nothing out of the ordinary, outside of Bold Vance being a useful performer in Australia. Super Smooth was one of the five foals from Time Lag and the only unraced one. She had some speed but “couldn’t put it all together”. Purdon continued to breed Super Smooth to what
appeared to be the best sires around at the time, but the results continued to be ordinary, outside of the first foal in Scuse Me. This is where things got interesting, or out of the ordinary. Scuse Me was a 1993 foal and was from the one and only crop of foals in New Zealand by B G’s Bunny, a seemingly top son of Albatross who came to New Zealand late in life before meeting an unfortunate end. His arrival seemed an exciting event on the face of it, but in time it proved an absolute disaster. From 150 plus foals when transported semen was just getting started, B G’s Bunny wound up producing 32 winners (21%), and only three or four of them were really worth a feed. Outside of Scuse Me, the best of them were fillies in Matai Gigi and Royal Chanel, who both won five races as 4yos, but neither proved decent broodmares either. And outside of Scuse Me’s progeny, the only good performer from a B G’s Bunny mare bred here was Falcon Strike, or another ‘freak’. Quite clearly B G’s Bunny was sawdust within the New Zealand broodmare population. And outside of Butler B G, his sons at stud were no better, with the best performed in McKinzie Almahurst being an even bigger disaster. Just why these things happen is open to debate, but it almost certainly has something to do with the differing genetic pools found in different countries. We also know that around this time, outside of the odd exception such as the mystifying success of Vance Hanover, that the Albatross sire line was hitting the wall. But what we do also know about B G’s Bunny, by looking at the big picture and his overall influence on the breed, is that he possessed and carried a ‘speed factor’ which complimented sire lines renowned for their toughness. More about that later though. Scuse Me had been bred by Jim Dalgety after borrowing Super Smooth from Purdon. B G’s Bunny had been headed for Dalgety’s Lantana Lodge, but with what proved a questionable reputation as a ‘maneater’, he wound up staying at Woodlands when that stud was in its infancy.
Dalgety offered Scuse Me at the Premier Sale, but when she was passed in for $5500, Purdon said he would take her on a 50/50 deal and the rest as they say is history. She was a very good 2 and 3yo filly in a crop of foals that was headed by Kate’s First and Megaera, beating those two fillies handsomely in the GN Oaks in a 2.00 mile rate some 20 years ago. A year later, Scuse Me upset the Taylor Mile in a then startling 1.53.5, a time set up by a rabbit in Nuclear Byrd taking them through the half in 54 and change. That led to an offer from John Curtin on behalf of American Joe Alflen that was far too good to refuse, but after a very rough flight, Scuse Me never settled in America nor wound up racing there.
B G s Bunny figures twice in the equation which led to the long, loping stride of Adore Me This was where Charlie Roberts entered the picture, buying Scuse Me and putting her in foal to Life Sign before bringing her back to Woodlands. That foal would be called Megabucks, a name meant to sum up the cost of the whole exercise. A June foal, Megabucks proved to be a very handy 4 and 5yo, and for Roberts later took a record in America of 1.49.6, at a time when sub-1.50 miles still meant something. Life Sign was a sire that needed a speed factor in his mares, and this was the first hint of things to come. Minor winners followed in the fillies Splendid Dreams (Dream Away), La Filou (In The Pocket) and Coca Vicola (Il Vicolo) and the colt Pardin Me (In The Pocket), and then Scuse Me produced the top filly Imagine Me to Dream Away. Then bred to Christian Cullen for two years, Scuse Me left the good colt Toledo and useful filly Abide With Me. American Ideal colt Idolise Me was next and he would proved Scuse Me’s 10th winner from 10 foals, with eight in 2.00. And then along came Bettor’s Delight. Adore Me was Scuse Me’s first foal by him and Have
PEDIGREE OF THE WEEK... SCUSE ME 4, 1.53.5 - modern day foundation mare ALBATROSS B G S BUNNY BRETS ROMANCE
SMOOTH FELLA SUPER SMOOTH TIME LAG
MEADOW SKIPPER VOODOO HANOVER BRET HANOVER KNIGHTS EMBASSY MOST HAPPY FELLA SMOOTH TALK FARM TIMER GOLD HERITAGE
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HAL DALE COUNTESS VIVIAN DANCER HANOVER VIBRANT HANOVER ADIOS BRENNA HANOVER KNIGHT DREAM MISS REED MEADOW SKIPPER LAUGHING GIRL ADIOS BUTLER DREAM LADY RACE TIME MISS NORETTE FALLACY DAISY GOLD
Faith In Me is the third, and her 13th winner from 13 foals. Broodmares are not supposed to produced their best performers as 11th and 13th foals, let alone by the same sire, but quite clearly Bettor’s Delight has struck up quite an affinity with this particular family. No real surprises there as we also know that Bettor’s Delight also likes a speed factor in his mares, as evidenced by how well he has crossed with In The Pocket and Christian Cullen mares. Being by B G’s Bunny from a Smooth Fella mare, and being a very speedy youngster and miler herself, we can safely say that Scuse Me fit the same criteria. The super tough Cam Fella ‘loved’ B G’s Bunny mares and one instance led to Cam’s Card Shark, the sire of the equally tough Bettor’s Delight, so one can observe a doubling up of sorts in the pedigree of Adore Me and Have Faith In Me. One could look for more magic bullets in this pedigree but really it is simply about the known attributes of the individuals involved. No surprises either that Splendid Dreams has produced Hands Christian and Christen Me to Christian Cullen as consecutive foals and useful sorts in Splendid Bet and Aliante and then Dream About Me to Bettor’s Delight as consecutive foals. For Splendid Dreams was a very smart mare and much
better than her two wins (from six starts) would suggest. On debut as an October 3yo at Addington, Splendid Dreams bolted away with a maiden in a 1.59 mile rate (1950m) before going amiss. A year later in Auckland for Tony Herlihy, Splendid Dreams led all the way to down Helena Kilena and Waitfornoone. Clearly she possessed the family speed but in Dream Away we had a sire which provided for a bit of ‘bottom’ in the equation, or separation between the speed factors of Christian Cullen and Scuse Me. It is also interesting to note that both Christen Me and Dream About Me were born in seasons after Splendid Dreams had missed, or the mare had had a year off. The first two foals from Splendid Deal, an In The Pocket daughter of Splendid Dreams, are the very nice mare Splendour (8 NZ wins, $149,000) and Maxim (NZSS 2yo Final, Victoria Derby), both by Bettor’s Delight, so just more of the same there. La Filou has produced three foals of racing age by Bettor’s Delight for three winners, including the smart Lightfingered, a starter in the Breeders Crown 3yo Final. And with the breeding careers of Imagine Me and Abide With Me in their infancy, and Adore Me just getting started, I’m afraid we’re going to be talking a lot more about ‘Me’ for a good while yet.
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Savona tops Millburn Disperal Sale Another Love (5 NZ wins, $43,570) was in foal for the first time to Dream Vacation. The daughter of Love You is one of nine winners from Another Starlet, a daughter of Sundon and the imported Lilly The Pink, who won 12 races for Middleton plus an Inter-Dominion heat in Sydney, where she finished third in the final behind Diamond Field and stablemate Fraggle Rock. The 18-year-old Another Starlet, also in foal to Repeat Love, also went to a Victorian buyer for $3000. Louis Moss, a 3yo by Repeat Love who qualified back in May, easily topped the racing prospects offered when selling to Tim Butt for $32,000. The gelding will be racing shortly for a “stable syndicate” put together by Butt, who has been proactive lately in rebuilding his team after a somewhat lean period. Bourbon And Dry, a 4yo half-brother by Sam Bourbon to Louis Moss who has been placed, and Torpedo Run, a lightly raced 4yo gelding by CR Commando from Another Starlet, were the only other sales of much note in going for $10,500 and $8500 respectively. - by Frank Marrion.
Australian buyers were to the fore at last week’s Millburn Farm Dispersal Sale, purchasing the young broodmares Savona and Another Love for $33,000 and $30,000 respectively. Sydney’s Flora Robson, the president of the NSWHR Breeders Assn, bought Savona when the underbidder was Victoria’s Duncan MacPherson, while their roles were reversed with Another Love. The 11-year-old Savona was in foal to Love You’s brother Repeat Love after producing colts by Revenue and Majestic Son, the latter one of the Millburn yearlings heading for next year’s Premier Sale. By Dream Vacation from Millburn Segil (6 NZ wins), the dam also of Damian Carlos (US1.55.4) and Lady Segil (US1.57.2f), both being second in the NZ 2yo Trotting Stakes, Savona won six races in New Zealand while time trialling in 1.57.5. Carl Middleton then raced her in NSW where she won another seven races from 13 starts in 2012 including the G2 NSW Trotters Championship Final and a mile in 1.55.4 beating Jinja Girl, Brownie and Double Bundy. In total she earned around $137,000.
Rosslands trio need expensive late payments for Sires Stakes A paperwork oversight has left a trio of Rosslands Stud-owned three-year-olds not currently eligible for the upcoming Sires Stakes Series’. The John and Josh Dickie-trained Motown and the Barry Purdon-prepared Kimani will require expensive late payments to contest the boys’ series that culminates in a Group 1 final on New Zealand Cup Day. The Dickies’ unbeaten filly Bettor Think Quick is in the same boat for the fillies’ series that has its final on New Years Eve at Alexandra Park. John Dickie confirmed to Harness Xpress that owners Kerry and Marilyn Hoggard will be making the required late payments for all three horses. Sires Stakes Series regulations stipulate that late payments are to be 10% of the Final stake. Motown has looked a star in the making this preparation, winning all three of his races in dominant fashion. 7
EL JACKO MAKES A STATEMENT Logan Hollis couldn’t help but chuckle when El Jacko won again on Thursday night. The Pukekohe horseman, who co-trains the promising Elsu 3yo with Shane Robertson, had been fielding quite a bit of interest in the pacer from potential buyers. “But they were using his sire to try and drive his price down.” “One agent rung me, said he really liked the horse and asked what the price was. “I told them what the owners had put on him and they started saying that the horse was an Elsu and that was too much. “Well, that didn’t make sense to me. You like the horse enough to buy him, but you don’t want to pay too much because of his sire?” El Jacko’s win on Thursday night - his second in a row - was a bit of statement to anyone who had doubts about the horse. He got up late in the piece for driver Phil Butcher to nail the speedy favourite The Faithful. The fact he came from off the back of The Faithful, who had the 1x1, was not lost on Hollis. “That was a good effort to win tonight. He has shown us in his work that he is a very nice horse and I think, in time, he will be in the Derbies.” “We thought if we dropped back from the start and got a good drag in to it, we could run second or third to The Faithful. So a win was a pleasant surprise.” El Jacko ran fourth in the G1 Cardigan Bay Stakes won by Chase The Dream - as a 2yo before Hollis and Robertson made the bold decision to spell him. “We lined him up in two Young Guns heats and he
galloped at the start both times then went massive afterwards. “Then he lost a bit of condition and needed a bit of time so we turned him out. It was a great move by the pair who are now looking towards a start in the Sires Stakes heat at Cambridge on September and a possible trip to Addington for the final. “We are just really happy to get a nice horse for our owners - Peter Smith, Winky Foley and Rachel Ritchie who have all been great supporters of ours. “Rachel has had three horses with us now and they have all been winners.” Hollis and Robertson have just finished their best season in partnership, one which netted 12 wins and was headlined by the quality Art Major mare Stars And Sound. At Pukekohe’s Saturday workouts they geared up heat winner Sikora and promising three-year-old filly Vinland. Vinland is owned by leading Victorian owner/breeder Harvey Kaplan who has raced the likes of Bling It On, Baby Bling, Our Sixpence and current Dean Brauntrained star-on-the-rise Cruz Bromac. Kaplan has been a good supporter of the partnership and will once again send them horses to be prepared for the summer’s yearling sale at Karaka. “We work about 12 at a time and will soon start on yearling preparation. We do a lot of breaking in as well as running a transport service for some of the trainers in the area.” by Garrick Knight.
Editor’s note: At the time of publication, a large offer was being seriously considered by El Jacko’s owners. _____________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________
ALL HANDS ON DECK... her partner Matt Stormont. Elliot Daniel (Tony Herlihy, red colours), took out the race from Nicole Vaidisova and Our Southern Man, who started favourite. The race was the start of a renewed effort by Auckland Trotting Club Racing Manager Kevin Smith to start regular claiming races at the track. Smith, who was a big exponent of the claimers in his training days, confirmed a race with the same conditions was planned for the next meeting on September 18.
It was very quiet in the Alexandra Park stables late on Thursday night. Except in the corner where Jay Abernethy and good friend John Kriechbaumer always have their horses. The pair, between them, had five of the seven runners in the last on the card, a claiming race. The Eddie Phelan-trained Kashin is also domiciled at Abernethy’s property meaning pretty much the entire field were gearing up together. The other starter, Nicole Vaidisova, is trained by Adrienne Matthews and raced on lease from Abernethy by 8
Talktomeurmattjesty signalled a big future with an impressive debut at Addington last Friday night.
House listens to Talktomeurmattjesty Michael House had a spring in his step again after producing Talktomeurmattjesty to make an auspicious and impressive debut at Addington last Friday night. A lovely big 4yo horse by the underrated Royal Mattjesty, Talktomeurmattjesty was all the rage after winning a trial at Ashburton in 3.00.2 a few weeks ago, winning by seven lengths with a last quarter in 26.5, and he didn’t disappoint. Up against several racewinners in a Show Day Futurity Prelude, the gelding showed gate speed and led them around at a merry clip. Promising mare Nerida Franco issued a challenge on the home turn but Dexter Dunn was unmoved as Talktomeurmattjesty spaced them by open lengths in 3.15. After resuming his driving duties just a week earlier, Dunn won five races on the night and shot into second place on the premiership table with eight wins behind brother John, who has likewise made a flying start to the season with 16. Dunn also won a treble at Winton yesterday and it will only be a matter of weeks before normal transmission resumes. Talktomeurmattjesty will now tackle the junior drivers’ race at Methven on Sunday week before being freshened for the Futurity. With Franco Nelson back at the Ashburton workouts tomorrow and on track for the Cup, a race he was only beaten half a head in last year, and with a quite useful team around him again, House has a little bit to look forward to. Talktomeurmattjesty is raced by his Whakatane breeder John Rennie and is the seventh winner from nine foals from his good broodmare Talk To Me Later, a close relation to Cup horse Our Mana. “I can remember breaking in three colts one year and saying to John that they’d all be winners,” said House. “And that this one would be the best one, but that he’d
have to wait the longest,” he added. Close relation Ask Me Art and Atom Hanover won races in May and House has been spot on about Talktomeurmattjesty. “He’s been a bit of a wild thing. “He’s told us what to do and knowing how good he was, we’ve allowed him to think he was in charge. “We’ve had to be patient but you don’t mind doing that with the good ones.” * * * Earlier on, John Dunn had a similarly easy win with a promising sort in Cullect A Guinness, who is likewise raced by his breeder in Rangiora’s Peter Higinbottom. A 5-year-old entire by Gotta Go Cullect, Cullect A Guinness had a bit of work to do to find the front at the 1400m, but once there he had matters well in hand and he was out by over two lengths at the finish in a 1.57.4 mile rate. This was Cullect A Guinness’ third win in four starts and he has only been beaten lately after doing plenty of work on a slushy track at Rangiora a few weeks ago. “He qualified well a couple of years ago now, but has been held back by niggly problems,” said John. “He’s probably not a sale prospect with his issues so we’ll just keep going and see what we can get. “It was a nice stake tonight, but he’ll be a c2 now and the classes do get pretty tough pretty quickly.” Cullect A Guinness is the first foal from the placed Lislea mare Charlotte Lea and her second in Extra Guinness was looking a likely prospect to quit maiden ranks in the very next race last Friday. However, he had to be scratched with a snotty nose. Higinbottom also has a 2-year-old sister to Cullect A Guinesss coming through while the mare is due to foal in about a month to A Rocknroll Dance. This is a family which goes back to Highland Fling and Caduceus. - by Frank Marrion. 9
Besotted back from the wilderness Forgotten pacer Besotted returned to the public eye on Saturday when he turned out at the Pukekohe workouts. The son of American Ideal has not raced since tackling the New Zealand Messenger in May last year. A week prior he was victorious in the Group 1 Taylor Mile, defeating Elios and Adore Me for trainer Ray Green and driver Simon Lawson. He missed the entire 2014-15 season with an injured suspensory - the second of his career. He finished second to the rejuvenated Major Star on Saturday in a quiet 3-horse heat. An hour later, Green reported that driver Zac Butcher was very happy with the run. “Zac said he felt good and at this stage he has come through it well.” Green, not surprisingly, has no plans for Besotted apart from trying to get him back to the races. Major Star, the giant free-legged pacer, was handled by trainer Brent Mangos and, despite being rank on a couple of bends, scooted home in 57.1 and 27.5 to win. Major Star holds a New Zealand Cup nomination and Mangos confirmed to HarnessXpress that we was sending the horse south immediately in an effort to boost his ranking and make the field. “He leaves Tuesday and will tackle the Hannon Memorial on the 13th and then the Avon City Ford Cup at Addington on the 25th.” Mangos said many people forget how good the horse is. “He nearly won the Jewels as a 4yo; he was beaten a nose by Franco Nelson.” “But last year he raced awful. He never looked any good physically either. “But we changed a few things around and took the hopples off him and now he is much happier.” One of the more impressive winners on the day was Its Oscar, a trotter now in the Tony Herlihy stable that has not raced for two-and-a-half years. He began like a rocket for his new trainer and was never headed, winning easily over Whitney H - first up in the north for new trainer Robert Dunn. An interesting runner was Leanne’s Boy who had been handled to date by Morrinsville’s Paul Green but is now with Barry Purdon. Herlihy said Its Oscar was a true professional and looks promising. “Darren Simpson had him down south. He was out injured for a long time and has been up here for six weeks. “He had done quite a lot of work when he arrived. “Being a 1-win horse he should not have any trouble winning a few races pretty quickly.” There was a lot of interest in a maiden heat that saw promising three-year-old Shandale return to the track after a two-year-old season that netted $50,000 in stakes for trainer/driver Maurice McKendry. He was patiently handled by McKendry and mounted a late run for fourth, the heat won in very impressive
fashion by the Purdon-trained Can’t Refuse. Both are targeting the Cambridge heat of the Sires Stakes Series on September 25, where they will likely clash with Motown, Kimani, El Jacko and Walkinshaw among others. A few good judges had their eye caught by Zanibar Babe, an unqualified Rocknroll Hanover filly trained by Green. She won her second workout in a row, giving nothing else a chance as she led from go to whoa. “She’s a lovely, free-going filly. I quite like her,” said Green. Meanwhile, an hour down the road at Cambridge, another horse started his road to the New Zealand Cup with a quiet workout. Trainer Arna Donnelly said Ideal Success was well in need of the hit-out. “He went OK; it was just a walk and sprint home which isn’t his go but he will improve a lot for the run. “He will have another workout next week and then go to the races; probably the Spring Cup on October 1 and head south after that.” by Garrick Knight.
Larsen breaks drought Kirk Larsen hasn’t raced many at Addington since the halcyon days of Howard Bromac, so he was a bit stumped on Friday night when queried when the last winner there might have been. Christian Cullen mare Isola Bella had just led from start to finish to defy Dexter Dunn and Linton Shard in a 1950m maiden with a smart performance, qualifying for the Futurity on Show Day with her second race on the course. It had been a little less than two years since Larsen’s smart 3yo Jango Fett bolted in over the trip in a 1.55 mile rate. Essene was a winner at Addington for him two and a half years before that, and then to Dustin Bromac at a Rangiora meeting at Addington. It will be a lot tougher on Show Day but Isola Bella probably won’t be winning her last race at Addington. “She missed her 3yo season because she was a big, overgrown thing,” said Kirk. “But she qualified well in August and she’s only been beaten the once in five trips away from home. “The day she qualified at Ascot Park was before they raced there and she went faster on a wet track than any of the race winners,” he added. Larsen races the 4yo along with Lynette Philpott and NSW’s David Hardie and his mate Stuart Welch. Philpott and Hardie also raced Howard Bromac with Larsen. Isola Bella is the result of a free return after Howard Bromac’s dam had a filly foal by Christian Cullen with poor conformation. “Honour Bromac was getting on a bit by then, so we sent Pam Bromac instead. “She wasn’t a bad filly herself and was placed in the Oaks and Fillies Final.” - by Frank Marrion.
We’ve heard a whisper that... There’s more Love You semen on the way, not to mention Sam Bourbon, but it’s coming at a price. 10
Peter and Wendy Ferguson get top gong at NI Awards Night The annual North Island Harness Awards took place at Alexandra Park on Saturday evening and Cambridge couple Peter and Wendy Ferguson received the night’s top gong, the Outstanding Contribution to Harness Racing Award. As well as his exploits on the track (1860 driving wins), Peter along with wife Wendy have been a driving force behind the northern Kidz Kartz movement for over a decade. Peter is also the current Chairman and long time committee member of the Northern branch of the Trainers and Drivers Association as well as serving on the National Council. Peter, naturally shocked by their win, said it was an award for everyone who had worked hard to make Kidz Kartz what it was. “Mate, it was a bit humbling,” he told Harness Xpress. “Really, it is recognition for all the people that volunteer every day for the betterment of the industry. “Kidz Kartz have a lot of people that work behind the scenes and this was for all of them.” The other award for the evening, the Racing Achievement Award, went to Barry Purdon for his efforts to get Sky Major to win at the Harness Jewels as a 2, 3 and 4yo. This had not been achieved since the Harness Jewels started in 2007. The main equine awards of the night were won by Speeding Spur (Trotter of the Year), Adore Me (Aged Pacer), The Orange Agent (Filly/Mare of the Year) and Bettor’s Delight (Stallion). Splendid Dreams, dam of Christen Me, Dream About Me, Aliante and Hands Christian, was named Broodmare of the Year for owner Charles Roberts. Roberts also took out Breeder of the Year, as he did at the national awards, with his individual portfolio including Christen Me, Adore Me, Dream About Me and Have Faith In Me who, between them, won 15 G1s on both sides of the Tasman. Roberts also bred G1 winners Speeding Spur and My Hard Copy in partnership with Andrew Grierson under their Woodlands Stud banner. Shandale, Dream About Me and High Gait won their respective 2yo categories while Have Faith In Me, The Orange Agent and Speeding Spur did the same in the 3yo equivalents. The Orange Agent also contributed to the Owner of the Year award with John, Trish and Moira Green and Peter Bult receiving the honour. The Greens also owned Hughie Green (7 wins, G1 placed) while Bult also had the well-performed My Kiwi Mate on his roster. Brian ‘Bunty’ Hughes had an incredible season, with 28 wins and 26 placings from just 88 starters, thanks mainly to The Orange Agent and Hughie Green. He was, fittingly, rewarded with the Trainer of the Year award. Zac Butcher, who won four G1s throughout the season (Sky Major 2, Democrat Party, Lancewood Lizzie) was a popular winner in the Driver of the Year category. Cambridge’s David Marshall won the Licence-to-Train/ 11
What was said? Suggest as much and we’ll publish the ‘winning’ answer in next week’s issue... Owner-Trainer award while his son, Kyle, shared the Junior Driver prize with Andre Poutama. The ladies also took the stage, with Cheree Finlay crowned Amateur Driver of the Year and Monika Ranger, indentured to Tony Herlihy, winning Groom of the Year. Awards spokeswoman Karen Blanchard declared the evening a success and made special mention that over $8000 was gathered in a fundraising effort for young Ashlee Small, the daughter of trainer Ian Small and his wife Tracey. - by Garrick Knight.
They said it... “He shod eight of the nine Jewels winners this year and not a thing was said.” Greg Hope on Kerry Estreich. “He’s been a bit of a wild thing. He’s told us what to do and knowing how good he was, we’ve allowed him to think he was in charge.” Michael House on Talktomeurmattjesty. “Actually it’s been that long I can’t remember. You’ll no doubt look that up for me.” Kirk Larsen on his previous win at Addington after Isola Bella scored on Friday night. Jango Fett in December, 2013, but we have a funny feeling that Michelle has answered that by now. “We let him have a jump…thinking it might wake him up. One day he’ll probably wind up at stud in Australia…somewhere in the bush.” Anne-Marie Spicer on Maverick.