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RACING HISTORY

HARNESS JEWELS

TURN IT UP:4 Br g Courage Under Fire - O Narutac Bella

OWNERS: J A Gibbs MNZM, L Pilcher, Mark Purdon, Mrs A Gibbs

BREEDERS: B C Edward, Mrs V A Edward

TIME: 2:22.6 Mile Rate: 1-55.8 Last 800m: 58.1 Last 400m: 27.5



20“I certainly still get a thrill in seeing horses I bred win big races as they are few and far between. That was my first breeding winner of a Jewels. “Belle Of Montana actually beat the last horse I still had an ownership interest in called Big On Personality. We have sold her since but when Belle beat her, I realized how good she was. Croon has had a distinguished career as Chairman and long term committee member of the ATC and more recently HRNZ’s appointee to the soon to be refocused NZ Racing Board, under its new name of Racing Industry Transition Agency. Rod’s term on the board will come to an end with the Minister taking the power to make all future appointments. “It’s been good to be on the Board but there have been some frustrating times as well. Politics had gotten in the way a bit towards the end with race fields legislation getting delayed which was annoying, but it is what it is I suppose. “We’ve just signed on a new CEO at the Auckland Trotting Club. Our current President is retiring from the ATC in October which will probably see me step into that role for two years and then that will likely be the end of my involvement from an administration level also,” said Croon.

Credit: Brad Reid

HARNESS JEWELS

SUNDEES SON:4 B g Majestic Son - Stardon (by Sundon)

OWNERS: Colin and Nancy Hair

BREEDER: Colin Hair

TIME: 2:25.3 Mile Rate: 1-58.0 Last 800m: 57.5 Last 400m: 28.7



What was meant to be one of the most mouth-watering clashes of day turned into a demolition of some very good four-year-olds, thanks to the most un-assuming low flying missile from Woodend Beach.

You could be forgiven for thinking Sundees Son wears hopples, such is the blistering speed at which he generally does things, although for a while back there he did wear half hopples.

The problem has never been his motor, as much as it has been about his temperament.

The son of Majestic Son has found his groove and is clearly a trotter in the zone, having just won three Group One trotting races in a row.

The path to potential Trotter of the Year fairy-tale hasn’t been without it’s bumps, but I’m not sure Colin & Nancy Hair would have it any other way when they look back and reflect on the journey.

It was in 1996 that Hair bought the broodmare Chiquita Dee at the Christchurch Mixed Sale for $1600 and embarked on this course.

“I’d tried a number of pacers for a start and I would have to say they were totally unsuccessful,” said Hair.

“Then when I thought I’d have a go at the trotters, one of my first attempts was winding up as the under bidder on Solar Fire.

“Around the same time I looked at buying Shaq Attaq as a yearling, but the vet put me off.

“He wound up with Paul Nairn and proved to be a good horse too.

“While I might have been unlucky back then, it encouraged me that I was on the right track, so I then decided to take the long and winding road of breeding them.

”Placed in a brief career, Chiquita Dee was by Pernod Eden from a half-sister to the fine trotting mare Thriller Dee, and her first two foals would prove useful sorts in Kaimata Echo (5 NZ wins, by Jive Talk II) and Top Chief (3 NZ wins, by Top Trotter).

Jive Talk II was a son of Speedy Scot who proved of no consequence and Kaimata Echo was his best performer, while Top Trotter was only marginally better.

Chiquita Dee had missed to Elma’s Lad that season but had another Top Trotter colt at foot at the sale, although he proved to be a “niller”.

“His only claim to fame was killing three of my daughter’s pet lambs.

”Hair sent Chiquita Dee straight to Sundon however and got Stardon, the best performer for him with three wins until Uncas came along.

Stardon’s first four foals were by Earl, Monkey Bones and The Pres and didn’t amount to much, and Hair admits he was at a crossroads with Stardon until Sundees Son began putting his hand up two seasons ago.

Hair had been breeding from the family for over 20 years and before Sundees Son, no previous foal for him has even looked like going early.

“It was unexpected having any horse as a two-year-old because to date the family haven’t shown anything at an early age. That could be as much to do with my previous trainer Bevan Heron who was probably more of the view that you give trotters time, put them in a paddock until they are three or four and then try them.

“With John Dunn it was more of a case of breaking them earlier and if they show a bit then just push on with them,” said Hair.

Hair also credits the foundations for Sundees Son being laid by the talented horseman, Ross Houghton.

“It was actually Ross who did all the early work with Sunny, he was a fairly difficult and headstrong and problems getting him out on to the track at the Dunn’s where he would typically have to be lead out,”” laughed Hair.

Sundees Son is by Majestic Son, who was a top juvenile himself, winning over $500,000 at that age in Ontario, and he has well and truly shown an ability to sire early speed, with top youngsters before in Daenerys Targaryen, Majestic Time, One Over Da Moon, Prince Fearless, Enhance Your Calm, Wanna Play and Im Stately and Illawong Helios in Australia.

Majestic Son didn’t have the pedigree to suggest as much, outside of a dam that was line-bred 2x3 to Speedy Crown, but individual performance is a more reliable guide to siring ability anyway.

Put that ability over a mare by Sundon, a freak in his own right and one that has always had a noted ‘speed factor’, and there’s the recipe for success.

Sundees Son came back at three with a bang providing Colin & Nancy with a Cup Week in 2017 they won’t forget in a hurry.

Having done his chips 100m after the start, he gave Ruthless Kayla the better part of 100m start before coming around to sit outside her and grind her down for a breath-taking victory.

“That was really quite unbelievable, and what John would say is that while he tried to hunt him out early to catch the field, the move that Sunny made with 600m to go was all the horse. It was Sunny that decided he would go then, and that was probably the first of the performances he made where it was quite hard to believe what he had done,” he said.

Not to be outdone, another Hair trotter Woodstone who announced himself two days later at Ashburton, coming from five deep on the markers to win a 1-2 win trot.

“That was a bit unexpected as well, at that stage he was a fairly weak looking animal and very difficult to keep condition on him.

You see while Sundees Son has shown all sorts of ability throughout his burgeoning career, there was a while where you could have been forgiven in thinking it was Woodstone who would wind up being the better horse.

Woodstone took the incredible step from racing at Ashburton in a 1-2 win trot, to lining up 366 days later as one of the favoured runners for the Dominion!

Woodstone is a five-year-old gelding by The Pres out of the Monarchy mare, Gemstone. Gemstone is out of the Pernod Eden mare, Ikantry, who was a half-sister to Africa, and also Niamey who has gone on to produce the Group One winner and producer, Pocaro.

“I saw Ikantry over at Bevan Heron’s stable to be broken into saddle by Kayleen McCormick. She was quite a nice mare and having known the breed quite well, I had a chat to Ernie Knight. She was back at his place by then and went out to a paddock on Old West Coast Road and brought her back home.

“I bred one foal from her and got Gemstone,” he said. As Woodstone was beginning to figure the game out, Hair must have been wondering whether Sundees Son wanted to be there at all with his Three-Year-Old campaign seemingly going down the gurgler. A combination of the mistakes that haunted him at two, with an opposition that appeared to have taken the leap forward in their progression at three seeing him only run in the money twice from nine starts.

“The belief was as much as anything that it wasn’t anything permanent with him, he would get his head around being a racehorse. At this stage Craig Edmonds started doing a lot of work with him in teaching him to be a racehorse.

“He would put him in the cart and walk him round a lot, take him down the beach and just try to get his head to switch on,” he said.

As Sundees Son star dipped, Woodstone’s was once again dramatically on the rise.

A trip to the satellite stable at Auckland proved to be the making of the horse, with three big wins in the space of a month in a manner that had trotting fans sitting up and taking notice. It wasn’t just the quality of field he was beating, but the manner in which he was doing it, showing he had become just as tractable as he was speedy.

“The main reason for sending Woodstone up there was actually just to chase the dollars. He ended up winning those three races in a row and just missed out on Jewels qualification. As to who was the better, I honestly never really considered who might be better. Sunny has always been special to me being out of my first ever winner Stardon, but those runs of Woody’s were a pleasant surprise,” said Hair.

I bumped into R J Dunn prior to the Three-Year-Old Ruby at Cambridge and thought I’d ask him the question as to whether he thought Woodstone had usurped Sundees Son for ability.

He didn’t hesitate to tell me Sundees Son was the better horse. We didn’t have time to go into detail, but it was said with such confidence I didn’t hesitate to throw a cheeky each way bet on the son of Majestic Son.

Sure enough, he galloped off the gate. Only this time he put in the kind of performance he had been promising his whole career thus far. As while he was Group 1 placed in the Northern Trotting Derby, this was the best performance of the season losing 100m at the start and to run into fifth some 8 lengths off the winner.

“We went there with reasonable expectations, we knew the Purdon’s had some very nice horses in. But we knew that on his day he would be capable. At that stage we really just wanted him to trot all the way, but as he did as a two-year-old he did as a three-year-old,” said Hair.

Sundees Son joined his talented stable mate at Alexandra Park for the remainder of the season and gained a much needed confidence boost winning a fortnight after the Jewels.

“The decision to push on through the winter was just around teaching him to be a professional race horse, with no aim other than to get him settled and balanced into his regime.

As good as his confidence booster was, Sundees Son was beaten by none other than Woodstone at his next attempt at The Park after getting stuck behind a tiring leader and getting going a wee bit late.

Their final race for the 17/18 year Sundees Son was able to turn the tables on Woodstone, flashing past him for a fast finishing second behind Lovely Bundy, but it had been a year which raised more questions than answers.

They both resumed in the 18/19 season in style, but again it was Woodstone who was stealing the limelight. As impressive as Sundees Son was winning at Ashburton fresh up at four, Woodstone now had 100 rating points and found himself taking on a field of Dominion Handicap hopefuls.

Woodstone galloped at despatch in the Ashburton Flying Mile with Ross Houghton advising that he was striking the own sulky. That was quickly forgotten when he sat parked outside what was basically the Dominion field and put paid to them with ease. The way he put that field away was unexpected. When you look at the relative depth and the strength of the Auckland crop he was racing against compared to the Dominion nominees, it was day and night in terms of quality,” said Hair.

The stage was set for Cup Week and the Dunn camp decided to line Woodstone up in the NZ Trotting Free For All on Cup Day.

Woodstone was gallant in defeat working hard to find the death from barrier eight and remaining there running Speeding Spur to a head on a New Zealand Record for the 1980m trip.

“That was a huge thrill. John will say on reflection he probably should have won that race. I don’t hold those views, but John has a fairly good idea of what he is doing and thinks if he had of put it to Speeding Spur a bit earlier he could have beaten him. If you look closely, Speeding Spur was done on the Line and close to being in a pace.

“To think how far he had come from bursting up the inside at Ashburton a year earlier to running a second in a Group One, and at that stage it was my best ever credit as an owner/breeder.

“The Dominion Handicap didn’t go his way. He galloped at the start and tacked on, but when he was improving and coming back into the race he was bowled over by Harriet of Mot.

Just as quickly as Woodstone’s star had risen had it quickly come to an end suffering a season ending injury.

“There was no real sign of any injury and we sent him north for the Auckland Cup meeting trot races with the aim of the Rowe Cup later in the year. The boys up there had worked him one morning, shod him, and put him away for the night. When they returned the next day to get him out of the box the horse could hardly walk.

“After a visit to Matamata, they never actually never found what was wrong with him but told us to treat it like a hairline fracture of a sesamoid. He has had a good six months out and now back into work for another shot at the races over Cup Week,” said Hair.

Lucky for Colin & Nancy and to the same extent the Dunn’s, they had another trotter big on ability to persevere with, Sundees Son.

His four year-old season had started the same way his two and three year old seasons did. With breathtaking victories, this one at Ashburton where he scorched home in 26.2 to easily account for an intermediate field of trotters.

Sundees Son then smashed another good field of square gaiters before appearing to lose confidence after a couple of indiscretions over Cup Week.

He galloped when leading on Cup Day with Winterfell laying down the gauntlet on his outside and did the same on Show Day a few days later when challenged by Missandei.

This was now beginning to become a habit, and a heart-breaking one at that.

“It’s just hard to sort of get your head around, you sit up there in the stands and watch and don’t like to sort of even breath or shout. It is hard to come to grips with. There is nothing wrong with the horse, he isn’t sore anywhere, it is just somewhere in his head. I remember after one of those performances having a long chat with Nancy about what we should do.

“If you look at the brains trust that is actually there with Ross, Craig, John & Robert as well as being down at the beach with Greg Hope and David Butt also, they are not found wanting as a resource when it comes to knowledge and skills.

“The one piece of gear that was the turning point in Sunny’s season turned out to be putting two poles on him. It was John’s idea, it’s something that is quite common in the States and it worked the oracle in balancing him up and stopping him from hanging,” said Hair

The first time the two poles went on Sundees Son, he brained a FFA field to the tune of seven lengths with the millionaire Speeding Spur his closest rival.

Although Speeding Spur would turn the tables in the Fred Memorial beating Sundees Son by a neck, there was an initial decision that the horse would not be sent to Auckland for the Rowe Cup.

“We hummed and hawed, but after a few days of deliberating John and I decided why not. He had been there before and it was made easier with the fact Robert has a stable up there. We thought we would give it a go.

First up the Anzac Cup demolition.

“The thing about that race is when he looped the field down the back straight, the speed he showed was that of a pacer. I met someone from the club that night who said he had never seen a trotter show that much speed going around a field.

“As much as he is a speed horse, Robert has always said he was a better stayer which some people might have found hard to believe. We had the issue that he was unruly from a stand and at some stage he was going to have to go around them again.

“It was just utterly unbelievable, the emotions that you have. It was an unbelievable moment with what he achieved. The Auckland Trotting Club were tremendous in how they looked after us and I cannot speak highly enough of them.

“We had a hard time working out how to get the Rowe Cup back to Christchurch. It was way too big to fit in the luggage and we were advised to take it on as carry on. Someone came up to myself and Ken Ford who we were at the airport with and asked what we had won. Ken told them it was a Mr New Zealand contest, and I didn’t stick around to see any of the reactions,’ laughed Hair.

In winning the two feature Group Ones, Sundees Son had come from nowhere to win the Australasian Grand Circuit for trotters, staving off the Australian mare Dance Craze to do so.

Capping off an incredible year, Sundees Son backed up from an incredible trial a week earlier to break his own New Zealand record in the Four Year Old Ruby on a track that was rated as slushy.

“I have to confess that I watched the race again last night and if you remove all the hype and the fact my horse won a Group One, it was actually a rather boring race,” he joked.

Incredible he could describe the horse that once had more tricks than El Grego the magician as boring, but such is the incredible turn around in fortunes for the four-year old.

“It is funny as things go around in a circle, as Sundees Son is my first Group One winner out of my first winner and was trained by Bevan Heron. He was actually the person driving the victory lap in the horse and carriage for the winners after Sundees Son won the Jewels,” said Hair.

Now that’s a metaphor for coming full circle in a story that has had its many ups and downs, but culminated in a day and a season that the Nancy and Colin will never forget.

On the wall at home with the photos and trophies Colin has this quote from Roy McKenzie “In the breeding and racing game you need to believe in dreams, some dreams come true!”

Credit: Brad Reid

HARNESS JEWELS

JESSIE DUKE:3 B c Bettor’s Delight – Daisy Dundee (by In The Pocket)

OWNERS: Mrs J L Feiss, W R Feiss

BREEDER: Woodlands Stud (NZ) Ltd

TIME: 2:24.8 Mile Rate: 1-57.6 Last 800m: 57.5 Last 400m: 28.2



Leading into the 2019 Harness Jewels, ten of the previous twelve three-year-old Emerald winners had been secured at a Yearling Sale whether here or overseas.

It makes sense in some regards, with the best genetics on offer to the open market.

A mature type which has been well fed and raised will be considered an essential ingredient but another important point to remember will be the family.

Sires can make a difference but families generally run true to form. In other words unless the family has a history of producing early speed, it is unlikely to start producing top juveniles out of turn.

There are exceptions to every rule, particularly when it comes to breeding and racing horses, but the buyers will be playing the odds in their favour when selecting colts from pedigrees with established juvenile form at Group race level.

The winner of this year’s Three Year Old Emerald was the top priced lot at the 2017 Sales when catching the keen eye of Jean Feiss and selling for $220,000.

He was a colt with a pedigree of early speed if ever there was one, but more on that later.

His win capped an interesting year for his Breeder Woodlands Stud who have been kicking goals in all facets of their business model.

Woodlands’ head, Andrew Grierson says the road that led the stud to breed Jesse Duke was paved with a bit of good fortune.

“The dam, Daisy Dundee, was one of a few that we got off Sarah Crawford a few years back.

“We took these mares over to help them out of a bind and it turned out to be a win-win for both parties.

“There was a bit of risk there, but we liked the pedigrees of them and, as it turned out, Jesse Duke was in the first batch of foals we bred from them.

”Daisy Dundee was rather underwhelming on the track, winning four of 40 starts, the final one being a $4,250 race at Gore for Bruce Negus.

But what she did have in her favour was her father – In The Pocket – and the fact she descended from an impressive maternal line that had produced the likes of Courage Under Fire, Smokey Lonesome, Harley Earl, Texas Terror in the previous 20 years.

Her mum is Adios Dream, a former stakes-winning two-year-old who retired prematurely due to injury halfway through her three-year-old term.

“We were attracted to her because of that, knowing what a great filly the dam was as a young horse.

“So, she went in our system, which is meticulous and leaves them wanting for nothing.

”But Daisy Dundee has proved to be a shy breeder since Jesse Duke, producing just the one foals since, a weanling colt.

“He’s a lovely type and we’ll be putting him through the sales next year.

“Unfortunately, Daisy Dundee is a mare that gets in foal but then loses the odd pregnancy.

“I think she’s safely in foal again this season, but if it happens again we may have to look at an embryo transfer.

”Woodlands hit ‘pay dirt’ when the ‘big three’ of yearling sale buyers all wanted Jesse Duke, who at that stage was just a Bettor’s Delight out of an unheralded mare that had left one live foal from five servings.

“He was a really nice horse at sale time, and as we all know, Jean Feiss is a pretty good judge.

“Jean was all over him, as were John Street and Emilio Rosati.

”That makes for the perfect storm in the sale ring and he ended up going for a whopping $220,000.

“We were astounded at the time, and it’s fair to say we were more than happy to have owned the mare after that.

“But it’s all swings and roundabouts.

“They don’t all turn out like that; some we buy end up being no good.

“We just have the numbers that inevitably there will be good horses come out of our draft.

”Grierson makes a point of noting that Woodlands Stud offering 13 colts at the 2017 Karaka yearling sale, and they have turned out to be quite the bunch on the race track.

Joining Jesse Duke was last year’s 2YO Colt of the Year, Another Masterpiece, this season’s dual Derby placegetter Supreme Dominator, plus the good performers Double Rocket, Make Way, Stars Tonight, Kolovos, Infatuation and recent impressive qualifier, Montana Lad.

“Looking at what those horses have done, it’s just amazing.

“When you do what we do – buy stallions, buy mares, breed them, raise them and then prepare them for the sales, you are very invested in the progeny and you take a keen interest in who buys them, who trains them and how they turn out as race horses.

“Success is the name of the game and getting a crop like that only reinforces what we are trying to achieve.

“And we’re in it for the long haul.

”As noted above, Jesse Duke’s granddam was Adios Dream, a half-sister to the dam of Courage Under Fire, perhaps the greatest youngster of them all.

He swept through everything as a two and three-year-old and wasn’t beaten until taking on the Inter Dominions as a four-year-old at start number 25.

Courage Under Fire was an In The Pocket brother to another really good juvenile in Advance Attack, who won his first seven races including the Cardigan Bay, Sapling and Welcome Stakes that later went in to stand at stud in Perth.

Adios Dream produced other smart juvenile performers in Smokey Lonesome (by In The Pocket) and Ransom Olds (Artsplace) along with the Christian Cullen dam of Quite A Delight (Diamond Classic 2yo Fillies Heat at Gloucester Park) and Millie Sampson (1.56.1, 8 NZ wins).

Adios Dream was also a half-sister to another top filly in OK Deb, a juvenile winner of debut and six races at three and now the grandam of Delightful Memphis along with a good horse in Harley Earl.

Throw in other smart youngsters such as Cyclone Kate, Cyclone Prince, Chattanoogachoochoo, Passion Stride (3, 1.56.2), Three Of The Best (2, 1.54), Scruncher, High Octane (38 Aus wins, $425,000) and Buy Chevron Direct along with Texas Terror (24 Aus wins, $263,000), and it can be seen that this has been probably the best early speed family in the Stud Book.

Where it all came from is a bit a mystery, however.
The Direct Scooter sire line has certainly played a big part but that hardly explains everything.

It really began with Deborah Dundee, a mare by the unraced Dundee Adios (Adios Butler-Robin Dundee) from Loving, by Aksarben from Venus, by Gold Bar from Queen Wrack, by Wrack.

That pedigree hardly gave a hint of things to come and accordingly, Deborah Dundee won three races after starting out as a five-year-old.

Advance Debra, the dam of Courage Under Fire and Advance Attack, was a daughter of Vance Hanover who won the Sires Stakes 2yo Fillies Championship on debut for Wayne Ross.

Later filly foals from Deborah Dundee in OK Deb and Jessica Rose were by OK Bye and Adios Dream was by Caprock, a son of Jate Lobell who was not exactly renowned for producing early speed despite having a pedigree and race record which suggested he should have.

One wouldn’t have been surprised if one of these daughters of Deborah Dundee proved a source of early speed, but for several of them to do so was quite the revelation.

One can only suggest that it was the combination of a mare with a very stout pedigree, ‘clicking’ with a later generation of speed sires to produce outcrosses which consistently worked.

Or just one of those things that happens in breeding that can’t really be explained or forecast.

Credit: Garrick Knight

HARNESS JEWELS

TURN IT UP:4 Br g Courage Under Fire - O Narutac Bella

OWNERS: J A Gibbs MNZM, L Pilcher, Mark Purdon, Mrs A Gibbs

BREEDERS: B C Edward, Mrs V A Edward



On paper, the Four-Year-Old Emerald looked a race where Turn It Up, only had to turn up, and that would be all that was needed.

When he blasted to the top off the mobile, it was nothing more than an armchair drive for his co/trainer Mark Purdon.

Turn It Up may have thought he had come along way after leaving Melbourne as a $28,000 APG Sales Purchase in 2016 then simply arriving at the All Stars Rolleston base in Canterbury.

However he started the 2018/19 season a Rating 73 and finds himself the pre-nom favourite for the 2019 New Zealand Cup.

The son of Courage Under Fire has been a revelation this season winning the Franklin Cup, Auckland Cup, Cambridge Flying Mile and Easter Cup, with his only blemishes if you could call them that, coming at the hands of some highly credentialed stablemates.

Turn It Up was bred by Bruce and Vicki Edward of Durham Park in Victoria. For those unfamiliar with Durham Park, you won’t be unfamiliar with some of his Honour Roll.

HORSE	PRIZE MONEY	WINS
PETACULAR	$454,083	19
HEAVENS TREND	$385,683	21
BARIMAH	$384,374	26
IDEAL FOR REAL	$324,600	13
TURN IT UP	$338,500	9
STARS ALIGN	$233,930	15
RED VEE HANOVER	$179,716	20
DOUBLE YOUR BET US	$177,737	15
ONEONTHEWOOD	$173,720	24
KUALOA	$227,940	10

Durham Park was established in 2006 by the Edward’s on an undulating, sheltered 400 acre property at Durham Lead, 30 minutes south east of Ballarat. The stud is a commercial breeding operation, currently with 28 highly credentialed broodmares, including 12 mares imported from the US, and five from New Zealand.

Vicki and Bruce’s involvement in standardbreds started out similar to how a lot of new participants are involved with to harness racing over the last decade.

“We were introduced through some friends really, we started out in a syndicate, leased a few horses and had a really good time doing it. We took it from there,” said Edwards.

The journey has seen the Edward’s pick up multiple Group Races across the ditch, but none possibly as smart as the Four Year Old Emerald winner.

Turn It Up is the third foal and fourth winner from O Narutac Bella (US1.51.2, 11 wins, $154,000), an imported American-bred mare by Western Ideal.

“Breeding O Narurtac Bella to Courage Under Fire was me really just saying to myself you have this fairly unique Northern Hemisphere pedigree here, let’s have a crack at one of our own stallions and see what happens. That’s the level of the science involved with his mating if I’m being honest.

“Everybody loved Courage Under Fire. The mare had the size and the speed and he had the heart I think ” said Bruce.

“Turn It Up was a little bit different from the time he was born. He always looked very tall, was very leggy and come sales time he was a bit of a stand out.

While Turn It Up is the best performed from O Narurtac Bella, she has been a fine producer since arriving in Australia for the Edwards.

“The mare has been a terrific for us. We imported her from U.S and I was actually talking to her previous owner the other day. At the time he had three or four mares for sale and she wasn’t one of them. I negotiated a deal with the ones he wanted to sell on the basis I would buy them if she was included. He really didn’t want to sell her as she was a family favourite of theirs, but ultimately she wound up coming here.

“She was in foal to Bettor’s Delight but being born here in April, she was very young and always on the back foot a bit. The 2011 Bettors Delight filly was named Illawong Bella and would win two races from 19 starts, and has since had a colt by Rock N Roll Heaven for her owners.

The second foal is the good Art Major filly Perfect Sense (Aus1.55.5, 9 Aus wins, $143,000). She was second in the APG Final for two-year-old fillies at Menangle two years ago and also second to Petacular in a Vicbred Final at Melton that season.

Petacular has been one of the top fillies in Australia in recent seasons and like Turn It Up, the daughter of Somebeachsomewhere was bred by Durham Park and is from an imported Western Ideal mare in Ideal Priority.

The fourth foal by Mach Three is only O Narurtac Bella’s second colt, but hasn’t shown much with only a second placing from eight starts.

The fifth foal is a full sister to Perfect Sense, by Art Major and if her two-year-old season is anything to go by, has inherited a lot of the family ability. Treasure capped her season with a Group 2 feature win to take her to four wins from five.

The element of interest with the pedigree of O Narutac Bella, as she was bred on a
Western Ideal-Life Sign cross and they belong to the same maternal line, or the quite outstanding family established by Adora, a top filly in the 1950s by Adios.
Western Ideal and Life Sign emanate from the sisters Angel Hair and Ambiguity respectively, they being by Bret Hanover from K Nora, by Knight Dream from Adora.

Also Life Sign and Western Ideal’s dam Leah Almahurst were both by Abercrombie, giving O Narutac Bella a 3x3 reverse sex cross to him on top of being from the same maternal line.

We have touched on these sort of possibilities in the past with American Ideal also being a son of Western Ideal and from a half-sister to Life Sign, or a good example of a Rasmussen.

Edward hasn’t tried the American Ideal option as yet, but that could be interesting particularly if one got a filly and then bred away from three crosses to the same maternal line.

O Narutac Bella was bred by Yankeeland Farms and whether there was any intention on their part is not known, nor whether the Western Ideal-Life Sign cross was even beneficial in the overall scheme of things, but one can certainly say it wasn’t detrimental in any way.

The immediate family of O Narutac Bella has actually been very ordinary, although her grandam Yankee Velvet was a half-sister to Lovin Yankee (1.53, $256,000), the dam of five 100k plus performers, and also Arizona Yankee, the dam of Toucam Sam (1.49.2, $615,000).

The fact that the dam and grandam of O Narutac Bella produced very little, suggests the double up may well have given this line a boost.

What we do know is that Western Ideal was a big horse and while he also generally produces big horses, they are also often blessed with early speed and natural ability.

Life Sign was not known for siring early speed in keeping with his sire Abercrombie, with Artsplace being an exception to the rule. However, a mare bred on such a cross appeals as a suitable consort for a small horse and a sire such as Courage Under Fire.

Edward has three Western Ideal broodmares in his band of 28, and admits to having a fond opinion of the sire, particularly as a broodmare sire.

“In deciding to be a breeder, you have to start somewhere. I am a bit of a student of bloodlines and there is just not a lot of Western Ideal mares around. I think there are only 5 or 6 of them around Australia and we’ve just had tremendous success with them.

“Clearly O Narurtac Bella, and also Ideal Priority who left Petacular they’re very big roomy mares and they cross well with a lot of the well performed stallions,” he said.

Turn It Up marked the 16th Group One credit for his late sire, Courage Under Fire. He joins Smolda as the second winner of an Emerald for his sire and adds to the very fine list of Group One winning progeny: Pembrook Benny, Sleepy Tripp, Choise Achiever, Courage To Rule, Lanercost, Lancome, Glengowan, Carlas Pixel & Secret Potion his other G1 credits.

Those looking to rush over to the APG sales and snap up a sibling to the current Cup Fave will have to wait some time.

“The mare missed last year but is back in foal this season to boom sire Captaintreacherous,” said Edward.

Credit: Brad Reid

HARNESS JEWELS

SWEET ON ME:2 B f Sweet Lou - Adore Me

OWNERS: Paul & Mary Kenny, Charlie Roberts

BREEDER: Charlie Roberts

TIME: 2:24.7 Mile Rate: 1-57.5 Last 800m: 57.4 Last 400m: 27.6

Sweet On Me was able to emulate the deeds of her mother in winning herself a Diamond.

In doing so she became just the second ever progeny of a former Jewels winner to win a Jewel of their own.

Pocaro and Missandei were the first to reach this remarkable milestone, meaning Sweet On Me and her champion mother can lay claim to being the first pacing duo to achieve the feat.

Paul Kenny, son in law of the legendary Charlie Roberts was in awe of the daughter of Sweet Lou.

“This is the stuff of dreams, for it to happen so quickly from Adore Me’s first foal is just so wonderful, particularly for Charles. I personally believe this is the bravest horse he has ever bred,” said Kenny.

“When the filly started racing, you dream about what might be, but to have a season like this fulfilled every dream.



”“Mark and I texted backwards and forwards this morning on a couple of things, and my comment to him was it was all credit to them as horsemen and women and to Charles’ breeding knowledge.

”Bad health means Charles is no longer able to travel on raceday, but you can bet your bottom dollar he was glued to his TV watching as alluded to by Paul post-race in his interview. Adore Me’s exploits need little introduction having capped her resume with a New Zealand Cup among her twelve Group One wins here and in Australia.

It was a performance across the ditch however that confirmed her as the greatest female pacer ever produced in New Zealand.

She became the fastest mare in the world . . . yes, the world-breaking a record set by Somwherovrarainbow at Pocono Downs in the US in 2014 at 1:48 with a record-breaking 1:47.7 victory in the Cordina Chicken Farms Ladyship Mile, smashing the Australasian record of Smoken Up’s record by eight-tenths of a second also.

Initial plans for Adore Me to be served by Christian Cullen were halted by fertility issues, and Plan B was put into action, giving new stallion on the books Sweet Lou a date with destiny.

“When we talked about our next stallion at Woodlands, we wanted a stallion that was high class, and fast. Sweet Loumet that criteria in that he was a fast juvenile as well as an aged horse. He met all the criteria.”

“His female line crossed well with Bettor’s Delight, and we recognized the reality that a lot the mares he was going to get, certainly the ones that we were going to be sending were going to be by Bettor’s Delight also.”

“We decided between Mary, Charles and I that out of loyalty to Ian Dobson and particularly Christian Cullen as a proven horse, we would give him at least one go. We had come to realise his fertility the previous season wasn’t particularly good, and when she didn’t hold the first-time round, it made it easy to send him to Sweet Lou.”

“It was a big call to go to what was a first season sire, but she was one that we had a lot of confidence in and had spent a lot of money to secure, so we were very happy to back up our judgement by sending our best mare.

”How much of the successful mating is to do with the sire as much as it is to do with the mother is impossible to gauge. We know the dam brings 50% of the genetics to the table, however Sweet Lou has been off to a fantastic start in Australasia as well as North America.

Sweet Lou has had a fantastic 25% foals to qualifiers in New Zealand with three individual winners from nine starters to sit second behind Bettor’s Delight on the two-year-old sires list of stake earnings.

His pedigree is such that he is an outcross for almost any broodmare in the country.

While we are becoming more familiar with him as a sire, it is interesting to look at the below excerpt from Bee Pears B4breeding.com blog (which we all miss!) about him.

The top half of his pedigree

Sweet Lou. He’s from the Artsplace siring line, which is currently really only represented commercially here by Art Major and Sportswriter, with Grinfromeartoear and his sons in minor supporting role. Interestingly with Sweet Lou the Artsplace sire line is coming via Artiscape who is a sire we tried lightly and couldn’t relate to much in New Zealand (a bit better in Australia and still commercial in North America) in spite of him having a pedigree that would have suited our mares. At the time I think many breeders found the smaller lighter types he often produced just not what buyers wanted, regardless of their potential ability, and we quickly lost the faith.

The immediate sire of Sweet Lou is Yankee Cruiser who is even less familiar to us – he was a very consistent race performer finishing on the board in 26 of 35 career starts, winning $1,150,123. He established his lifetime mark of 1:49.3s in winning the $1 million North America Cup. But he was probably one of those very good performers that was slightly off the radar downunder. Sweet Lou and the filly Darena Hanover are by far his best performers to date, but he’s no slug in his Ohio siring barn. He had two yearlings in the very recent Lexington Sale, a colt who sold for a good $42,000 and a filly who went for just $10,000. Yankee Cruiser’s damsire is Jate Lobell whose presence as an “engine room” damsire is now almost a requirement of top pedigrees, and back further in Yankee Cruiser’s maternal line the presence of Poplar Byrd, who also pops up in the pedigree of Artiscape.

The bottom half of his pedigree

So now a look at Sweet Lou’s maternal line – it is one of those that has a good foundation and seems to be getting better, but it still flies well below the highly commercial, well known families and branches like Golden Miss, K Nora, Romola Hal, Breath O Spring et al. On his damsire line the mares all have really good records for their day, not spectacular perhaps, but solid times and really good earnings. Starting with his damsire line – his dam Sweet Future is a Falcon’s Future mare. So he brings the familiar Falcon Seelster elements in here, but Falcon Future’s damline has not really kicked on apart from his great-grandam Dell

Siskiyou’s daughter Gogo Playtime, who turned out to also be the great-grandam of No Nukes and TMI. Many other branches have been a lot weaker. Of course if you go back further than Dell Siskiyou, you see Falcon Future’s maternal line is the family of Roya McKinney/Princess Royal and then Estabella and Jessie Pepper.

Sweet Lou’s grandam Sweet Darhlin was a well-performed race filly by Nero. Again, Nero is not a sire that we find much in our siring line or mare’s lines these days. Yet he brings a lot to the party, including another dose of Poplar Byrd and a strong liking for Adios blood. By the by, there is a branch of Nero’s family that we do know well, and that is through his half-sister Skipper’s Romance. Amongst the descendants in New Zealand are the families of Smooth Ice (dam of Classy Filly) and also Sokys Legend (dam of Bit Of A Legend). Nero was pretty much an outcross sire himself, the two closest double ups were a 4×4 to Volomite and 4×4 to Billy Direct. One of his sons, Nero’s B B stood here as a sire for 5 years from 1984 and left over 600 live foals, some of the best being Bee Bee Cee, Neroship, Nevermore and Nutwood. But would I see Nero’s B B being relevant to which mare I put to Sweet Lou? To be honest its quite a long bow to draw.

Sweet Lou’s great-grandam Fly Fly Darhlin is a daughter of Fly Fly Byrd who is a siring son of Poplar Byrd. Yes, that’s the fourth link to Poplar Byrd in Sweet Lou’s pedigree.

The strength in Sweet Lou’s pedigree is undoubtedly his maternal line.

His half-brother by Bettor’s Delight won over $2,000,000 in stakes.

His half-sister, Sweet Lady Jane (Somebeachsomewhere) has left the stakes winning filly Youaremycandygirl by American ideal.

His other half-sister Sweet Paprika by Artiscape has left last seasons boom two-year-old in Captain Crunch (Captaintreacherous) who was good enough to pace 1:49 as a juvenile and win the Breeders Crown. Enough to see him crowned Two-Year-old of the Year.
His first run back at three was run in 1:48 with the plugs still in on a slushy track which suggests if he continues on his current projection, he could well be Captaintreacherous’ first son at stud next season.

Sweet Lou himself was good enough to finish third in money earned in his juvenile season in North America and is the sire of nine $100,000 earners. 45 already in 1:55 or better.

The best of his progeny in America like Sweet On Me is a filly in Warawee Ubeaut who is out of the Apaches Fame mare Great Memories. She was the fastest two-year-old pacer in North America last season winning filly of the year after her impressive Breeders Crown victory took her stakes earnings to north of $650,000.

Sweet Lou is known for stamping his progeny with a blaze, however while Sweet On Me failed to inherit this trait she has definitely inherited his juvenile speed, remembering Adore Me never raced at two herself.

“Adore Me has been the perfect mother, she has been great in raising all of her foals thus far,” said Kenny.

“Sweet On Me was a beautiful looking individual, very striking and in many ways the spitting image of her mother.

”As much Adore Me was a freak on the track, the deeds of great race mares have not always transpired to the breeding barn.

Delightful Lady couldn’t get in foal from four attempts spanning seven seasons.

Bonnies Chance had two to the races from eight live foals for a single race win as a broodmare.

Armalight wasn’t much better from her 10 foals but did produce the tail lines of millionaire Ohoka Punter.

Hilarious Guest only had four to the races from 15 foals.

Time will tell whether Adore Me will be more of a Blossom Lady than Mainland Banner in the broodmare barn, but given her pedigree and strength of the maternal family developed by Charles Roberts, you would have to think that Sweet On Me is far from a flash in a pan, particularly given the current yearling filly is said to be better.

“We are not getting ahead of ourselves there,” said Kenny.

“We know in racing that a lot of things can happen and Mary and I, as well as Mark and his team like to take things one day at a time,” he said.

Not a bad adage given the hiccups that can occur with breeding standardbreds. Something the Kenny’s had to endure recently when the DNA sample for the Somebeachsomewhere weanling from Adore Me returned quite the surprise.

“The DNA came back that Somebeachsomewhere was not the father, and that we would have to do quite an advanced test to see who the sire could in fact be. The foal is gorgeous and that helped keep the tensions down, but looking at the head it was the spitting image of Captaintreacherous in his photographs.

“The tests returned he was in fact the father. It’s quite fortunate because at the time, he was in a very dangerous year being his third season at stud but fortunately it has all worked out for the best,” said Kenny.

While a Somebeachsomewhere filly would have been great given his sudden passing last season, it’s hardly a bad outcome highlighting where the fortunes are right now.

“We are just blessed to be enjoying this wonderful ride,” said Kenny.

And if the rumours are true about Adore Me’s second foal, Darling Me, that ride might get a whole lot sweeter.

Credit: Brad Reid

PEOPLE

Former Christchurch trainer and studmaster Alan Harvey died on Monday, April 30, aged 76.

Harvey had modest success has a trainer after being first licensed in 1982, training six winners.

The first of those, Adadas, was at Greymouth in March 1984 and the last, Kamwood Raider, at Addington in June 2010.

Harvey stood the imported Albatross sire Sir Ten Ten at his Avon Lodge Stud in the late 80s and early 90s, the horse leaving 14 winners.

Alan Moore Harvey was married to Kathy and was father to Karen, Julie and Tony, grandfather to nine and great-grandfather to four.

He was interred at the Avonhead Park Cemetery on Thursday, May 3.

Credit: NZ Harness News, 4 May 2018

PEOPLE

Neil, who has been in indifferent health for some time, suffered severe back pain late in the week and was removed to hospital on Thursday. The family, including his wife, Rose were summoned on Friday evening and he passed some hours later. His last harness racing runner, Mach Up, had been a winner for Mark at Addington a few hours before. He was 80.



Neil has been closely associated with Mark's training career from the start of it.

"We had been family friends for years. Neil was in Kumeu earlier and transported the horses down south for Roy and Barry and was then in Christchurch so the association continued when I moved south" Mark said.

Neil played a key role in that stage of Mark's career as a backer, advisor and "volunteer" stable hand. In more recent times he was the man finessing the track before fast work at Rolleston and master of the kitchen for staff breaks. But he did a lot more than that. Much more.

He raced any number of successful horses, most notably the $2.5m winner Smolda and his contemporary Fly Like an Eagle as well as outstanding horses like Waikiki Beach (19 wins), Major Mark (12 NZ wins) Follow the Stars (16 wins), Classic Cullen (16 wins) Border Control (18 wins) Ohoka Dallas and Russley Rascal ) to name a few.

But he remembered with affection lesser winners of earlier days in the north of which he told many stories. And his winning tally could have been much higher but for the fact that Neil just loved "the deal" and was always prepared to sell horses for export before they reached their potential. He preferred to race with one or more partners than solo ownership though he did both,

"You always leave something in the horse for the next owner. I have always followed that and if you do it they will come back for more" he used to say and a lifetime of experience in doing deals meant he was a man to listen to.

"He was just a really good bloke and of great support to me in so many ways" Mark said

"Roy and Barry had a horse for him, I think Speedy Demo who started his racing association with our stable. He was a good friend of Peter Wolfenden in those days and Peter Young trained for him as well. He was a regular at the Kumeu track which is where we got to know him well"

"Like everyone else you always expected him to bounce back from a bout of bad health. He had done it so many times"

"It is a sad day for those of us who knew him but you are reassured by the knowledge that Pilch had done so many things in his life that he would have gone having no regrets"

Although Neil realised he was nearing the end of his life it never affected his spirit. He went to the Yearling Sales and spent $120,000 on one lot {"He was one of our owners we couldn't put a limit on !" Mark says) and more recently has invested in several new ventures including the trotter Musculus just two weeks ago in anticipation of another Harness Jewels runner. He had hoped to be at Addington Friday where he had three runners engaged and then head north for Cambridge.

It is a great sadness for Neil Pilcher's family and many friends as well as a host of associates that this time he will not be there.

Credit: NZ Harness News, 19 May 2018, courtesy of The All Stars site

PEOPLE

We are yet again reminded of our own mortality, as another of the light harness craft, have left us, bound for "that big race track in the sky"!

The hobbyist, a boy refugee from war torn Europe to New Zealand where he became a farm hand in the dairy industry, later taking on the breaking and education of harness horses and progressing to training and driving. He was in his early 80's at the time of passing.

Albert Willem "Slim" Dykmann was a well known identity in NZ prior to coming to Queensland, through the deeds of his star trotter, Scotch Tar. A gelded son of pacing sire, Tarport Coulter, Scotch Tar raced for 8 seasons , starting on 87 occasions for 29 wins and 10 placings, maintaining a high profile among the square gaiters, and banking $140,920 AUD in the process.Slim settled at Ebenezer south of Ipswich and commenced to weave his magic there, first rising to notice through the deeds of Natty Jack, a winner of 20 races on the "old" Southport track.

It was, however his skill with mares that bought him fortune here. Top of the tree was the 'iron legged" Happy Haldon starting on 196 occasions for 62 wins 52 placings, sitting death seat and grinding her opposition into the ground, while earning $290,000. Diamond Hunter, with 11 wins under two minute rate from her total of 17, and $71,000, an Australian high point at the time. Then came Hike Along. A massive 32 runs as a 2yo in a total of 60 starts which netted $68,000 from 15 wins and 19 placings. At stud, 11 foals, 7 winners, 4 of which earned in excess of $100,000. Slim Dykman.

No dynasty, just the sharp and lasting memory of a man who knew what he was doing, and did it incredibly well!!

Credit: NZ Harness News, Denis Smith (Queensland), 18 October 2018,

HORSES

Harness racing 3yo Sheriff has smashed the NZ mobile 2600m all comers record when winning the $200,000 (Gr1) New Zealand Derby at Addington Raceway tonight.

The Nigel McGrath trained pacer ran the mobile 2600m in a blistering 3-05.4 which obliterated the old record held by the Purdon/Rasmussen trained Vincent by more than half a second.

McGrath had three nice chances in the race as he also trained race rivals Aloka and Star Commander, but he rated Sheriff the best of the horses he had in the race.

"He has come up nice this year and every start this season he has found the line really well.

"He ran a good third in the Northern Derby and I think he is ready tonight," he said before the race.

Sheriff (Bettor's Delight - Jen Marie) had to work hard to loop the field on a hot pace and he finally found the lead with 700m to go.

The classy pacer then had to withstand all the challenges in the straight, but lasted to beat a fast finishing Pat's Delight by a nose at the line.

Driver Blair Orange was ecstatic after the race and said,

"It was a great win and Nigel had him peaking at the right time.

"I had a good battle with Dexter up the straight but luckily the coin flipped my way."

Sheriff rated 1-54.7 over the 2600m mobile and zipped over his last 800m in 56.4 with a closing 400m in 27.5 seconds.

Credit: Harnesslink Media, April 2018

HORSES


Luby Lou after winning the trotters derby

Luby Lou showed she was the best 3yo trotter in the country when she waltzed away to win the $100,000 (Gr1) New Zealand Trotting Derby at Addington raceway tonight.

Two weeks ago Luby Lou beat the fillies convincingly in the Trotting Oaks and trainer Mark Purdon was in two minds whether he would start her against the boys in the Derby.

"She is such a natural trotter and I thought if there are a few there that make mistakes, then she will be there to capitalize even if she has to do a bit of work in the running," he said tonight.

During tonights race, Luby Lou (Muscle Hill - Luby Ann) was beyond midfield early before getting a beautiful cart up three wide behind the stablemate Winterfell until the home turn.

In the straight driver Mark Purdon only had to flick the reins at the classy filly and she powered to the front to win easily by more than three lengths at the line.

Winterfell stuck on well for second to make it an All Stars quinella for driver Natalie Rasmussen and Majestic Man battled on well into third.

Luby Lou trotted the 2600m mobile in 3-14.2, not far off the New Zealand record of 3-13.5 set by Habibti in this race five years ago.

Credit: Harnesslink Media, April 2018