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RACING HISTORY

FEATURE RACE COMMENT

Not so long ago Tony Dickinson couldn't even give Heard A Whisper away, but today she is becoming a broodmare that money can't buy. Heard A Whisper has risen to fame through the deeds of her second foal, Alta Serena, brilliant winner of last Friday night's $100,000 George Calvert Cleaning Easter Cup at Addington in near record time.

The victory was Alta Serena's 17th from only 38 starts, and took her over $360,000 in stake earnings. As long as trainers 'Bunty' Hughes and John Green can keep her sound there should be a lot more where that came from, which is all quite in contrast to the fact that she is out of a mare that no-one wanted.

By Smooth Fella out of Tawhai Sandy, Heard A Whisper was bred by Dickinson and some friends to put through the Sales. But she cut a leg and had to be withdrawn, so they raced her themselves. "Heard A Whisper won two for us, then after we leased her to Chris Insley she won another one for him," Dickinson recalled. "She was a fast mare too, but she could only do it at one end."

It was about this time when Dickinson
decided to convert his passion for harness racing into a boutique operation and formed his own company, Alta Breeding Ltd. He bought out his partners in Heard A Whisper, bred three foals, and then tried to give the mare away. "Her first was a Soky's Atom filly (Whisper Atom), but she was so small I ended up selling her cheaply to Chris and she never raced - he is breeding from her though," Dickinson said. "Then I put Heard A Whisper to Fake Left (Alta Serena), because he was flying in Queensland at the time and I thought if he could do that sort of job in Australia over their mares he should be able to do just as well here. And the third one I bred was a Sands A Flyin, who was a magnificent colt but he contracted the Wobbler Syndrome and had to be put down."

Three foals down, only Alta Serena actually making it to the Sale ring and attracted just $4500 at that - it's no wonder Dickinson wanted Heard A Whisper's space in the barn to be taken up by something else. "I tried to get rid of her," he admits. "I advertised her in a couple of papers, even rang a couple of studs to see if I could swap her for a service. But there were no takers. In the end, Woodlands put her in foal to Lislea for me. Then when Alta Serena jumped out of the ground as 2-year-old, well, everyone wanted to know about her."



Credit: John Robinson writing in HRWeekly 13Apr06