| HORSES |
YEAR: 1989
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| Jenner winning the 87 Ordeal Cup from Tyron Scottie and Simon Katz |
Grand trotter Jenner, hero of 33 wins from 185 starts over 10 seasons for $281,005, has been retired.
The 11-year-old Game Pride gelding will make his final track appearance leading out the field for the $125,000 FAI/Metlife Rowe Cup in Auckland on May 20. He will be kept in light work, training with the Kenwood Stud yearling band at Cambridge under the supervision of his breeder and master, Charlie Hunter.
Jenner has been a special favourite of Hunter's from the day he was foaled. This is not surprising, as his third dam, Royal Charge, raced and trained by his father, the late Jack Hunter of Lower Hutt, on lease from Christchurch breeder the late Clarry Rhodes, gave Charlie his initial winning drive. Permitted to breed a foal from Royal Charge, Jack Hunter put her to U Scott to produce Min Scott. Raced by Charlie's mother, Min Scott was guided by Charlie to win the 1963 Dominion Handicap at Addington, giving him his first important big-race victory.
His accomplishment of being a winner in 10 consecutive seasons is a record for a standardbred in NZ - approached only by pacers Lordship and Tactician (nine consequtive seasons), while among the trotters Fantom and Johnny Gee are next best with consecutive wins in eight seasons apiece.
Raced by Hunter's wife Annette and Jeanne Meale, wife of Kenwood co-director Brian Meale, Jenner was as honest as they come. Until jarring up on hard tracks late in his career, he had no hang-ups apart from a hind fetlock injury that kept him out of the 1985 Rowe Cup. He won 20 races at Alexandra Park, six at Cambridge, four at Addington and three at Claudelands.
He trotted a mile in 2:01.5 winning the Thames Rhodes Memorial as an 8-year-old, and was placed in 4:11.8 for 3200. Hunter drove him to 19 wins, John Langdon to six, Grant Payne to three, Gary Smith to two and Barry Anderson, Kerry O'Reilly and Jack Smolenski to one each.
Apart from Hunter, Jack Carmichael, Gary Smith and Peter Wolfenden trained him at different times. While Carmichael didn't drive him to a win, he trained him for victories in the Trotting Championship and Ordeal Cup.
Credit: Ron Bisman writing in HRWeekly 3May89
YEAR: 2002
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| Jack Cade & Mark Purdon |
Mark Purdon says Jack Cade could not have won the Smokefree New Zealand Derby had it not been for the regular amount of swimming he's done in the last six weeks. Not only that, he doubts whether he would have even started in Addington's Group 1 feature.
For months, Jack Cade has been in the pool, firstly at the Riccarton galloping track, then at Cran Dalgety's. While Jack Cade was on the road here and there, Purdon was installing his own $60,000 pool and, six weeks ago, Jack Cade was in it.
Since then, the young star has done more of his training off the track than on it. Had these facilities not been available to the same extent, the cracks in Jack Cade's physical armour would have appeared earlier and with dire consequences. To explain this, we are back in the Spring and stable foreman Grant Payne is back off the track at Yaldhurst, and telling Purdon that the horse hasn't felt right warming up. "He was just at the trials stage, and he was a little sore before racing in September. Bill Bishop x-rayed him in the fetlock joints. Nothing showed, but he gave him an injection that would last for three months. I knew as we went along that he was not getting any better, but it was not getting any worse," he said.
By the time he got to Auckland for the Great Northern Derby, Jack Cade was showing the same signs again, and this time an x-ray was more forthcoming. There was a bone chip in a fetlock joint annoying him. Since then, his programme has been carefully monitored to get to the Derby, and perhaps a race or two on either side of it. This has happened, and there's a 3-year-old race at Auckland this month to conclude a campain that has been hugely successful and wonderfully managed. The operation will mean Jack Cade must be boxed for three months, and with the March-April Inter-Dominions being his primary target next season, there is nothing to rush for an little will be seen of him in the Spring.
In line with his Nobilo win the week before in similar company, Jack Cade did not have much more than a good workout to win it. Predictably he led, and just as predictibly, he got it pretty easy once he was there. "He could have gone three twelve, even better, if he had to," said Purdon. When Paul Kerr's horse dropped off at the quarter, he pricked his ears. I knew there was more petrol in the tank if I needed it. He's a bit better than good. He's a great horse. I don't think Vic (Il Vicolo) would be any better. There is a lot of bottom to this horse. Once we get his joints tidied up and he has a good spell, I think he will be a very good 4-year-old," he said.
A gallant second was Hot Shoe Shuffle, the only filly in the race, and a stablemate of Gracious Knight who was to win the Easter Cup just an hour or so later.
The son of the 1995 Derby winner Il Vicolo, who is owned by Purdon in partnership with John Seaton, has won 9 of his 19 starts, been second or third in eight others, and has stakes of $446,179. As well as winning the Derby, Purdon won two other Group races, the Welcome Stakes with Light And Sound and the Trotting Championship with Waihemo Hanger, another who has been the beneficiary of the Purdon pool. To win three Group races in a night is a remarkable achievement by a superb horseman, and while it is very rare it is not unique. In 1992, Roy and Barry Purdon achieved the same result at the Met's Easter meeting, winning tjhe Welcome Stakes with Hitchcock from stablemates Mark Roy and Mister Wolf Blass; the Easter Cup with Insutcha from stablemates Christopher Vance and Two Under, and the Derby with Kiwi Scooter.
Credit: Mike Grainger writing in NZHR Weekly
YEAR: 2004
A Young Rufus but not the original was the competitor at Addington last week. Had it been the Young Rufus of old, he would not have scrambled home like a handy 'C sixer' ahead of Clifford Jasper in a kind race for him last Thursday. His margin should have reflected the great horse he is - or was. Indicating he had lost interest in being a racehorse, he got home by a neck.
With a booking to leave for Auckland, and then on to Melbourne, trainer Mark Purdon was immediately faced with the choice of retirement on a high note or a campaign that carried a high risk of ending on a sad one. "I would not like to take him to Australia and for people to see him finish down the track," said Purdon.
As it was, the winner of the Auckland Cup by nearly eight lengths a year ago and last season's Pacer of the Year was all-out to win a five-win front off 20 metres with just a flicker of the old flame. Purdon said it was pleasing for Young Rufus to end his career on a winning note and top $900,000 in stakes.
Up in the trainers' stand, Grant Payne, his attendant since Purdon had shifted south, was "disappointed." "I expected him to win by three or four lengths. In his last hopple before the race, he had worked as well or better than ever before. When he got to the races, all he could think about was the breeding barn. When he came back to the boxes, he was pretty fresh - you wouldn't have thought he had had a race," he said.
Payne said he had enjoyed the travelling that came with caring for a great horse. "Five times to Australia, everywhere here. He was a great mannered horse, and liked company. He never really liked being by himself."
Payne's devotion to the stallion played a part in his remarkable recovery from a life-threatening operation to mend a twisted bowel on the eve of the Inter-Dominions at Addington last year. For three nights, he slept outside his box as Young Rufus tettered between life and death. "I never really thought he was going to die, but Bill Bishop said to me later he put the chance of survival at thirty percent."
Payne said the Auckland Cup win was his most compelling performance. "He was one fit horse for that. I don't think any horse in the world would have beaten him that night," he said. "No matter how quick you were going with him, you knew that you were on something special. But he would always hang a little. You would straighten him, and he'd just hang the other way."
Pyne said Young Rufus was always a pleasure to parade. "He was a show horse. You would finish grooming him and stand back and look at him, and you couldn't help thinking how good he looked. He was one of those horses that you'd walk out, and people who didn't know him would ask 'What's that horse?'"
Bishop, who performed the operation to save Young Rufus, said the horse was not affected physically by his experience. "He got back all his old habits. It is hard to evaluate whether the operation had any lasting affect. It is fair to say the expectations on the track were high. But how he looked and how he raced did not co-relate," he said.
In the meantime, Young Rufus is having a few days swimming to keep himself in trim.
Credit: Mike Grainger writing in HRWeekly 28Jan04
YEAR: 2007
Mark Purdon and Grant Payne enjoyed three wins last Friday at Addington, with the top performer Classic Cullen producing the third. His win in the Group 3 Fitness Canterbury Classic ensured the big gelding a spot in the Christchurch Casino NZ Trotting Cup.
Starting well, Classic Cullen settled mid-field while warhorse Flashing Red worked forward to take up the lead and set a solid pace. With 600 metres to go driver Mark Purdon made his move with the talented pacer, in a driving finish Classic Cullen won by a neck over a luckless Waipawa Lad for second with Bondy impressing in third position.
Last year’s NZ Cup winner Flashing Red settled for fifth place. Classic Cullen is now at odds of $5.50 second favourite behind Changeover to win the cup.
Credit: HRNZ
YEAR: 2008
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| Mark receives congratulations from wife Vicki |
Mark Purdon became the 16th New Zealand reinsman to notch up 1000 wins when he steered Doctor Mickey to victory at Ashburton on Labour Day. And just as quickly he began chipping away at the next 1000 when he proceeded to salute on Imagine Me, Auckland Reactor and Ohoka Utah on what was yet another stella day for his and training partner Grant Payne's Rolleston stable.
As a son of legendary horseman Roy Purdon and younger brother to Barry, it's hardly surprising that Mark longed to follow in the same footsteps and make harness racing his career as well. "I never thought about anything else," he said, recalling his childhood days. "One of my earliest recollections is sitting on the jogger with Uncle Sandy when I was about ten, and at the age of twelve I used to brush Sole Command every day after I came home from school. He was a wonderful horse, I really loved him. Besides, I was only average at school anyway...just there making up the numbers," he smiled.
Purdon gained his first win behind Dark And Dusty at the 'red clay' Northland circuit in February 1982, and within a couple of seasons he was soon compiling large totals on a regular basis. His best tally is the 75 winners he drove in 1988/89 and he went close again with 74 five years later; twice he's topped a million dollars in earnings during a season. "I get a kick out of any win really, but I suppose the prestigious races do mean a bit more to you," he said.
On the big days is where Purdon seems at his brilliant best, and there's no end to the amount of Group races he's racked up so far...110 of them in fact, including two NZ Cups, an Auckland Cup, an Inter-Dominion Pacing and Trotting Final, numerous age group Classics with both fillies and colts - not to mention the NZ Derby, a race which he's made his 'own' having partnered eight winners of the event since his first with Mark Roy in 1993.
Of all the 16 illustrious horsemen in this country's 1000-win Club though, Purdon is second to none when it comes to his amazing UDR, which highlights his strike rate. Currently at .4952 this season, it's at its highest yet. "I've been lucky with the sort of horses we've had over the years, because there's usually a lot of depth in the team," he said. "Plus your staff play a big part with the preparation of them all. But the UDR is something I'm conscious of, because you know that you've got a lot of following with the punter out there. So there's a certain pride involved, and you are always trying to do your best."
Credit: John Robinson writing in HRWeekly 30Oct08
YEAR: 2008
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Although Sir Clive's winning streak came to an end on Friday, the consolation for the Mark Purdon/ Grant Payne stable was that it was inflicted by another of their representatives.
Bettor's Delight colt Highview Tommy and Blair Orange snatched a late victory off his stablemate in the $100,000 Group 1 Bromac Lodge NZ Welcome Stakes at Addington. Both were huge runs, and Purdon says there's little between the two youngsters. "On ability, they're very comparable," he said. "Every run of Highview Tommy's has been a great one when you analyse it...on debut in Auckland he was three-deep and rattled home for third, beaten a head and a neck, and then second-up he was three-wide from the 700m and went down by a neck in NZ record time."
Earlier in the season Purdon
Credit: John Robinson writing in HRWeekly 16Apr08
YEAR: 2008
 |
Ashburton brothers Keith and Bevan Grice are building a super affinity with the NZ Trotting Derby. As breeders they've won it three times already this decade...with Dependable (trained by Mark Purdon) in 2001; Shirley Temple (Paul Nairn) last season, and now Doctor Mickey (Purdon & Grant Payne), who peeled off Sovereignty's back and edged past him to snatch victory in the Travel Practice-sponsored event on Friday night. All three talented trotters are about as closely related as you can get - Dependable was by Sundon out of Janetta's Pride, so is Shirley Temple, and Doctor Mickey is the first foal out of the pair's full-sister Jo Anne.
Allan and Lorraine Georgeson have been associated with the breed for many years too, initially through Dependable but most notably with Jo Anne, and the latter provided the couple with a whole host of fond memories after showing brilliance from 'Day One'. Jo Anne won 12 races in all, still hold three national records, and if there's one regret it's that she never went as far as expected after capturing seven of her 10 starts as a 2-year-old. "She gave us our best moments in the game," Allan recalls. "She was so dominant. When you went to the races, you knew you were going to win - probably by lengths, and in a good time too."
Jo Anne was raced on lease from the Grice brothers, and the Georgesons have been accorded the same luxury now that she's at stud. "We get the first right of refusal on her foals," Geogeson said. "They usually get snapped up pretty quickly if we don't, but the Grices are very fair and men of their word. "I thought Jo Anne would just have to leave a Derby winner, or a horse of some class, and if she didn't then maybe I should give up."
By Dr Ronerail, Doctor Mickey seemed to have lost his early reputation and wasn't given much hope in last Friday night's NZ Derby, having been landed with saddlecloth 13 when the 'big four' all drew the front line and posssessing nowhere near the same credentials; even Georgeson admits that he thought the horse "couldn't win", and hence didn't have a dime on him. "So it was a wee bit of a surprise - but a great thrill," he said afterwards. "He's always shown ability, but didn't have the manners to go with it. The mobile starts certainly help, because he's mad from a stand."
Having been broken in and educated by Mark Smolenski, Doctor Mickey joined the Purdon/Payne stable prior to his third start this time last year, and they've been listed as his 'official' trainers ever since. The gelding's gone home to the Georgeson's at various stages too though, and it hasn't been easy getting him up to where he is today. "He's just not as natural as the others, and has actually curbed both his hocks in the last couple of months," Georgeson said. "But we've all put in out tuppence worth...Lee (son) who used to take him swimming, Stephen Evans who works for us in the mornings, Tommy Behrns, and the vet Corrine Hills deserves a lot of credit for pinpointing a major problem with him. "I got her to look over him when she was down from Auckland one day, and she reckoned his knees were sore, meaning he was standing underneath himself in behind and putting strain on his hocks. So we did some remedial work on them, and put on some Back On Track boot which work a treat."
Georgeson's a licenceholder himself, but his involvement with horses has been scaled down somewhat since late last year when he needed an operation to remove a benign tumour on his brain. Left with a degree of facial palsy, recovery has been a very long and slow process but he's quick to add "well, I'm alive" and that he's gradually starting to get around the property as much as he ever did. So Doctor Mickey's Group 1 victory on Friday night was a much-welcomed boost for a family that's experienced their fair share of tribulations lately. Perhaps there could be more in store too, because plans for a North Island raid are on the table. "It'd be nice to get one more of the big ones," Georgeson said, not in any way meaning to sound greedy. "I don't think we're better than any of the other 3-year-olds, but perhaps showed that he's as good as them."
Credit: John Robinson writing in HRWeekly 2Apr08
YEAR: 2008
 |
Ian Dobson and the Met people may as well drop the NZ Derby trophy off to Mark Purdon now. It's near enough to as good as won by Auckland Reactor, and the believers are now well and truly in the majority.
But first, there are formalities to attend to, and that means Auckland Reactor must perform as he did in winning the First Sovereign Trust Flying Stakes at Addington in devastating style last Friday night. His cruel disposal of seven other good 3-year-olds made it crystal-clear that none of then are in his class, or even close to it. He beat Justa Tiger by seven lengths and his stablemate Fiery Falcon by a fraction more. It was a beating of big proportions, and the $200,000 Christian Cullen-sponsored Classic has the look of an open and shut case.
Phillip Kennard, one of the co-owners of Fiery Falcon, put on a brave front by saying how he was looking forward to a better draw and trying to stick within four or five lengths of Auckland Reactor and see what difference that would make. He took comfort in seeing Fiery Falcon finish within eight lengths of Auckland Reactor after perhaps, at best, being 10 lengths from him at one stage. Hope for better might be one thing, but getting it quite another.
While Auckland Reactor looked as fresh at the end as he did at the start, he didn't win the contest without some push and shove. Purdon ran him hard out of the gate, and then Gavin Smith pressed up with Cullen's Legacy to see if the lead was available. He was hard to settle from there and, committed to attack, ran keenly alongside Auckland Reactor for 800 metres, until dropping off and finishing 15 lengths behind. "I had an idea where he might finish up," said Purdon. "After going hard early, and then attacked, I was a bit surprised my horse had as much left as he did," he said.
This was Auckland Reactor's ninth successive win, which puts him in easy reach of equalling and bettering the record of Purdon's previous 3-year-old star Il Vicolo, who won 11 in succession at that age. Auckland Reactor can make it 13, if he wins the Derby, Southern Supremacy Final, the Harness Jewels and a lead-up race to that. Purdon says he's "potentially the best" horse he's had. "When he came down from the north he was just a horse, and well behind the other yearlings at the same stage. I gave him six weeks work, but he was nothing remarkable at the time. There was no pressure on him because he wasn't paid up for anything. I liked him, without there being anything special about him."
When he was back in again at two, Purdon said there was still nothing to mark him out. "We had Fiery Falcon, Ohoka Arizona and Steve McQueen, all nice horse, but they'd also done a lot more. It was not until I'd taken him to a couple of workouts, where he ran second and third, that he started to impress me. Both times I thought he could have gone past the others if I'd asked him to. Off the place, it seemed as if he would step up." And when he qualified "stylishly", he became a "nice" horse, and Purdon then had the Sires' Stakes in the "back of my mind. That was a great performance, winning that, but he is a better horse now."
If Purdon and co-trainer Grant Payne had worries from time to time about his condition, they don't have them now. "He's the biggest eater on the place," Purdon said. "I recently saw a picture of Mach Three (his sire) after he won a race at the same age, and from the neck back you'd say they were identical." Between the Group 2 win of last week and the Group 1 he goes for this week, Auckland Reactor had a solo run on Monday and worked with company on Wednesday. It seems Purdon is cautious with what he does with him. "I could work him hard and he can be a good trackworker."
After Auckland Reactor and Fiery Falcon, the Mach Threes at All Star Stables almost run out. He doesn't have a 2-year-old, and his only yearling is the colt from Russley Friction bought at the Australasian Classic by Neil Pilcher and Bill Grice.
Credit: Mike Grainger writing in HRWeekly 2Apr08
YEAR: 2009
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Despite the myriad of training successes they have enjoyed, something still manages to keep Mark Purdon and his training cohort Grant Payne guessing. Her name's Pocaro. The Sundon filly enjoyed being back against her own gender again in last Friday night's NZ Trotting Oaks at Addington, and after getting around from her unruly draw to lead the 1950 metre Group 3 event, she clung gamely to the task to hold out a spirited bid from Jumanji Franco. Both horses broke late in the piece, and Purdon was left scratching his head about the winner's performance.
"On her training this week I thought she would've won for fun," he said afterwards. But it was a better showing from her, because at least she (almost) got around in one piece." As a 2-year-old Pocaro had one speed - full bore. She's calmed down a bit in that regard this season, but has still got a tendency to voer-race early, which is why her trainers placed her on the unruly in a bid to curb that enthusiasm.
As Pocaro has shown throughout her career though, when she's good she's very good, but the trouble in more recent times has been her breaking during the running. All Stars Stables has left no stone unturned trying to get to the bottom of the problem, with Purdon saying that she has undergone extensive examinations on numerous occasions with her vet Bill Bishop, also having her joints injected and even having a chiropractor look over her. But he still believes that the Sundon filly may be sore somewhere. "Sher would be a great candidate for that treatment where they pump a blue dye through a horse's system and it shows up all the hot spots. I think it's something I'll have to talk about with the owners."
Pocaro is raced by Trevor Casey, Jim and Tim Wheelan, Stephen Ward and Shane Hausler, and so far she has won the quintet over $85,000 - the result of seven victories from 13 outings, two of the Group 3s. "She is a very strong trotter, with a lot of speed," Purdon enthused. "We will go up north with her now, for three races. She thrives on trips away, and has won up there before so she could well be safer the Auckland way around."
Credit: John Robinson writing in HR Weekly 8Apr09
YEAR: 2009
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When it comes to Sleepy Tripp, not much has changed in three years. As a foal he was almost impossible to catch in the paddock, and these days his rivals on the racetrack have trouble getting near him too. That sheer tenacity was again on display at Addington last Friday night, when Sleepy Tripp kept all challengers at bay and won the $300,000 Christian Cullen NZ Derby.
Bred and raced by Pleasant Point's Terry and Adrienne Taylor, Sleepy Tripp was providing the couple with one of their most cherished moments in life when he took out the Group 1 event last night. So they must shudder at the thought that they could have easily sold him early on. "He was a little bugger," Terry recalled. "He would always keep at least an arm's length away from you, his mother was the same. Of the four horses we bred that year, I remember thinking he would be the first to go."
The Taylors had been dairy farmers in the Bay of Islands and Whangarei for 30 years, where they also had a Jersey Stud. Shifting south at the turn of the century in search of cooler weather, they originally settled in Oamaru before purchasing a 350 acre beef farm at Pleasant Point in 2001. They opted for a lifestyle change soon afterwards though, selling off the bulk of their new property but leaving themselves with enough land (50 acres) to run a few cattle, build a new home, and pursue one last passion which had been only a dream up until that point - breeding racehorses.
"Adrienne had been my 'right-hand man' on the farm all those years," Taylor said with a smile. "And you can get a bit sick of it (the lifestyle) after a while. We are both in our seventies, so we decided we may as well sell up and enjoy ourselves."
Terry and Adrienne have always enjoyed going to the races, and when living up north they tried to get along to Alexandra Park "whenever we had the time". Now that chance to breed some horses had finally arrived, they were going to need some broodmares, so Terry started attending Mixed Sales and picked up the odd mare here and there. Admittedly knowing very little about harness bloodlines, the Taylors stuck to the basics and what they remembered from three decades of dairy farming - plus the advice of a learned friend: that producing quality stock was "ten percent breeding and ninety percent feeding".
Some good luck never goes amiss either though, and in this regard you would almost think that the Taylors were blessed with the 'Midas' touch, because just about every one of the of the dozen or so horses they have bred since they began has either won or been sold overseas - and their good fortune started right from the word go.
One of the first mares they purchased was Sleepy Tripp's dam Fancy Fitch, outlaying $1200 to secure the daughter of Fitch II and Happy Widow from a mixed sale when she was in foal to Mystical Shark. "There's a bit of a long story about her," Terry said. "When she came home from the stud after giving birth, she had the wrong foal on her; there had been some sort of mix up in the paddock, and the foals must've swapped mothers. The horse turned out to be Franco Smoothie (Holmes Hanover-Smooth Performer), and he won a couple of races for us before we sold him to the States. The Mystical Shark foal out of Fancy Fitch never even made it to the trials, and actually ended up dying."
The Taylors then bred Fancy Fitch to Live Or Die and she produced Dead Or Alive, who won races at two, three and four here before they sold him to Australia in May last year. Waiting in the wings at the same stage was Fancy Fitch's then 2-year-old by Courage Under Fire, the Taylors choosing to stick with Nevele R because "they'd been good to us", and he was named after the famous American speedway driver Sleepy Tripp.
Broken-in by Maree Price, she had thought enough enough of Sleepy Tripp early on to suggest that the Taylors go straight to the top and ask Mark Purdon to train him, and after joining the roster at All Stars Stables he had caused a few headaches there as well. "He was a bit silly," Purdon said. "He'd shown a bit of speed at two, but he wasn't coping mentally with the work as we were stepping him up. He was too fierce, and just wanted to run all the time. He'd rear up at the start on occasions too - just hypo, really." Purdon and training partner Grant Payne had pretty much ironed out Sleepy Tripp's idiosyncrasies by the time he debuted at Addington towards the end of October last year, and after being sent out a red-hot $1.60 favourite he won with a leg in the air despite being three-wide and parked throughout.
So emphatic was the victory, even a reinsman the ilk of Mark Purdon was left reaching for superlatives. "He really impressed me that night," Purdon said. "It wasn't just a good maiden win. Tim (Butt) had lined up one with a bit of a reputation, but we'd sat outside him and beat him easily. I thought then that he'd be able to step up to the better 3-year-olds."
Such a display of raw ability hadn't gone unnoticed by the talent scouts out there either, and within days Purdon was on the phone to the Taylors with the news of a six-figure proposition. "Mark rang and said he'd received a big offer," Terry said. "But we didn't need the money, and I remember thinking that if someone else thought he was that good - we may as well keep him." Neither his trainers or his connections could've predicted a NZ Derby victory within six months though, but Purdon is now adamant that Sleepy Tripp's going all the way to the top. "He's gone to another level again. He's just got that 'all-rounder' quality, and definitely looks like a Cup horse in the making."
Sleepy Tripp's now won eight of his 12 appearances and nearly $390,000. After the icing on the cake last Friday night, the Taylors have yet to come back to earth. "It's a huge thrill for us," Terry said. "Some people try for years to breed a horse like this; we definitelty didn't think it would happen so soon."
Credit: John Robinson writing in HR Weekly 8 Apr09
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