| PEOPLE |
YEAR: 2016
GREG BRODIE
The son of a Sydney hotel owner who swapped punting for Accountancy and Real Estate, Brodie has been based on the Gold Coast for many years and has had sustained success buying and racing Standardbreds that has been rarely matched in his time. He started here in 1990 through Marty Herbert and Bruce Negus, generally horses in the middle range.
The first star was Ginger Man (Chariots of Fire) who won over $500,000 and Bell Byrd who won the Golden Easter Egg then run at Fairfield. He hit the headlines with Courage Under Fire which he bought on trainer Negus' recommendation for six figures as a two-year-old, he won over $1.5m and 41 of his 54 starts only three times being worse than fifth.
24 of his wins were in succession and he won six Derbys so added to his stud career he was a wonderful bargain. Sly Flyin won close to $1m and currently Quick As A Trick is competing in top company from the Bruce Negus stable, while Brodies strong association with Mark Jones continued with Rocker Band being fine-tuned for the major mare's events at the Auckland Cup carnival. there ARE MANY OTHERS.
TRIVIA FACT: Like many Brodie prefers to buy rather than breed and is realistic about the fortunes of the racing game. He recalled that Courage Under Fire was not the most expensive of the six horses he bought that year.
Credit: David McCarthy writing in Harnessed Jan 2017
YEAR: 1994
 |
| Ginger Man holds out Rare Touch to win the Derby |
The $125,000 John Brandon New Zealand Derby fell to Ginger Man, but victory in the classic was a close shave for the favourite.
Spirited opposition was supplied by Rare Touch, who put the breeze up the Ginger Man supporters when he almost levelled with the leader about 80 metres out. If it was not quite head to head, there was still very little between them as Ginger Man grimly clung to the tiny margin he had. "I thought about 50 metres out that I'd get to him," said Anthony Butt, driver of Rare Touch. "I have no excuses I didn't," he said. Knowing the class of the horse, Butt was not surprised Ginger Man responded the way he did, and won the Group 1 feature by a head in 3:15.7 - not the fastest but certainly hard and quick.
The race was a good one, made to a major extent by the closeness of the finish and that it involved the two favourites. Ginger Man led after 2000m, while Butt tucked Rare Touch under cover, within striking distance of the leader. He made his move with sudden quickness near the 500m, which effectively blocked He's Gotta Go from attacking on the outer. A betting person wouldn't have wagered on the outcome halfway along the straight, but near the end Ginger Man was giving as much as he was getting and survived, shakily but sure, by a head. He's Gotta Go was a safe third, not far behind, but not quite in the same class as the first two. The others, headed by Hoppy's Jet, were well beaten.
Ginger Man is the third successive New Zealand Derby trained by Roy and Barry Purdon, preceeded by Kiwi Scooter who Barry drove, and Mark Roy, handled last year by Barry's brother, Mark. A son of the deceased Vance Hanover, Ginger Man is raced by Greg Brodie, who will see the horse in his home state during the winter. Ginger Man will soon be off to Australia, where he will be cared for by Andrew Peace. He will contest three Derbies, including one in Queensland, where Brodie lives. The Derby win, worth $78,125, has shot Ginger Man into second place in the list of leading stake-winners, behind Chokin ($394,790), and ahead of Motoring Magic ($167,875) and Il Vicolo ($130,755). Nine of the 22 horses who have won more than $50,000 so far this season are stablemates of Ginger Man.
Credit: Mike Grainger writing in HRNZ Weekly
YEAR: 1999
 |
| The Brodie family |
Greg Brodie would agree that he took some short-cuts before making his fortune. He was a varsity drop-out and "lived on the punt" when he was still a teenager. He went to the best schools, mixed with lads from the class of landed gentry, and enjoyed the visits of ace race commentator Johnny Tapp when he'd call into the family hotel in Sydney and talk horses with his father, Cleitis.
Brodie soon learned that while short-cuts might have put him on the track to becoming a wealthy man, they did not prevent disasters on the way to finding good racehorses. Ten years ago, through the help of Martin Herbert and Bruce Negus, he was in the market buying horses in the range of $20,000 to $40,000. "They were running-along horses who hadn't done much for me," he recalled.
Then came the call that led Brodie into the arena of spending bigger money on a better prospect. "It was Bruce on the phone, and he said to me 'I've got one to make up for the others.' That was Ginger Man and he won over half a million and now I've got 30 foals by him."
Others of quality followed Jillbo, Franco Hat Trick, Bridge Hanover and One Way Traffic. As good as they have been, Negus did his best day's work for the Queenslander when he bought him a black 2-year-old colt by In The Pocket, a bit on the smallish side, in the spring of 1997. This was Courage Under Fire, Brodie's signature horse, the winner of the Smokefree New Zealand Derby and before that 16 consecutive races. He has won $721,000, and is an icon of the New Zealand harness racing industry. Soon, he will be off to Australia, for three derbies, and possibly four if Negus decides to add Perth to the itinerary of New South Wales on May 14, Queensland on July 3 and the Australian on July 10.
Brodie is a quiet, unassuming man who bought his wife Grietha and their three daughters Deahnne, Raquel and Yasmin to Christchurch to see the horse he had been telling them about. He was the only child of a suburban publican. In hindsight, he was surprised he didn't start off with a galloper because the parents of many of his classmates had farming ties and thoroughbred origins. His first horse, leased at 17, was Jam Raider, who never won a race. "During those times I lived off the punt, everything was off the punt. I dropped out of varsity, went into accountancy for seven years, then into real estate. Fouteen years ago I left Sydney and went up to the Gold Coast. It was a lifestyle thing,"
After the setback with Jam Raider, his first decent horse was Cam Raider, who won 12 races out of Cyril Caffyn's stable. In partnership with his father who also raced Cam Raider, they bought Bell Byrd from Jim Dalgety. "We paid ten thousand pounds which was a lot of money at the time but she was a very good mare and won us the Golden Easter Egg in Sydney before dying from a twisted bowel. Since then, Brodie's hobby has mushroomed to the stage where he now owns horses in Perth with Ross Olivieri, Brisbane with Vic Frost, Melbourne with Mark Peace, and with Barry Purdon and Bruce Negus in New Zealand. After seeing his 30 foals by Ginger Man during his Derby trip, Brodie says his hobby "is out of control."
He also says his policy of buying up and running young horses - he has never been a breeder - is laced with pitfalls and problems. "I have rarely bought at yearling sales, in fact I can recall only buying one. By doing it this way, it reduces the risk because you know what you are buying. But even after trialling them, vet examinations, opinion and price, the success rate is only twenty five percent. I would like to think it is fifty percent," he said. To qualify that, Brodie said the purchase of Courage Under Fire should not be considered in isolation. I bought six 2-year-olds at that time, and Courage Under Fire was not the dearest. Klim was dearer and he has won one. Congo Direct was a good juvenile in Australia last season but he is not worth two bob this season. Another was Mr Focus. I think he's won, but the others are no good."
Brodie, who used to build shopping centres and now manages the ones he owns, recalls that in the past Negus has done all the groundwork and developing of his young horses, and they have gone to Purdon when Negus has said it is time to go. "I gave Bruce the choice of keeping Klim or Courage Under Fire. I suppose it could have gone the other way."
Brodie says the stakes won by Courage Under Fire have also been a "fantastic earner" for his breeders, Neville Cockcroft, Patricia Inkpen and the estate of Ossie Cockcroft who died aged 83, just two days before the Derby. Under the sale agreement they earn 10% of what Courage Under Fire wins from Group 1 races and Sales Series Finals. "We actually offered a lower figure, but Wayne Ross, his trainer then, was keen for us to get him and this was one of the ways for doing so. It was a real smart move for them." From his perspective, Brodie is concerned about the long term future of harness racing. He fears there are too few young people getting hands-on contact, and he notices no less than anyone else the scarcity of young people at the tracks.
Courage Under Fire took 3:15.9 to win the 2600m Derby, the slowest in four years, since Il Vicolo ran 3:17.4. He ran his last mile in 1:57.7, final 800m in 56.2 and last quarter in 27.4. Trainer Bruce Negus, always refreshingly honest, said: "You really have to be a bad trainer not to win with him. This race was too slow to be hard on him. He does make it look easy," he said. Negus says the only hard race he's had was on Show Day at Addington when Stevies ran him close. In the meantime, Stevies hasn't made the slipstream. Colonel Anvil came out of the trail to run second, followed by Waitaki Warrior and Stevies.
Credit: Mike Grainger writing in NZHR Weekly
YEAR: 2001
 |
| Greg Brodie receives the trophy from Daren Garrard |
It is not time for Bruce Negus to say 'move over Courage.' There is no real danger of that. However, it seems certain that he will speak of Sly Flyin in the next breath.
Putting sentiment aside, Sly Flyin has Closed quickly on the achievements of the great Courage Under Fire, who Negus developed into a young champion, and there was fresh evidence of his endless stamina and stubborn determination following his powerful win in the $150,000 Garrard's Sires' Stakes Final on a slushy track at Addington.
The Greg Brodie-owned and Colin De Filippi-driven colt won with the same stamp of authority that Courage Under Fire issued in his year. Tricky Vic made a valiant attempt from back in the field on what was pretty much a front-runner's night to finish second; Hardly Matters had a good trip and made good use of it to get third and All Hart was fourth after sticking on well following a tough trip.
For Sly Flyin, it's a seven-week break, and the declaration of another career when his racing career has finished. Negus was more or less committed to geld Sly Flyin at the end of his campaign, and said so. "Courage was perfect in this respect. Anyone could give him a pat and show him some affection. He liked that. This fellow is a little more aggressive, and could bowl you over without being nasty at all. But I promised him he would stay a colt if he won. Gelding him, by the look of it, couldn't make him go any better," he said.
In the cold light of day, the run was exceptional, because there was some difficulty for him when a hopple shortener became stuck. It meant that he had one of 53 inches on one side and 56 inches on the other. "That is why Colin had to force the issue when he did. He is a short coupled horse but it would not have been comfortable for him. Colin's drive was very astute. He drove to the horse's strengths. In the last four or five years, Colin has just got better and better. He really is top class," he said.
The quality of Sly Flyin's win was not a revelation, and Negus no longer is afraid to give him the kudos he has deserved. "His trial a week earlier at Motukarara in 2:41.8 for 2200m did surprise me, but then he has improved many lengths since his Welcome Stakes win last months. He was not distressed, and it is hard to describe how well he did that. He is a great stayer, and to be honest I don't know how good he is. He could be a super horse, but here we have rated him a second behind Courage in all departments at this stage. Up till now, I have hesitated to say that he is up with him, but I think he has earned that right now. In a tight finish, he will win nine times out of ten," he said.
With his boyish tendencies needing to be ironed out at the start of his campaign, Negus went to a couple of senior horsemen for advice, his father Bob, and Doug Mangos. Through his time with George and John Noble, Mangos was an old hand with young horses, and won nine successive races at two with the brilliant filly, Roydon Roux. As a result of their wisdom, Negus worked Sly Flyin every day in the cart, for weeks on end.
Sly Flyin is a 15.2-hand son of Sands A Flyin, who achieved a remarkable and honourable double when his iron-willed daughter Sparks A Flyin won the Group 1 Nevele R Fillies Final on the card - in the same willing manner. Brodie bought Sly Flyin for a six-figure sum on the recommendation of Greg Payne. "I recall Greg saying after just his fourth hopple, 'here is a $100,000 horse'," said Negus. That was in September.
Credit: Mike Grainger writing in HRWeekly 16May01
YEAR: 2004
 |
| Turkana winning the Nevele R Fillies Final from Imagine That |
The result was a sweet-moving Turkana sitting behind the pacemaker Imagine That, and making use of the passing lane to win the Group 1 mobile by two lengths. Negus said Turkana was helped by the fact Imagine That had been 'roughed up' in front by Xmas Joy, Shamrock Girl and Pascale Bromac in the middle stages, that left the favourite vulnerable near the end.
Negus said he "made an error" when he chose to use a pulling bit on the filly the week before. "I panicked a bit when I saw the draw she had in the Oaks. After that, I went back to the snaffle bit she had been in beforehand. And it was Craig's idea to put this type of hood on her. He is a quiet achiever and his input into this filly has been terrific. They have also worked well together because she was a handful at the start," he said. Negus had a moment's worry during the week when he thought her work was sluggish. "I didn't know whether she was off colour or it was just the way she was working in the hood. She felt lethargic, so in some ways I was mildly surprised with what she has done."
Turkana was bred by Graeme Iggo, and was broken in by Maree Price who is in the process of breaking in and gaitingthe 40 yearlings on the Negus' books. At the time she was educating Turkana, she also had Imagine That on the go. "She said to us, these will both be Group 1 winning fillies. We dismissed that, but she put it in writing and stuck to her guns. That is when Greg Brodie bought her, and we gave her a couple of months out just to make sure she got rid of any aches and pains," he said. "At one stage she had three starts in eight days and won then all. I have never done that to a filly before, but I knew we had to win at least three to have a chance to start in these races," he said.
A filly of good size by Christian Cullen - who also sired third placegetter Christiansheritage - Turkana is from Kisumu, who held the NZ record for a 2-year-old over 2000m when she won the Sires' Stakes Championship for fillies in 1992.
Negus has had many great horses, notably Courage Under Fire, Ginger Man, Franco Hat Trick and One Way Traffic, but Turkana is already the best filly. "Caps Off won the Oaks and she was a tradesman, but this filly will make Cup class. "I can see she has got a fifty-five half in her," he said.
Credit: Mike Grainger writing in HRWeekly 19May04