| HORSES |
YEAR: 2017
COURAGE UNDER FIRE
One of New Zealand's most popular ever pacers Courage Under Fire has passed away with a record that may never be matched. The tiny pacing hero turned stallion died in Australia yesterday where he was standing at Yirribee Stud in New South Wales. He would have turned 22 on Tuesday.
While he was a very commercial stallion who sired recently-retired Inter Dominion champion Smolda, it was as the Mighty Mouse of pacing that Courage Under Fire will be best remembered. He won his first 24 starts, being unbeaten at two and three, that classic season including a record six Derby victories.
It is doubtful any galloper would ever have contested six Derbys and very few harness horses probably have either, let alone winning them all. So this rarest of places in racing history would seem to be Courage Under Fire's alone forever.
The Derbys were part of a 41-win career from 56 starts that saw him amass $1,551,941 in stakes after starting his career in New Zealand with Bruce Negus and then being transferred to champion NSW trainer Brian Hancock after a sensational failure in the 2000Inter Dominion in Melbourne. Courage Under Fire suffered his first defeat in a heat of that series, prompting Moonee Valley commentator Dan Milecki to yell "the world must be ending' as Kyema Kid surged past Courage Under Fire.
While the world survived, Courage Under Fire's career plateaued by his earlier standards and he was never as dominant as an older horse, winning a series of good races but never one of the great ones. He was narrowly beaten in both the Miracle Mile and Victoria Cup and fourth in an Inter Dominion Final but picked up Grand Circuit races like the South Australia Cup, Queensland Pacing Champs and Australian Pacing Champs.
He came back to the pack because while he was a pacing machine at three he never got much stronger or faster, forever looking a fast teenager racing grown men. But as a three-year-old he captured the racing - and some non-racing - public's imagination in a golden era that also saw Christian Cullen and Lyell Creek draw huge fan bases. The other two were better older horses, albeit all too briefly in Christian Cullen's case , but Courage Under Fire's size endeared him to race fans, his little legs whirling like a cartoon character when he was at full speed.
Off the track he was a little softy. "He loved people and was the lovliest little horse to have around," says original trainer Negus. "He had so many fans and when little kids came up to him to pat him, which happened all the time, he would lower his head down so they could get to him. Once, when Brian Hancock was training him, they couldn't find Brian's six-year-old granddaughter and they were all panicking. They couldn't believe it when they found her in Courage's paddock and she was patting him as he nuzzled her. This was when he was a seven-year-old stallion, he was just such a gentleman"
So did training a racing icon change Negus's career or even life? "If definitely helped my career because we had a lot of good horses, many for his owner Greg Brodie after Courage left the stables. But it also changed my life. I met so many people and was once asked to speak at a racing awards dinner because I was the guy who trained Courage Under Fire. I met my wife Colleen at that function, so I owe Courage more than he would ever have known."
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Standing at only a tick over 14 hands, the little stallion certainly had a huge heart and left a lasting impact on the Australasian breeding industry where few colonial stallions have been able too.
Upon retirement he was the sire of 434 NZ Bred winners, he was also the sire of-
*7 NZ Group One winners: Secret Potion, Lancôme, Smolda & Pembrook Benny.
*16 NZ Group Two Winners
*14 Group Three Winners
*6 NZ Listed Winners
His legacy will now be in those of his daughters who are already breeding on his guts and determination, with the outstanding mare Arms of an Angel being out of a daughter of Courage.
Credit: Michael Guerin writing in Breeding Matters July 2017
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: 2002
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Courage Under Fire's contribution to harness racing was far greater than 41 career wins, a string of feature race titles and almost $1.5 million in stakes.
Affectionately known as "Mighty Mouse" in Australia and "The Pocket Rocket" in New Zealand, Courage Under Fire alone took harness racing to the wider sporting world with his 24-race winning streak. It was common-place to see some big thoroughbred names making a special trip to the trots just to watch the pint-sized people-puller strut his stuff. Cricketing heroes Mark Waugh and Ricky Ponting were also huge fans of the pacer.
Courage Under Fire first captured my imagination on Christchurch Show Day in November, 1998, when he overcame a torrid run to beat NZ's best 3-year-olds. It was a performance of a champion. In the nine months that followed, the son of In The Pocket proved himself one of, if not the best 3-year-old Australasia has seen with a record-breaking six Derby wins.
The best win of his career came at Moonee Valley on July 10, 1999. It was the Australian Derby and local star Shakamaker was at the top of his game. What was supposed to be a thrilling contest turned into one of the most emphatic and memorable wins in the history of Moonee Valley. In a stunning display of sustained speed, Courage Under Fire simply ran his rivals ragged. His 1:56.5 mile rate for 2540m not only destroyed the track record, but also bettered the world mark.
Another of his stellar performances came at the Gold Coast just weeks before the Australian Derby, when the colt came as close as I have ever seen to a horse winning by the length of the straight. The official margin was 48.75m and the time for the mile a sizzling 1:54.9. Racecaller Dan Mielicki superbly captured the moment of Courage Under Fire's first defeat - at Moonee Valley in January 2000 - with the words: "The world must be ending."
As dramatic as it sounded, Mielicki's call was closer to the mark than even he realised at the time. Life went on, but Courage Under Fire was never quite the same. Gone was that invincibility, that intimidating presence that terrorised his rivals. Trainer Bruce Negus handed the reins to Brian Hancock in a headline-grabbing stable change. Hancock was always in a no-win situation. Everbody expected Courage Under Fire to dominate the Grand Curcuit and nothing short of that would surffice. The truth is, Courage Under Fire, by the lofty standards of his youth, was a disappointment in the big league.
But, as Hancock said this week, if you forget his deeds at two and three and just judged him on his Grand Curcuit form, he "did a damn good job." He won three Grand Curcuit events, contested three Inter-Dominion finals and won six Inter heats. Racing against horses that dwarfed him, every race as an older horse was a war for Courage Under Fire. He was one of the most appropriately named horses we have ever seen.
My memories of Courage Under Fire will be as much about the huge crowds that surrounded his stall for a glimpse, as they will for his fantastic deeds on the track. He was a people-pleaser and I was pleased to have followed his career from start to finish. Farewell, little fella.
Credit: Adam Hamilton writing in HRWeekly 18Sep02
YEAR: 2001
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| 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: 2000
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| Trevor Casey, Colin DeFilippi & Bruce Negus with their trophy |
Bruce Negus and Colin De Filippi are mates. And like most friends, they have had the odd difference of opinion. Their most recent one was over Caps Off, and had it not been for De Filippi's insistance the filly could have won the $75,000 Wayne Francis Memorial New Zealand Oaks for someone other than owner Trevor Casey. "I told Trevor to sell her six weeks ago," Negus admitted. "This was before and after she won at Rangiora. Colin and I had a healthy debate; he believed she was getting better and should be given the chance to improve over the next couple of seasons. But she passed the vet and was all but sold to America - the only reason she stayed is because the money didn't come," Negus said.
De Filippi must have had a wry smile as he got the best out of Caps Off to down hot pot Tupelo Rose. It was yet another masterful drive by the Ladbrooks reinsman. With Shivna, Dancingonmoonlight, Pocket Queen and Ciccio Star drawn inside him there was no shortage of early speed, but after Shivna broke De Filippi managed to get Caps Off to the front and then waited for Tupelo Rose to come round and take over. From there the pair had the best seat in the house. Tupelo Rose stacked the field up and tried to outsprint her opposition; Caps Off was equal to the task and nabbed her illustrious rival in the shadows of the post after she ran out under pressure. "She's very fast out of the gate, if she needs to be," Negus continued. "But she's a frail little thing, and she's been a bit timid and a bit weak so we've been a bit scared to use that speed. Lately she has become stronger though and Colin and I have had more confidence that she can do things."
Despite being confident that Caps Off was improving, Negus said they never envisaged her beating such a quality field of fillies. "It wasn't expected," he said. "The run was fortuitous, but in saying that she is a very determined little cookie and she deserved the win. She can follow a hot pace all day. They have got home in 56.5 tonight but she stuck to her guns. Being by Caprock out of a Nero's B B mare she is all Nevele R bred too, so it was quite fitting that she should win a race named after Wayne Francis."
Bred by Nevele R's Danny Boyle, his brother-in-law Ross Stewart and Canterbury Jockey Club's C.E.O. Tim Mills, Caps Off was first sighted by Casey when she had a workout round Addington Raceway as a yearling in July, 1998. Pacing a mile in 2:08, home in 59.4 and 28.4, the co-proprietor of Inter-Island Horse Transport bought her on the spot. Despite another horse of his, Africa, finishing second in two Inter-Dominion Trotting Grand Finals, Caps Off gave him his biggest harness racing thrill.
"Trevor's been a very good owner for the industry, and me in particular," Negus said. "Caps Off has been a bit of a heartache for him. She's put both her back legs through the fence at different times, and she must have kicked at least half a dozen people without warning. She has won five of her 11 starts though, which is pretty good considering she has been unlucky several times or only 80% fit on other occasions. She is a bossy and fearless little thing around home, and can be a real mole. She will try to get other horses to communicate with her, and once they come near she'll swing round and lash out at them. Lately that mean streak seems to have disappeared, because she has taken on Thunder Atom as a paddock mate and seems to be a lot happier since."
Credit: John Robinson writing in NZHR Weekly
YEAR: 1999
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| 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: 1989
TE PHYNO - Mystery Mare
Here was a mare who might have started life with a lurid name but who did not appear to have a breeding future bright enough to light a match. She did not race but that was the whole point with this family. In fact most of her female ancestors going back over a century hadn't either. However one or two had left useful enough horses along the way to ensure no armed men advanced on them at dusk for the long goodbye.
At first Te Phyno's career looked typical. Her first foal won once in 36 starts in Australia and that was in Hobart. The second never raced. Then a miracle occurred. Two of her next four foals were not only classic winners but of both sexes. Caps Off won the 2000 New Zealand Oaks by a head from hot favourite Tupelo Rose, driven by Colin DeFilippi and trained by Bruce Negus. The owner was Trevor Casey having his first classic success. That was a career highlight, though she took a 1:52.5 mile time in the US.
That might easily have been dismissed as one of those things but two foals later from her first visit to Badlands Hanover came Badlands Bute. For Lincoln and Tony Herlihy in the Great Northern Derby he beat keen rival Advance Attack by a neck with horses like Tribute and Bailey's Dream close behind. He was beaten a head in the Queensland Derby and in the days when Auckland was paying $20,000 stakes he assembled a healthy bank balance but never made the big time as an older horse.
Some subsequent foals were okay, especially when the mare could get back to Badlands Hanover, but nothing like classic material.
So how had this happened? After all only mares as great as Scuse Me are usually capable of leaving both Derby and Oaks winners over a period of four or five foals. Not unraced unknowns. Doesn't happen. It was probably because both Badlands Hanover, and Caps Off's sire, Caprock, were from the Oil Burner line. Te Phyno lifted her game when she struck 'oil', or so it seemed.
Credit: David McCarthy writing in Harnessed June2016