| PEOPLE |
YEAR: 1982
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It was a lucky day for Derek Dynes that time back in 1958 when he ran across Southland owner and breeder Andy Wilson in the street in Wyndham. "You know, I wouldn't mind selling that mare of mine," Wilson happened to mention. He'd had some success with the mare's earlier foals and he had sold them previously. She had a filly foal at the time and was in foal to Hal Tryax.
Derek Dynes had just bought his first farm in the area so naturally there wasn't all that much spare money around. Especially for another horse. But he didn't hesitate on hearing Wilson's plans. "I'll have her," he said. A few days later the price was agreed and Derek Dynes had paid over his cheque for £800. With that, he owned the mare, and Andy and Mrs Wilson kept the filly. It was a move which did all parties a lot of good.
The mare was Tactics. The filly was Deft. The foal she dropped in the spring was Tactile. By Light Brigade from Nell Grattan from that breeding gem First Water, by Harold Rothschild, Tactics had left Adroit, who had won the Golden Slipper Stakes by that time, Guile, who also went on to be another good winner in Australia, and a filly, Astute.
Derek then sold a half share in the mare to his cousin Jim. The two raced a number of horses in partnership after Derek got a licence to train about 1956. Among them, Derek recalled last week, were such horses as Forest Hill and Glenoware, both by Bill B, and both winners of three races, and Agean who won "five or six". There were many others eventually, but none were as important as that 12-year-old mare Dynes bought off Andy Wilson. She and her daughters have left a string of winners as long as your arm and, assuredly, there will be many more from the line. The latest to bring the name into the winner's circle has been the fine 3-year-old filly Tact Boyden, Derek's representative in the DB Flying Fillies' final at Addington in a few days time after winning two of the four South Island heats.
Derek, farming then at Wyndham, but now just out of Ashburton, trained Deft for the Wilsons. She didn't show too much early, winning only a maiden race at Invercargill as a 3-year-old. "She was spelled when she didn't kick up, but she won three or four the following year," Dynes recalled. She raced eventually against the best in the country, finishing second in Jacobite's Easter Cup at her second to last start. Then, in her last race, she beat Jay Ar and the brilliant mare Robin Dundee at Wellington. "She led all the way. The other two were off marks though."
Deft then went on to make her mark as a broodmare. She left Fool Proof, Eligo and Canny, all winners, before dropping Noodlum. There is no need to dwell on his exploits. Sufficient to say he was a champion racehorse in his own right (and if he had stayed sound he could have been even greater) and the list of winners he has sired since grows longer every day. Deft left two other winners, the speedy Olga Korbut and the Lordship horse Understudy, before her death several years ago.
But back to Tactics. Her next foal was Tactile, a colt who looked good right from the start. Derek trained him for himself and his cousin. "He was a great-mannered colt. He didn't have the speed of this filly (Tact Boyden). He had a paddly way of going but, goodness, he was a tough horse. He could do a quarter in 30...but not just one. He could run them one after another." According to Dynes, Tactile didn't 'kick' before the end of October. But when he lined up for his first race he was ready.
Driven by Kenny Balloch, he won the Golden Slipper in December by two and a half lengths, the Rangiora Raceway Stakes, when driven by Doody Townley, by four, the Geraldine Invitation, the Nursery Stakes, the Kindergarten Stakes and the Welcome Stakes all in a row. He finished second then in the Oamaru Juvenile Stakes before being just beaten by outsider First Battle in the Sapling after almost falling. He started the 3-year-old season with a second and a third before winning the NZ Derby, the Champion Stakes and, by seven and a half lengths, the Great Northern Derby. "He won the Derby in a bit over 3:10. The fillies beat that now," Dynes observed. "But he just plugged away in the trail behind Vanderford and, when the others were stopping, he just kept going."
That was the last NZ fans saw of him that season. Soon after Auckland he was shipped out of Bluff to take on the best of his age in Australia. Jim Bond was looking after him on that trip. He won the South Australian Derby - "Minuteman had it won until he broke at the top of the straight" - the New South Wales Derby after Doody Townley managed to get him around a skirmish, and then the Victorian Derby.
As a 4-year-old he ran second to the mighty Cardigan Bay in the Auckland Cup before heading across the Tasman once more for the Inter-Dominion series in Melbourne. Driven by Robert Cameron himself a near neighbour now of Dynes on the Ashburton-Methven road, Tactile won a heat and then finished third behind Minuteman, who led all the way, and the fine mare Angelique. "He was a top horse that Minuteman. He went all the way at a great rate." Derek was not in Melbourne at the time, Cousin Jim was. A friend, Bob Norman, with whom he had stayed in Adelaide, persuaded him to take Tactile back to South Australia for a couple of races. They went, but the horse broke a pedal bone and was out for the rest of the season.
The following year he won a heat of the Inter-Dominion at the Forbury Park Inter-Dominions and again, at six, a heat in the Sydney series. Tactile went to America soon after and took his lifetime earnings close to the $200,000 mark. He won a lot of races and ran second to Bret Hanover the time that champion took his world mark. The Dynes sold Tactile to the States on condition that he would return to NZ at the end of his racing career. But, before coming home, he stood at Martin Tananbaum's White Devon stables for several seasons. "He left a swag of winners in America, but many of them were minor winners who couldn't get a race here."
Back home, he left some good horses - he has six 2:00 performers, among them good juveniles Ryal Pont and Wickliffe - but, in Derek's own words, some were not much good. An old horse now, Tactile is still alive and spending his days at Jim Dynes' son Ross' place at Ryal Bush. "He was a very fertile horse but he went off overnight. We don't know why. Perhaps it was hereditary. His old sire did the same."
The Dynes put Tactics first to Garrison Hanover and then again to Hal Tryax. Tactus was the Garrison Hanover colt. He won five races and has since made a successful sire in New South Wales. Tacwyn was the sister to Tactile. But did she turn out to be a champion? Far from it. "She was a dirty thing. She would kick the shafts to pieces. We found out later she had a cystic ovary, so I suppose she had an excuse," Derek said last week. She was put to stud as a young horse and produced Exmoot to Hi Lo's Forbes. That first foal has left several winners, Elderberry being the most recent. Put then to Hundred Proof, she left US winner Tactual and then Tacten, the dam of the current stable star.
Tacten, too, gave Derek Dynes more than his share of troubles. "She was a headstrong thing. She was absolutely hopeless from a stand. But she did win one race as a 3-year-old...by twenty lengths or so at Winton." She never did more on the track. But she's continued the family tradition at stud. Back to that soon.
Tactics meanwhile, went back to Garrison Hanover to produce Tactena, Greek March to Caduceus, Tactess to Flying Song, Five Score and Master Proof to Hundred Proof and then Tacmae by Yankee Express. Tactena, Greek March, Master Proof and Tacmae were winners themselves, Tactena, Tactess and Five Score producing their share of winners. Tactena, who won three races, left Tactless, Tact Lady (dam of a 1:58.2 winner in Tact Henery), Tact Command (1:59.6US) and another American winner in Scottish Tact. Tactess left Tactful, a winner now being bred from, Ryal Ann and Ryal Tar, both winners.
It was when the Dynes' partnership dissolved 'about ten or twelve' years ago that the cousins split the mares between them. One of the ones Jim got was Tactwyn and she produced two more winners for him, Ryal Mood and Ryal Lady. Derek got Tacten and Five Score. They have produced winner after winner. To Tacten first. Tact Del was her 1973 foal. She ran second to Ruling Lobell in the Leonard Memorial and is now at stud herself. Tact Knight, her next filly, won two races here and then went to West Australia where she won seven or eight. Tact Hanover was sold as a youngster and later died. At that stage, Derek, by now established at Ashburton, decided to send the mare to Australia to be mated with Overtrick. Very smart filly Tact Over was the result. Back home in NZ, she won a couple of races before she, too, went to stud last season. "She had plenty of ability, but she used to be a hard drive. She pulled like anything," Dynes said. "Robert used to think she was extra good, but I think he thinks Tact Boyden's better now. But then, she's always been a nice horse." Tact Over has a foal by Valerian and is in foal to Lordship. Tact Boyden is Tacten's first foal since coming back from Australia.
And if Derek is delighted with the way things have worked out with that mare, and there's no doubt that he is, then the exploits of Five Score have given equal satisfaction. Fourth herself in Rossini's Golden Slipper, her first foal was Yankee Score who won the Leonard Memorial in 1973 for Dynes. Later she left the winner One Score, herself now at stud. Then came Bachelor Score who, while she didn't race, is already proving a useful broodmare. Her first foal was Ryal Scott, bred by Ross Dynes, and he won in America.Then came Nibble Score, also a winner before going amiss. Bachelor Score's current 2-year-old is Patron Score, a promising young horse who damaged a tendon. "He looks extremely smart but once he was injured we decided to put him out for at least six months. It wasn't that bad, but that time off will be an 'insurance'.
High Score, a colt by Tarport Coulter, was Five Score's third foal. "Hell, I put the time into him, the useless brute. He took ages to catch on. By the time he was five he had been everywhere, to a lot of trainers in Australia. And the next thing, here he is running 1:57 and a bit at the Meadowlands." Timely Score was Five Score's next racehorse. He won three here as a 2-year-old, including the NZ Sires' Produce Stakes final by four and a half lengths from Hanover Don, Beaufort, Lord Module, Montini Bromac, Roydon Scott and company. "Soon after that, he popped a tendon so we gave him 12 months off," Dynes recalled. The horse then went, like many of the breed, across to Roy Annear in West Australia who swam him and got him going again to be one of the best horses in the state. He's won dozens of races and his earnings are getting up towards the $100,000 mark.
Scottish Score, by Scottish Command, didn't race but was put to HT Luca, a stallion Dynes himself imported to NZ, two seasons in a row. Her second foal was Two Score who ran second to brilliant filly Time's Up at Addington in his first start. He is now in America. Sent to Australia several seasons ago, Scottish Score has an Overtrick filly at foot and is in foal to Adios Vic. Meanwhile, the last of Five Score's progeny to get to the races, Nevele Score, by another Dynes import Nevele Bigshot, is also racing in Australia where, as well as a number of wins, she ran third in last year's West Australian Oaks. This year, Nevele Score is proving a sensation on the track. Just recently she broke Paleface Adios' Australian record for a mobile 2500 metres, rating 2:01.8, in her seventh or eighth win in row. Right now, Five Score has a rising 2-year-old by Nat Lobell and a colt by Boyden Hanover. Whichever way you look at it, those two mares and their progeny have given Derek Dynes a huge amount of success.
Now 51, he farms his border-dyked 200 acres at Ashburton and, assisted by his daughter Elaine, works his horses as well. He moved to Ashburton because "it's handier to the races - and the stallions." He has got a fine half-mile track which can be used winter and summer, is in the process of increasing his boxes to twenty and is just finishing a new wash and gear complex. His racehorses, and those mares and weanlings, which aren't either in Southland or Australia have all the green grass they want in his irrigated paddocks.
Derek Dynes enjoys both aspects of his life, the farming and the horses. "It's good when one can give the other a boost," he said last week. These past few weeks, there has been a lot of effort going into getting Tact Boyden right for Friday night's assignment. It is her toughest yet. After that, Dynes has nothing mapped out. "I might even send her across to Australia to be mated with Adios Vic," he said. "He was a top racehorse and he's left a lot of winners." It's a pattern Dynes has followed with some success before. He won't be keen to change a winning formula.
Credit: Graham Ingram writing in NZ Trotting Calendar 4May82
YEAR: 2010
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Trevor Proctor and his partner Diane Dynes enjoyed their greatest moment in harness racing when Tact Lizzie romped away with the $80,000 PGG Wrightson NZ Breeders Stakes at Addington last Friday night.
Tact Lizzie didn't just get a suck along behind the pace, sneak up the passing lane and fall in to win by a nose - which you would almost expect when such a time-honoured Group 1 event was won by a $64 outsider. No. She started from the outside of the second row, looped the field with 1000 metres to go, and literally ran her opposition into the ground!
And the icing on the cake? Her winning time of 3 09.4, which represented a stunning mile rate of 1 57.2 for the 2600m mobile and even wiped a name like Mainland Banner from the record books in the process. Moments don't get much better than that. "This is our biggest thrill by a long shot," Proctor said afterwards, "I'm still shaking."
Friday's field probably wasn't the greatest Breeders Stakes line-up possible, with top mares like Kiwi Ingenuity, Lauraella and Special Ops all absent for one reason or another, but any thoughts of the event being 'easier' to win this year soon went out the window when Tact Lizzie drew saddlecloth 14. Even Proctor was almost conceding defeat as he found a spot in the stand. "Pretty much," he said. "From there (14) we'd have been pleased if she finished in the top half of the field, and thought that if she even ran a place it would have been more than what we could ask for."
Tact Lizzie had other ideas, and forever etched her name onto one of Addington's most sought-after trophies for the mares. Proctor admits that it took him a long time to work out a training regime that suits the now 10-win mare, and it is one that goes against the grain. "Hard work," he says. "You hate doing it, but it's just how she is - she loves it. And you can't give her much time off either, because she tends to tie up real bad."
Tact Lizzie is a 5-year-old daughter of Christian Cullen and the New York Motoring mare Tact Hayley. She was bred by Diane's father the late Derek Dynes, and belongs to his tough old Southland breed that has sent forth numerous good horses over the decades. After Derek's passing a couple of years ago, Tact Lizzie is now raced by Diane's mother Bessie.
Proctor has been involved in the sport ever since he moved from Invercargill to Winton in the early 1990's, and worked for Derek initially. "I'm a painter and decoratorby trade - training's just a part-time thing for me," he said. "We've only got the two racehorses; her and Tact Aunty, plus a couple of 3-year-old fillies who qualified recently."
Tact Aunty is the same age as Tact Lizzie, is also by Christian Cullen, and being out of Flash Tactics she belongs to the same family; he and Tact Lizzie have the same fifth dam, Tactics. Flash Tactics was more than capable on the track herself, winning eight times from Derek's stable and finishing in the money behind Flight South (third, NZ Premier Mares' Championship) and Kym's Girl (second, NZ Standardbred Breeders' Stakes) this time nine years ago.
The Premier Mares' Championship tomorrow (Thursday)at Addington is where Tact Lizzie could head next, although Proctor is going to leave making the decision about starting until after he gave her a jog on Sunday. "The 1950 metres probably won't suit her, she's more of a distance horse," he said. "She doesn't give you a great turn of foot, but she does cover the groud deceptively well. And she could be in foal, too. We got her served by McArdle before she came up to stay here at Laurence Hanrahan's, and the vet says she feels like it but he couldn't find the embryo on her scan."
Friday's stunning victory was also the pinnacle to date in the career of driver Stephen McNally.
Tact Lizzie's regular pilot Jonny Cox couldn't get a flight to Christchurch later than 2.00pm that afternoon, and was already committed to six drives at Winton where he thought he had one or two good chances, so Hanrahan went looking for a replacement.
"Laurence rung me last night, and I jumped at the chance," McNally said, adding that the only other time he had sat behind the mare was in last year's Hororata Cup when she missed away. "Driving in races like this is always more of a thrill than normally, because they're Group 1s and go down in the history books - and you're up against nice horses. I knew we were going fast out there, but it didn't quite feel like 3.09. It was a nice wedding present," he said.
McNally will marry his fiancée Rebecca Odering at a chapel in Prebbleton this Saturday, in front of some 200 guests. He and Rebecca have just built a house on the Motukarara property of his parents, opposite the racecourse, and with 10 in work he has got a nice number of horses around him plus he has kept busy doing farrier work as well. "Dad's working for me now."
Credit: John Robinson writing in HRWeekly 17Feb10