| FEATURE RACE COMMENT |
YEAR: 2006
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| Pay Me Christian holds out Monkey King, Awesome Armbro (11) & Classic Line (5) |
From Kerr's seat in the Public Stand, he thought Pay Me Christian had got it; but it wasn't until a fellow supporter dashed down to watch the instant replay of the finish and gave the 'thumbs up' that Kerr could actually let go of the breath that he was holding. "Along with the Oaks and the New Zealand Cup, this is one of the three races that I've always wanted to win," Kerr said afterwards. "The Derby's such a prestigious event, because it's been around for nearly a hundred years. And to me it's always the first real glimpse of what's to come when they're four or five-year-olds. Quite often the first three home in the Derby will go on to become good open class horses, even great ones."
Being his final outing for the season, and last ditch attempt at winning a Derby at three, Friday was 'D-Day' for Pay Me Christian in a lot of ways too - especially from his pending stud career's perspective. Automatically 'valued' at a million dollars when a half share in the colt was sold to Nevele R Stud for $500,000 back in December, that sort of money demands results. Kerr knew that better than anyone else, and after Pay Me Christian had run last seven days earlier things were even more intense.
"You wouldn't be human if you didn't feel some sort of pressure in that situation," he admitted. "So I'm glad he won this, because the horse deserved it. With an ounce of luck he could've won either of the Great Northern or Victorian Derbys, or quite easily finished with all three - and then people would've been talking about him in a totally different way. He's been the best 3-year-old this season, no doubt, and in winning the Sires'Stakes Final and NZ Derby he got the two big ones."
Pay Me Christian was heading out for a spell regardless of where he finished on Friday night, and Kerr says he deserves that too. "Yes, he was starting to show signs that he was coming to the end of it," he agreed. His zip wasn't quite there, and he was a little bit leg-weary after all the miles he's done. When we came back from Aussie he was a wee bit tired, and we knew we had to tread lightly for a while - that's why he was probably a tad on the fresh side for his race last week. He's only had nine starts as a three-year-old, but it's been a long season for him. People forget that he was up as early as July, and that he's had to peak three or four times during the year. And more and more lately he's started to realise that he's a colt. He thinks he's the king of the castle round home, running around the paddock and calling out; he covers a lot more ground during the week than most horses."
Pay Me Christian will be out for three months, with Kerr wanting him to resume around mid-October so that he has a couple of runs under his belt before "possibly" tackling the Junior Free-For-All on Cup Day. "The Miracle Mile is his main target before Christmas, so we'll be chasing a start in it, and after that there's the Chariots, perhaps another trip to Australia, and then back to New Zealand for our two big 4-year-old features in Auckland. Next time in we're going to experiment a bit and give him a lot more beach training. We're that close to one, so we're going to make use of it and keep him away from the track as much as possible in between races. There's nothing wrong with his legs whatsoever, it's just something we're going to try to give him a bit of variety and keep him mentally fresh."
At the end of Pay Me Christian's 4-year-old season is when Nevele R Stud and the syndicate that races him will sit down and discuss things. Regardless of when the career change eventuates, Kerr has no doubt about what sort of sire he'll be - not only because of the fact that he's by Christian Cullen, or won eight of his 13 starts thus far, but also because he's got a "terrific" dam's family.
"You just wait until he steps out again next season - he'll let down into a magnificent stallion. At the moment he's still a bit of a boy in that respect, we're only halfway there."
Credit: John Robinson writing in HRWeekly 5Apr06
YEAR: 2005
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| Pay Me Christian beating Alta Sirocco |
For the past 18 months, Kerr has been in residence at Preston Farm, where Robin Butt trains and his father-in-law Jack Litten did before that. Now it awaits the imminent arrival of the dozers and dump trucks that will turn it into a residential area.
Kerr will re-settle on the property of Wayne Higgs, where he says there is ample room for the two of them. "There are two lovely tracks and we both have our own barns. It is a training set-up designed for two stables, there is security and I'm looking forward to it," he said.
Kerr has another reason to consider the change so favourably. "We are only eight minutes from Spencer Park Beach. This is a great bonus. When I trained a Waikouaiti, I would train all the team on the beach between races, and I think the colts will benefit from that," he said.
This, and the near certainty of having the two favourites for the $150,000 NRM Sires' Stakes Final on Cup Day, gives Kerr a pretty exciting calendar. "It's certainly the best classic team I've had, but the racing team while we were at Waikouaiti got up to twenty," he said.
Pay Me Christian, who led throughout to beat Alta Sirocco by a neck in the ICE Bloodstock Rising Stars 3YO Championship, is off to Forbury Park this week to book his place for the final which would appear to be a formality. He will then have a breather before the Final. Alta Sirocco, who has won a heat of the Series, is already on his break and won't race again, outside of a trial, until the Final.
Credit: Mike Grainger writing in HRWeekly 12Oct05
YEAR: 2005
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| The connections of Pay Me Christian |
Pay Me Christian drew nicely at four in the Sires' Stakes Final, and most of those that sent him out hot favourite would have expected him to use his gate speed and go straight to the front, but it was well into the event before driver David Butt got serious about it; it was a pre-race plan that fell into place.
"David and I did talk about it," Kerr said. "We knew there was going to be a lot of speed early, because there were about three horses which were going to try and get the trail behind him. So we just decided to stay out of that early rush and then push forward, and David drove him beautifully. He had to be a real good horse to win it today. And I was just so pleased for him, because he had one or two knockers."
He's not getting all stirred up or being silly when he goes out on the track anymore," Kerr continued. "He's settled down now, and he is starting to develop into his body too. Pay Me Christian's identical to his old man, in that he's got such natural high speed. And he possesses all the same characteristics as his grand-dam Pay Me Back, who was a super,super mare...beautiful gait, high speed, great in the wind, and can stay all day."
Bred by Mark Paget, Paul Mahoney, Gerald Dwyer and Barrie Rose, who own his dam Pay Me Tu, Pay Me Christian was bought back through the sale ring and then Martin Boyce and Terry McCormick joined the quartet in the ownership.
Credit: John Robinson writing in HRWeekly 10Nov05
YEAR: 2005
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| Tuherbs is too strong for Pay Me Christian |
Tuherbs was bred by Roydon Lodge Stud, and the Live Or Die-Futurist gelding did all his early education under the guidance of part-owner/trainer Dave Anderson, but on Friday he made his debutin the colours of Tim Butt after being bought by McDonald and his good mate Eddie Griffin a little over a month ago. "We have people looking around for horses for us all the time, and it was actually Mark Jones that spotted Tuherbs at the trials one day," Butt said. "We trialled him once, at Dave's, and knew he had a six-figure price tag - but that is the going rate for a good, young horse these days."
In between times Butt had put the proposition to McDonald, who had raced the likes of Show Cruiser and Life Goes Bye from the stable in the past. "Tim mentioned that the asking price was fairly high, but I left it to his judgement to decide whether he was worth it or not," McDonald said. "He believed Tuherbs was, so then I rang Eddie and he nearly fainted, but he said he would get the money together somehow."
In business and as friends McDonald and Griffin go back a long way, 30 years in fact. Originally they were partners in the Acme Metal & Drum Company, McDonald managing the Christchurch branch and Griffin overseeing the Dunedin one. The picture changed about seven years ago when McDonald amalgamated with McIvor Metals to form Resource Recycling Ltd and Griffin went out on his own, but they have remained great mates and continued to race the odd horse together. One of those was In The Way, who ran second to Giovanetto in the 1991 Welcome Stakes, so Tuherbs did his bit to settle the score by going one better last Friday night.
He had to be good to do it too, because apart from a second-row draw over the 1950 metre sprint trip he had the red hot favourite Pay Me Christian standing in his way as well. Tuherbs and driver Anthony Butt tracked Pay Me Christian with every stride, settling behind him after the start and then following him three-wide and into the race over the last lap. Gaps appeared between the pair when Pay Me Christian took off at the 600 metre mark just as Tuherbs got humped four-wide, but once around the final bend he was soon idling in behind his main rival once again and waiting to pounce. Butt went to pass at the furlong, but then had to suddenly grab hold of Tuherbs and steer him wider when Pay Me Christian baulked for the second time and went sideways. Unfazed by the loss of momentum, Tuherbs straightened, gathered himself and zoomed on past the favourite, winning virtually untouched by one and a half lengths in a 1:58 mile rate.
"He is a lovely horse," Tim enthused afterwards. "He has got a great temperament, and settled in right from day one after we got him; Dave deserves a lot of credit for what the horse did tonight. "And the thing about Tuherbs is that he probably doesn't really know what he is doing yet. We will target a Sires' Stakes Heat with him in a fortnight, hopefully the Final after that, and then that will be it for the season."
For McDonald, winning the Welcome Stakes was one of his most enjoyable moments in the 40 years he has owned and raced horses. His involvement has never been more in-depth than it is right now either, because he is breeding from seven mares and the total head count across the board is well into the 30s. The latest to join the list is the dam of Tuherbs, Fitch II mare Futurist, who he bought for "a steal" when outlaying $6500 for her at the Roydon Lodge Sale earlier the same day. She is in foal to Julius Caesar, and after such an emphatic debut performance by Tuherbs she too looks like a punt that is going to pay off.
Credit: John Robinson writing in HRWeekly 13Apr05