| FEATURE RACE COMMENT |
YEAR: 2000
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| Matai Mackenzie (outer) collars City Rogue |
Don't say a word against City Rogue after he was overhauled in the last stride by Matai Mackenzie in the HIH Insurance Welcome Stakes. After being in front and left clear in the straight, City Rogue was doing little more than racing himself over the last 200 metres.
Near the end, he started to lose focus, and was oblivious to the challenge from Matai Mackenzie coming wide on the track. And while driver David Butt did his best to keep his mind on it, Matai Mackenzie had more purpose to his finish and won the Group 2 by a nose. "He wanders round a bit by himself. I was frightened to go for him too soon," he said. Lack of experience and losing his competition so soon was the difference between first and second, but a fair reflection on where they stood amongst the others; Niobium, the third horse home and City Rogue's stablemate, was more than four lengths behind them.
Matai Mackenzie is one of the much publicised and highly successful horses bought as a yearling and raced by the ATC Trot 2000 Syndicate. He is trained by Barry Purdon who selected him at Karaka and made a 2-year-old of him when every feature of him suggested he would not be available until he was three. "He was big as a yearling and right from the start he came along nicely. He could really scoot a good half. I cut him when he started growing quite a bit and I have always gone quietly with him. He has just got better and better," he said.
In just six starts, Matai Mackenzie has topped $100,000 and with two bigger races than the Welcome coming up this month, it is quite possible he could double his earnings before the winter. Purdon said his only concern had been with a heel infection that had affected all his feet. "It was quite bad and Katrina (Purdon) bathed them twice a day until they came right," He said. At 16 hands, Matai Mackenzie is perhaps the tallest 2-year-old Purdon has raced and the great Chokin is the only one he said who would fit he same category. "I have spaced his races and he has enjoyed it. Being so tall and lean, he doesn't carry a lot of weight, so I don't work him too hard," he said.
Matai Mackenzie is by Jaguar Spur, who has been relatively inconspicuous on the siring lists, met with little patronage at the stud in Australia and is likely to return here next season. Purdon has had a few of them, and one of them is a filly who he thinks is okay.
One of the syndicates organised by the ATC also has a Soky's Atom filly from Mary Morris, Purdon bought for them at Christchurch for $14,000.
Of the 50 or so in the syndicate which races Matai Mackenzie, six or seven were at Addington to see him, but 30 are expected for his race on May 5 and another 30 the following week. Syndicate member Steve Stockman said efficient management of the syndicate was a key to its success. "When the bank gets up to $10,000, the members automatically get a payment of $200. The last cheque they were paid was $800. They each get a monthly newsletter of three or four pages, there is a weekly update and an 0800 number, and the latest syndicates are seventy per cent full," he said.
Credit: Mike Grainger writing in HRWeekly 27Apr00
YEAR: 2000
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The ATC Trot 2000 Syndicate's fairytale season finished with a flourish when Matai Mackenzie won the $144,000 Civic Video NZ Sires' Stakes Final at Addington. In what Syndication Manager Rob Carr described as a dream come true, Matai Mackenzie put the lid on a remarkable 1999/2000 term by collecting their biggest cheque yet - $86,400 and a Group 1 victory to boot.
It was a fitting result for the Auckland Trotting Club, who deserve all the credit they get for developing such a simple but so effective form of horse ownership which has introduced hundreds of new faces into the sport of harness racing. The club's three 50-share syndicates are the brainchild of Vice-President Steve Stockman, and the results from their first season of racing are nothing short of astonishing.
The Trot 2000 Syndicate, the second one up and running, bought Matai Mackenzie, Parisian Falcon and Moschino for a total of $74,000 from last year's sales. All 2-year-olds, to date they have collectively had 17 starts for seven wins, eight placings and $272,535; Moschino having not made it to the racetrack yet.
The 1999/2000 term has also been the first for the Club's first syndicate, Trotpower, whose three 3-year-olds Perspicuous, Highview Nero and Midnight Rumpus didn't race at two but have netted seven wins, six placings and $28,396 from 20 appearances on the track. The trio cost $62,000 at the previous year's sales.
And syndicate number three, Trot 2001, is half a dozen places away from being full. Their purchases from the sales earlier this year were Dirt Rider (c Falcon Seelster-Chiavari, $20,000)and being trained by John and David Butcher; Bing (c Soky's Atom-Dispron, $27,000) in Barry Purdon's barn; and Chocks Away (c Soky's Atom-Take Wing, $20,000 Geoff Small.
"This year has really been unbelievable," Carr said. "The syndicate members at Addington on Friday night were just fizzing, there was so much fun and excitement - and that is what this game is all about. The success of the syndicates is due mainly to the formula; three top trainers get to select a yearling of their choice from the sales, and there is three horses in each syndicate as well."
Carr paid tribute to a masterful drive by Tony Herlihy. Many probably thought the ace reinsman would look for a sit from his wide draw, but instead he speared Matai Mackenzie out to reach the front early and waited for Hero to come round. "He can really come out of the gate if I ask him to," Herlihy confirmed. "It was a good effort, because he did a bit to get that handy sit early but still had enough to run down Hero at the finish. Hero had beaten us fair and square the previous week, when my bloke took a while to wind up; I don't think there is much between the two and City Rogue," he said.
Herlihy said Matai Mackenze's greatest attributes were his gait and attitude. "He is such a relaxed bugger; he is a natural racehorse. Given a bit of a break now he should come back a real nice racehorse next season.
Credit: John Robinson writing in HRWeekly 17May00