| HORSES |
YEAR: 1974
 |
| Tactile at stud |
The brilliant NZ pacer who won an unprecedented five derbies in NZ and Australia, then raced with distinction in America, where he pushed his earnings to $189,415 before launching a successful stud career there, has arrived back to his Ryal Bush (near Invercargill) owner Jim Dynes.
Dynes, who is already standing the Nandina stallion Scrappy Wave at his stud, has had so much enquiry for Tactile that he may have to place him the coming season on the property of his cousin and former partner in the horse, Derek Dynes who has a larger property. This keen enquiry is not surprising for from his first two crops in America of 32 foals Tactile is already represented there by 14 individual winners. These are headed by a smart youngster Jinks Minbar, who after starring in his 2-year-old campaign last year when he took a mark of 2:03.2 has continued as a good three-year-old winner this term, his victories including several at Yonkers Raceway, the track on which his sire flew the NZ flag high several years back. The Dynes cousins bought Tactile in a private deal with Tactic's breeder Andy Wilson, as a Hal Tryax foal in embryo and they raced him in partnership with outstanding success before Jim bought Derek's share when Tactile was ending his racing career in America.
His dam Tactics was a Cup class pacer herself (11 wins, including a New Brighton Cup), Tactics was of course the dam also of Deft (10 wins and 29 placings for Mr Wilson's wife Ann), in turn the dam of Mrs Wilson's champion 2-year-old of the current season Noodlum. Tactile's sire Hal Tryax also sired the mighty Cardigan Bay and grand mare Robin Dundee not to mention numerous other winners that saw him top the leading sires list in 1965-6 and 1966-7, and Tactile capped his NZ and Great Northern Derby wins with victories the same season (1962-3) in the South Australian, Victorian and New South Wales Derbies. Winning his way to the best class here, he ran Cardigan Bay to half-a-length in the 1963 Auckland Cup in which epic encounter the mighty Cardy, after giving away starts of up to 78 yards, prevailed but had to pull out all the stops to survive Tactile's late bid.
Like most of our top horses, Tactile eventually found his way to America, and so impressed was Yonkers Raceway chief Martin Tananbaum with the form he showed in around New York, where he took a mark of 1:59.6, then he persuaded Jim Dynes to let the stallion stand at his White Devon Stud in upstate New York. Tananbaum died in 1970, but Tactile carried on in service at White Devon under the farm's manager Harry Moss. With such fierce competition in breeding in the States, it was a struggle to get Tactile mares of any reasonable quality or quantity. So it is a credit to him that from his first two crops of 32 foals he already has 14 individual winners.
With the decision to disperse the White Devon stallion string, Tactile was earlier this season shipped to England on the first leg of his return home to Southland. After his compulsory six-month quarantine there, he was flown to NZ and recently completed the mandatory fortnight's quarantine here. He travelled by float and boat from the quarantine base at Alton Lodge, near Te Kauwhata, to Ryal Bush to meet up again with Jim Dynes. Says Alton Lodge proprietor Eric Haydon "he arrived in fron England in great nick and will reach Southland in wonderful order."
Now rising 15, Tatile appears assured of a fine future at stud in NZ.
Credit: Ron Bisman writing in NZ Trotguide 18Jul74