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Pay Me Christian beating Alta Sirocco

Within a week or two, classy stablemates Pay Me Christian and Alta Sirocco will be settled in new quarters. Along with Nick Off Holme and other members of Paul Kerr's team, they are on the move fron West Melton to Marshlands, on the other side of Christchurch.

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

Amanda Tomlinson & Ken Ford share the spoils

Ken Ford is taking a softly-softly approach with Aramid this season. He knows it is a tall order to expect the 5-year-old trotter to attend every big event, and he has already declared he won't be there. "He won't be going to Ashburton; no mobiles. I don't want to bustle him. Kaikoura might be next," he said.

Ford is aware that Aramid has been busy for one so young, and intends to give him a quieter season. "He rushed along very quickly when he started. It was perhaps a bit much for him. Now, he is looking a bit stronger on the front end."

Already he has started off his new campaign with a bang, a solid start for seventh at Motukarara followed by a tremendously good run to beat Zirinovsky in the Giannis Pita Bread Canterbury Park Trotting Cup at Addington last Friday night. He did some ground at the start, tracked up Castleton's Mission over the last lap, sat three-wide from the 800m, then ran clear when Jimmy Curtin told him there was some business to do in the straight.

It was Aramid at his best, and at his best he is very much in the top handful of trotters in New Zealand. "I was a wee bit confident before the race," said Ford. "He has never worked better; he's never been better round the place," he said. Ford said he was pleased with the way Aramid came through the race. He ate up everything and jogged up the next day. It was something I used to do as a rugby player, when I played sixteen years of senior rugby in Kaikoura. I had always have a quiet run the next day to get any soreness out of the body," he said.

Ford and his daughter Amanda Tomlinson, who part-owns Aramid, know what it takes to keep the level up. Tomlinson was a New Zealand 200 metre sprint champion on the track, and played for the New Zealand women's rugby team. Aramid couldn't be in better hands.

Credit: Mike Grainger writing in HRWeekly 13Oct04

Cran Dalgety, Scorching & Mark Jones

Scorching never released his grip on the Avon City Ford New Brighton Cup at Addington last week. He won so well that his surprisingly short odds were in fact no surprise at all. He won like "a good thing", and from as far out as the 500 metres he appeared no less than that.

His margin was decisive - by a length and a half from Young Rufus, who is on the verge of becoming a major player at the top level again. The drive was a corker by Mark Jones, who slipped him clear before the corner. "From the draw, we thought we could dominate the top end," said trainer Cran Dalgety, "and he was pretty forward. I said to Mark that I would rather them be chasing us rather than us chasing them."

During the week, Dalgety used the training track of his father Jim to work Scorching and London Legend, and said London Legend was a bit strong for his stablemate. "They trained as good as each other. London Legend has a bit more speed than Scorching, so it was a good yardstick," he said.

Dalgety has no doubts that Scorching will be a match for "the big boys, but he might not quite win the deposit on the next yacht. But he is a horse who can always go five lengths better than what I think he will go," he said. That being the case, Scorching won't be out of place in the Hannon Memorial, where he goes next, or in the Flying Stakes at Ashburton after that.

Dalgety said the bonus from winning the New Brighton Cup was the automatic invitation to start in the Canterbury Draught New Zealand in November, and he has now set himself on the Cup trail. "I would love to be there, with him in his Sunday-best. He ran 4:06 or 4:07 when he won at Blenheim as a 3-year-old, so I think he would get the trip alright," he said.

Credit: Mike Grainger writing in HRWeekly 22Sep04

Graeme Nairn receives the trophy from Michelle Baird, Stud Manager, Roydon Lodge

The $25,000 Roydon Lodge NZ Two-Year-Old Trotting Stakes was won impressively by Hoops, one of only two fillies in the 13-horse field. Away quickly and soon in front for driver David Butt, Hoops went to the line strongly, beating Damian Carlos (by Sundon) by three lengths, followed in by On My Way (by Armbro Invasion) and Love Hate Revenge (by Holdonmyheart).

Hoops comes from an impeccable trotting nursery, that of Paul Nairn. His father Graeme is one of her owners, along with himself, Peter Willman and Tony Smith. She is by Above The Stars, who won 23 of his 52 starts, from Wintersport, a Game Pride mare from the family of Tussle, who had one win from 33 starts. Hoops is her second foal, and her third will be one to Call Me Now in the spring.

Above The Stars has sired 81 live foals, 26 of them the year Hoops was born. Since then he has served books of 22,21 and 16. Hoops is one of fourindividual winners by Above The Stars, preceded by Strassman (2 wins), Nicol Star and Alpha Centauri (2).

Nairn has a remarkable UDR record. Only three times in the past 20 years has it been below .2000, and on eight occasions he has had it above .3000.

Credit: Mike Grainger writing in HRWeekly 26May04

Turkana winning the Nevele R Fillies Final from Imagine That

Trainers Bruce Negus and Craig Parsons had their thinking caps on after Turkana ran sixth under difficulties in the NZ Oaks 10 days ago. They had a week to chew the fat over her inability to relax in the running, and what their options were for the $100,000 Nevele R Fillies' Final. Between the pair, they agreed on changing her bit and arranging for Cavalier Products to make a removeable hood that blocked out not 80% of the noise, but 100%.

The result was a sweet-moving Turkana sitting behind the pacemaker Imagine That, and making use of the passing lane to win the Group 1 mobile by two lengths. Negus said Turkana was helped by the fact Imagine That had been 'roughed up' in front by Xmas Joy, Shamrock Girl and Pascale Bromac in the middle stages, that left the favourite vulnerable near the end.

Negus said he "made an error" when he chose to use a pulling bit on the filly the week before. "I panicked a bit when I saw the draw she had in the Oaks. After that, I went back to the snaffle bit she had been in beforehand. And it was Craig's idea to put this type of hood on her. He is a quiet achiever and his input into this filly has been terrific. They have also worked well together because she was a handful at the start," he said. Negus had a moment's worry during the week when he thought her work was sluggish. "I didn't know whether she was off colour or it was just the way she was working in the hood. She felt lethargic, so in some ways I was mildly surprised with what she has done."

Turkana was bred by Graeme Iggo, and was broken in by Maree Price who is in the process of breaking in and gaitingthe 40 yearlings on the Negus' books. At the time she was educating Turkana, she also had Imagine That on the go. "She said to us, these will both be Group 1 winning fillies. We dismissed that, but she put it in writing and stuck to her guns. That is when Greg Brodie bought her, and we gave her a couple of months out just to make sure she got rid of any aches and pains," he said. "At one stage she had three starts in eight days and won then all. I have never done that to a filly before, but I knew we had to win at least three to have a chance to start in these races," he said.

A filly of good size by Christian Cullen - who also sired third placegetter Christiansheritage - Turkana is from Kisumu, who held the NZ record for a 2-year-old over 2000m when she won the Sires' Stakes Championship for fillies in 1992.

Negus has had many great horses, notably Courage Under Fire, Ginger Man, Franco Hat Trick and One Way Traffic, but Turkana is already the best filly. "Caps Off won the Oaks and she was a tradesman, but this filly will make Cup class. "I can see she has got a fifty-five half in her," he said.

Credit: Mike Grainger writing in HRWeekly 19May04

Steven Reid, Baileys Dream & Todd Mitchell

Baileys Dream burst the winning bubble of the unbeaten Advance Attack in the $200,000 Pyne Gould Guinness NZ Yealing Sales Open Pace.

He did so with a remarkable effort in which he twice fought off the attempts of Advance Attack to lead. Advance Attack was on the back foot and tiring on the corner, passed by his stablemate Mighty Cullen. Baileys Dream kept rolling and extended his lead down the straight to win in the manner of something special.

"He beat Winforu in a workout at Pukekohe before he came down here," said driver Todd Mitchell. "I gave him two taps on the corner and he kicked again. He is the type of horse who can sustain his speed for a long time," he said.

Baileys Dream is a first-season son of the Woodland Stud-based stallion Dream Away, by Artsplace, and cost Robert Fumularo $40,000 as a yearling. Bought for him by leading trainer Steven Reid, Baileys Dream is a half-brother to Cup class mare Black Eyed Bailey. They are from the Smooth Fella mare Black Eyed Susan, who went five years without a foal between leaving OK Bailey in 1996 and Baileys Dream. She is also the dam of a yearling colt by Christian Cullen and was served last season by Pacific Rocket.



Credit: Mike Grainger writing in HRWeekly 12May04

Phil & Bev Williamson

As well as being a popular, good, all-round guy, Phil Williamson can train a trotter - and he can drive them, too. He won the New Zealand Trotting Championship, when it was a Group 2 race, a few years ago with the pacing-bred Role Model. He won it again at Addington last Saturday night with the impeccably-bred trotting mare, Allegro Agitato.

The win came at the minor expense of Ado's Invasion, who had his chance and closed the margin to a neck, and the major expense of the globe-trotting veteran, Lyell Creek, who found the question of relentless speed too hard to answer. That is where Williamson had placed Allegro Agitato, in front and humming. She had blotted her copybook the week before when breaking and running eighth in a stand behind Major Decision. "She can lose it, and I think she just freaked out when she saw Aramid doing things wrong," he said.

The Sundon mare drew wide but was quick enough to cross them, while Lyell Creek was a shade off them. Driver Anthony Butt had him off the markers and sitting fifth on the outer after 400 metres. "I didn't really want Lyell Creek to come up when he did, but we got cracking them. She got up on the steel, and I could see him start to get a bit tired before the corner," he said. No surprise in that, Allegro Agitato ran the 2600m trip in 3:16.1, which was two seconds quicker than Sunny Action's NZ record for a mare of 3:18.1.

Remarkably, Allegro Agitato has won her nine races and $90,000 from just 20 starts, in 20 months. "But she was special right from the start. Even well before she raced she showed potential. She had class," he said. Williamson is still mindful of her dodgy little ways. "I just hope her head stays the right way round," he said, as he considered her trip to Alexandra Park for two races, the first this Friday night and the other, the Rowe Cup, a fortnight later. "She is a good stayer, but is pretty fast too. What I am really looking forward to with her is the Flying Mile at Ashburton in the spring. I am sure she could run some sort of time if she got the right draw on the front," he said.

Allegro Agitato is raced by Michael and Roni Lauren of Oamaru, who bred the mare, Michael's brother Dennis, Pip Gerard of Hamilton, and Williamson. Her dam is Chiola's Lass, the winner of 10 races, and NZ 3-Year-Old Trotter of the Year in the 1990/91 season.



Credit: Mike Grainger writing in HRWeekly 15Apr04

Advance Attack (outer) & Marika fight out the finish

There were any number of side issues during and following the Ferrymead Restaurant & Bars NZ Welcome Stakes. The race was won by Advance Attack, the In The Pocket brother to Courage Under Fire owned by John Seaton and trained by Mark Purdon.

The colt had no luck in the early settling of places, but had moved by the 800m and had joined Marika soon after. They cut away from the others in the straight, and it appeared Marika had the measure of Advance Attack 50 metres out.

Circumstances changed dramatically from there. Ricky May, the driver of Marika, lost his whip after it tangled with a back hopple. Then, just as Advance Attack levelled up near the line, Marika appeared to turn his head to the left, which may have been the slim difference there was between the pair at the end. "My horse is very genuine," said Purdon. "He is only little, but he has a big heart, just like his brother."

Credit: Mike Grainger writing in HRWeekly 7Apr04

Zuri winning the 2004 Trotting Derby

Zuri matched looks with performance with a superior showing in the $50,000 Christchurch Casino NZ Trotting Derby.

After drawing one, he kept the lead and held off the trailing Apache Blue Jean by a length and a half. Hurricane Flyer ran a safe third after a similar trip on the outer behind Sun Watch. It was Zuri's 10th start and seventh win. He was beaten once at two by Diedre Don, and twice this season finished fourth behind aged horses.

The chestnut son of Grant Our Wishes has won his last five on the trot, and will soon go north for excellent opportunities against those of his own age later this month. Trained by Ken Ford, Zuri was driven by Mark Jones who said it was never hard for him. "He is a grand stayer." His dam Midnight Saga, by Yankee Jolter, has also left good performers Bede ans Aramid. She lost her foal by Sugarcane Hanover last season and died not long after. Waiting in the wings are a yearling and a weanling out of her, both by Armbro Invasion.



Credit: Harness Racing Weekly 7Apr04

Campbell McJorrow

There could have been no greater tonic for Mary Wych than Winforu's victory in the $50,000 Nobilo 3-Year-Old Flying Stakes at Addington. Winforu is raced by Wych together with her partner, Campbell McJorrow, who says to breed a group winner was always a lifelong ambition of hers. Winforu's achieved that twice now, having won the Group 1 Great Northern Derby in December and now this latest event, a Group 2.

Domiciled in Otahuhu, Auckland, McJorrow was on-course at Addington to witness the victory, and within seconds of their horse's super performance he was on the phone to his loved one to share the delight with her. Sadly, celebrating Winforu's special moments in this unusual way is just something that the couple have had to live with in recent times, because Wych has been hospitalised ever since she suffered a severe stroke in July, 2001. After initially battling through other complications including pneumonia, Wych has impaired speech and still finds it extremely difficult to walk and is basically wheelchair-bound, so her trips to the racetrack are confined to local meetings at best. And this week she had the first of three scheduled operations to try and rectify a perforated bowel, totally unrelated to her stroke, so the victory by Winforu could not have come at a better time.

"Mary's stroke was so bad that initially it was wondered whether she would survive at all, and she spent a very long time in the Intensive Care Unit at Middlemore Hospital," McJorrow said. "But she came through that, and for the last twelve months she has had her own room at the Laura Ferguson rehabilitation Trust in Auckland, which is only about a kilometre away from Alexandra Park. She has seen three or four of his wins at the Park, and one of them at Cambridge, which she gets a great thrill out of. Obviously she is not able to travel to Christchurch, though. I tend to follow the horse around the country, amd Mary wants me to be there even if she can't," he said.

McJorrow (48) and Wych (56) have been together for 17 years. They met in Auckland when Wych went for a job interview at the company where McJorrow was the Managing Director; 'Cupid' fired a couple of arrows, and the rest, as the saying goes, is history. A trained auditor, Wych handled the secretarial side of McJorrow's businesses "brilliantly" prior to having to step aside when she suffered the stroke.

"I developed an interest in horses as a child, because I grew up in a two-story house in Ashburton and could look across the road and see them thundering around the racecourse," McJorrow said. "We had the Bebbingtons and the Lochheads as neighbours, so there was always plenty of opportunities to have rides in the sulky. Mary and I have raced a couple of horses, being involved in the likes of Bonanza Magic from Geoff Small's stable and Justa Toff, Just An Icon and Lover Boy with John Lischner and Ken Barron, but we always thought we would like to breed one or two. We were determined that they were going to be by In The Pocket. Mary wanted to do the pedigree research, and to her credit she spent weeks and weeks and put a lot of effort into finding a couple of suitable mares."

The couple borrowed Kamwood Byrd to breed Winforus, who was sold to America after a couple of placings here, and Beheliem to get Winforu. Feeling like proud, new parents they were there to see Winforu at the property of the mare's owners Steve and Ann Phillips the day he was born. "He was quite unlucky as a 2-year-old, because he got a really bad eye injury after getting caught in a fence and at one stage he had the vet attending to him three times a day. Then he went to Christchurch for the big juvenile events he got mud fever, not in one foot but in all four. It sort of set him back a bit, that is why I believe his win this season in the Great Northern Derby was good for him psychologically. Geoff says he is a lovely horse to have around the place and train, and I think he knows when he does well."

McJorrow has worked in the food industry ever since leaving university and has always been interested in desserts. Looking for 'the big smoke' he moved himself from Marlborough to Auckland and started up two companies that deal with food manufacturing, importing and exporting, and apart from distributing extensively nationwide these companies have now grown to the point where they export to 14 countries and import from five. The products are primarily dessert-related and frozen, and include the likes of pavlovas, gateaus, bavarios, cheesecakes, crepes and savoury burritos and tortillas.

Winforu's victory in the Flying Stakes was as 'sweet' as McJorrow's desserts, and he is hopeful of another bold showing in the NZ Derby. He will be there of course, and Mary will be cheering from her bedside at the other end of the country. "She has got her own television, and a few of the doctors and nurses were crowded around her bed the other night to watch the race. Apparently they all had a great time, because some of them had backed him as well. The staff at Laura Ferguson have been really great to us. Mary has got lots of framed photos on the walls and she loves the ribbons and rugs. Her pride and joy is the dress rug that Winforu got for his Great Northern Derby win - it is on her bed ever night. "The horse's latest outing really was a win for Mary," he said. "I hope that things like this can give her that will to live and that reason to get better, and show her that there is in fact a whole other world outside of hospital life."

Credit: John Robinson writing in HRWeekly 31Mar04