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2001 NRM SIRES' STAKES 3YO FINAL

It was 4.00pm Saturday when John Seaton got the call. A committee member of the Metropolitan Trotting Club was on the line, with news that Sly Flyin was out of Cup Day's NRM Sires' Stakes Final.

Until the shocking news broke almost everyone thought that the $81,000 winner's cheque had Sly Flyin's name written all over it. But not Seaton. "He was definitely the horse to beat, no doubt. It would have been a different race though, because from where he was he would have had to do work too," he said. "I rang Colin (De Filippi) on the Monday night because I felt sorry for the horse and his connections. I know what it's like to have a horse break down on you; Cool Hand Luke's just one example."

When the big day dawned, Seaton's own representative Jack Cade took the weight of the public's money and he carried it all the way to the post and home with a herculean performance in the Group 1 feature. Parked for the entire journey, Jack Cade gritted his teeth as the last half went by in a sensational 55.7 seconds and he got there by a neck from Lord Vicolo. That lethal combo of Seaton and Mark Purdon had done it again. "This is such a huge thrill," Seaton said afterwards. "To win this race with Il Vicolo and them come back and win it again with one of his sons is just brilliant."

It was indeed a magic result for Il Vicolo, who sired the quinella in the season's first major 3-year-old event with two horses from his very first crop. It wasn't far away from being the perfect fairytale either ...the other by Il Vicolo in the race was Tricky Vic, incidentally bred by Seaton, who met trouble during the running and could have finished a lot closer. Seaton says he doesn't have second thoughts about selling the Vance Hanover stallion that took him to dizzy heights when winning back-to-back NZ Cups in 1995 and 1996. "I didn't like the stud business, it is not me," he said. "I just love watching my horses run. And I knew that with Charlie Roberts and Andrew Grierson he was going to a good home. I don't think people realise just how good Il Vicolo was at two, three, four and five."

Seaton was always keen to get his hands on some of Il Vicolo's progeny, and at the first available opportunity Jack Cade was picked out by his right-hand-man Mark Purdon at the Karaka Sales. The gelding from Smooth Fella mare Janet Blue Chip cost them $30,000; he has now pocketed over $228,000. As for Jack Cade's immediate plans, Seaton says "that's up to Mark."


Credit: John Robinson writing in HRWeekly 15Nov01

Greg Brodie receives the trophy from Daren Garrard

2001 GARRARD'S SIRES' STAKES 2YO FINAL.

It is not time for Bruce Negus to say 'move over Courage.' There is no real danger of that. However, it seems certain that he will speak of Sly Flyin in the next breath.

Putting sentiment aside, Sly Flyin has Closed quickly on the achievements of the great Courage Under Fire, who Negus developed into a young champion, and there was fresh evidence of his endless stamina and stubborn determination following his powerful win in the $150,000 Garrard's Sires' Stakes Final on a slushy track at Addington.

The Greg Brodie-owned and Colin De Filippi-driven colt won with the same stamp of authority that Courage Under Fire issued in his year. Tricky Vic made a valiant attempt from back in the field on what was pretty much a front-runner's night to finish second; Hardly Matters had a good trip and made good use of it to get third and All Hart was fourth after sticking on well following a tough trip.

For Sly Flyin, it's a seven-week break, and the declaration of another career when his racing career has finished. Negus was more or less committed to geld Sly Flyin at the end of his campaign, and said so. "Courage was perfect in this respect. Anyone could give him a pat and show him some affection. He liked that. This fellow is a little more aggressive, and could bowl you over without being nasty at all. But I promised him he would stay a colt if he won. Gelding him, by the look of it, couldn't make him go any better," he said.

In the cold light of day, the run was exceptional, because there was some difficulty for him when a hopple shortener became stuck. It meant that he had one of 53 inches on one side and 56 inches on the other. "That is why Colin had to force the issue when he did. He is a short coupled horse but it would not have been comfortable for him. Colin's drive was very astute. He drove to the horse's strengths. In the last four or five years, Colin has just got better and better. He really is top class," he said.

The quality of Sly Flyin's win was not a revelation, and Negus no longer is afraid to give him the kudos he has deserved. "His trial a week earlier at Motukarara in 2:41.8 for 2200m did surprise me, but then he has improved many lengths since his Welcome Stakes win last months. He was not distressed, and it is hard to describe how well he did that. He is a great stayer, and to be honest I don't know how good he is. He could be a super horse, but here we have rated him a second behind Courage in all departments at this stage. Up till now, I have hesitated to say that he is up with him, but I think he has earned that right now. In a tight finish, he will win nine times out of ten," he said.

With his boyish tendencies needing to be ironed out at the start of his campaign, Negus went to a couple of senior horsemen for advice, his father Bob, and Doug Mangos. Through his time with George and John Noble, Mangos was an old hand with young horses, and won nine successive races at two with the brilliant filly, Roydon Roux. As a result of their wisdom, Negus worked Sly Flyin every day in the cart, for weeks on end.

Sly Flyin is a 15.2-hand son of Sands A Flyin, who achieved a remarkable and honourable double when his iron-willed daughter Sparks A Flyin won the Group 1 Nevele R Fillies Final on the card - in the same willing manner. Brodie bought Sly Flyin for a six-figure sum on the recommendation of Greg Payne. "I recall Greg saying after just his fourth hopple, 'here is a $100,000 horse'," said Negus. That was in September.

Credit: Mike Grainger writing in HRWeekly 16May01

2001 NRM SIRES' STAKES 2YO TROTTERS CHAMPIONSHIP

Tony H scooted home along the passing lane to down hotpot Jo Anne and win the $20,000 NRM Sires' Stakes 2yo Trotters Championship. Not only did Tony H give Jo Anne her second taste of defeat, he also wiped a second and a half off her older brother Dependable's national record by trotting the 1950m mobile journey in a quick 2:27.1

The whole race had an eerie deja vu feel to it, because just four weeks earlier the blue and white silks of Balle and his training partner Ian Small were seen coming from exactly the same position when Sunease flew home to grab Castleton's Mission in the shadows of the post. He too was considered by most to be 'a certainty' that night.

"You had to respect Jo Anne, but I never considered her to be a past-the-post," driver Mark Jones said afterwards. "Tony H broke early the week before, but he did trot home nicely after that and I always thought we would be a show if we led early and trailed. This horse has got a lovely attitude," he said.

Credit: John Robinson writing in HRWeekly 09May01

Croker winning the Southern Graduate

2001 PGG NZ YEARLING SALES SOUTHERN GRADUATE

Had a certain buyer put his finger up for one more $500 bid on Croker at the Sales last year, he would now be holding his hand out for a $13,750 cheque. That is how much the Falcon Seelster-Take My Arm colt won after taking out the PGG Yearling Sales Southern Graduate.

Croker ended up being a buy-back for his vendors John and Maurice McDermott when he reached $15,500 in the ring - $500 short of what the brothers were prepared to let him go for. The pair even turned down a subsequent offer on the day, but they are looking the winners now because Croker is going to target the Welcome Stakes this Saturday night before a heat and hopefully the Final of the Sires' Stakes Series.

Trained by Colin and Julie De Filippi, and now part-owned by Colin in partnership with the McDermotts, Croker ended a long drought for both brothers, especially John, by winning on Friday. Maurice last tasted success with Kedell at Rangiora in February 1999, and before that with Kedell's dam Scintilla at Addington in 1993, but John hadn't known that winning feeling since Olympic Medal scored at Addington back in October 1984.

A former employee of the Bank of New Zealand who specialised in rural finance for two decades, John also spent 18 years on the committee of the NZ Metropolitan Trotting Club and was the Club's representative on the Sires' Stakes Board for six years. Taking a break from both roles when the three Addington clubs amalgamated, John also had a change of tack following the passing of his father Eugene in October 1998 and joined his brother to run the 200-hectare family farm in Halswell, where they milk a town supply herd of cattle. A Past-President of the NZMTC, Eugene McDermott was well-known for co-breeding the fine pacer Robalan, and he was also the son of Eugene Snr who suffered a heart attack while driving Colonel Grattan in the 1939 NZ Cup.

The mare that got John himself started was Olga Korbut, a Lordship half-sister to Noodlum that he was given a half share in in return for grazing horses on the farm. Taken to C6 by trainer Freeman Holmes, Olga Korbut ran second in the 1975 NZ Welcome Stakes to Fancy Fred before going on to capture her last five races that season. "It has been a battle trying to continue her breed," McDermott said. "She only had the five foals and all but one were colts; I spent a lot of money trying to breed her by embryo transfer."

Since taking over the farm, McDermott is breeding from four mares - Scintilla, Vault (Olga Korbut's filly), Croker's dam, Take My Arm and Shining Cloud. "Kevin Townley trained Take My Arm for us. She went amiss a week before she was due to go to the Qualifying trials, but he thought she would be worth breeding from though. "She has a late colt foal at foot by Caprock, and was served by Il Vicolo." Take My Arm's first three foals are Boston, Barney Bear and Croker.

"He is a bit of a character, ducking out like he has done a couple of times," McDermott said of his latest winner. "Colin has always rated him though, and when a horseman like him says that, you take notice."



Credit: John Robinson writing in HRWeekly 11Apr01

2001 PGG YEARLING SALES SERIES 3YO TROT

On paper, Sunease had cost the least and won the least leading into the PGG Yearling Sales Series Trot. But in less than two and a half minutes, he made a mockery of those two statistics and carried away the biggest slice of the $40,000 prize.

Driven by co-trainer Derek Balle, Sunease sat patiently in the trail as All Action Son and hot-favourite Castleton's Mission undid themselves in front. When the time came for Balle and his gelding to get serious rounding the home bend, they picked up their rivals with big strides and won convincingly. Sunease's time of 2:28.1 equalled Godsun's 3-year-old colts and geldings mark set in April last year.

Raced by Balle's parents Ken and Dawn along with Paul Tenwolde and Euan Lawrie, Sunease cost the quartet only $6000 when purchased at the Sales. None of the four were on-course to witness the victory, but they all showed up at the Balle and Ian Small stable in Pukekohe
the next morning, understandably bubbling about the performance. Small accepted that Castleton's Mission was the standout in the race, but he didn't think it was going to be a benefit for him. "All Sunease had to do was trot all the way and I thought he would win, especially the way he had worked the previous Sunday," Small said.

Small and Balle are in their first full season as training partners, and their combination is working well as there have been 15 victories from the stable so far this term. "Sunease was pretty smart right from the start," Small continued. "He was a really big yearling when he was broken in, and was head-strong with it. We took him to Christchurch as a two-year-old but he was experiencing growing pains and didn't trot that good. Turned out and gelded, he is really starting to fill into his big frame now."

Commenting on Sunease's turn of foot, Small believes the gelding has got a lot more high speed than Martina H, who is also 3-year-old trotter that has been in sparkling form for the royal blue and white silks this season. "Martina H is a nice sort that goes out there and does the job properly, but I still think Sunease would be quicker than her. He has always had a good gear - it is just been a case of getting his head around this racing game."

Both trotters will fly the Balle/Small flag in the NZ Trotting Stakes this Saturday night, and then they are off to Melbourne to chase more of the riches on offer in their age group. "From what I hear, Sunease was jumping out of his skin the next morning, so he should go well again this week," Small said.


Credit: John Robinson writing in HRWeekly 11Apr01

Flight South outfinishes Kym's Girl and Flash Tactics

2001 PGG NZ PREMIER MARES CHAMPIONSHIP

It is hard to recall the last time Kym's Girl was caught from behind. She was on one of her trademark blistering runs when she was overtaken surprisingly by Flight South with 100 metres to run.

Surprisingly, too, because it was no contest. Flight South went by in a few thumping strides, winning the $25,000 Pyne Gould Guinness NZ Premier Mares Championship by an increasing margin in a fast 2:21 for the mobile 1950m, which was a 1:56.3 mile rate. This was 0.7 seconds faster than Adio Routine's NZ mares' record, or would have been had there not been a cruel collapse of the electronic timing system; so no record because the timing was a human clocking and thus unofficial.

That bad or sad business aside, Flight South was awesome and it bodes well for further success in the Caduceus Club-sponsored Standardbred Breeders' Stakes on Thursday night. There should be some confidence about this because astute trainer Andrew Neal thinks there is a handsome improvement to come and she will be close to unbeatable of he is even half right.

Neal says Flight South "proved a point" by her win. The point he had in mind was removing the general suspicion that her Auckland Cup upset win as a C7 from off the ballot was the result of a rare failure on the part of others. Neal has never thought of it that way, always maintaining that she had competed against the same horses with credibility. In two starts since her Auckland Cup win, Flight South was out of the money, and Neal blames himself for one of the two, and knows they may have given volume to those still in doubt of her class. "They were both non events. One was a free-for-all at Alexandra Park where they walked and sprinted home, and the other was a bad drive by me at Cambridge. I put too much thought into it and made a tactical error," he said.

In the latest confirmation of her class, Flight South raced with a nasal strip, as she did for the first time in the Auckland Cup. It keeps the nostrils open, and helps their recovery after a race," he said. Flight South has the Inter-Dominions in Brisbane to follow the Breeders' Stakes, and Neal is serious about her chances. "I got 100 to 1 before her race tonight. I don't think she will be at anything like that now,"he said.

Neal says Pacific South, the dam of Flight South, is in foal to the In The Pocket horse, Tinted Cloud, and he took one of the few opportunities left to stock up on the Direct Flights by spending $4800 on a colt by the deceased horse from Joyella at the Yearling Sales in Christchurch last week. In the meantime, Flight South is at Motukarara where she is enjoying working on the grass track.

Credit: Mike Grainger writing in HRWeekly 14Mar01

Kym's Girl

2001 CANTERBURY DRAUGHT NZ TROTTING CUP

The day before winning the Canterbury Draught NZ Cup, Colin De Filippi made a comment in the media that he would not be afraid to lead in the race with Kym's Girl.
"It wouldn't worry me if I lead throughout," he said.

This was a surprising declaration about a mare whose trademark has been a late and lethal sprint - one that won her the Hannon Memorial at Oamaru three starts ago, the same one that took her into the money at long odds behind Yulestar and Bogan Fella in last year's Cup. But through a conspiracy of events during the running, Kym's Girl didn't get to see the front until it counted - at the finish. And she was there first - the glory girl bred on the wrong side of the sticks. A daughter of Man Around Town, a siring "cheapie" who has done a wonderful job since making his mark with the Grand Circuit performer, Kiwi John.

It was also a major triumph for Colin and Julie De Filippi, a couple who stoically overcame a tragic treble of family setbacks that included the death of their son Darren and illnesses that affected Colin and their daughter, Mandy. Their middle name may well be modesty, for they have always taken success without fuss or fanfare.

Colin has seen many great drivers go through their careers without driving a NZ Cup winner, and after numerous placings from 18 drives he might even have put himself in amongst them. "I've run three seconds - two with Our Mana and one with Dillon Dean - and a couple of thirds and I think two fourths in the race. I've never driven a favourite, and when I look back I don't think I could have done my drives any better. With Dillon Dean, I thought I'd driven the perfect race, and I'm tipped out by Inky Lord. But when I looked back to see what he had done, he deserved it," he said.

This time, De Filippi had given some thought to leading, but this idea went straight to the cellar when Kym's Girl settled off the pace set by Atitagain but still nicely in the race. "I wasn't happy with a round to go, and I thought this isn't going to plan."

At this stage of the race, Atitagain was still in front. Flight South was still sitting sweetly in the trail, but their were some big moves from the back. Holmes D G, who had been slow and lost 20 metres, was up there, so was Yulestar and Makati Gallahad who had been busy on the front end throughout.

Where was Kym's Girl while all this activity was going on? Well back, in fact in the last four at the 1000m, and tracking a battler up in Cigar. "I wasn't happy, but we got to the quarter and I thought we'd get a bit of it,"said De Filippi. It was more than a bit as Kym's Girl closed on Holmes D G. She tugged the Addington heartstrings as she swept alongside. Pedigree was out for the count as she bombed the big horse and went to the line for a gracious and popular win. The old hands came in next. Homin Hosed, who struggled to regain his form after an injury following his win in the race two years ago, looked sharp as he fought on for second, followed by last year's winner Yulestar whose luck was out after moving up at the 2000m, and Holmes D G.


Credit: Mike Grainger writing in the HR Weekly

Vicki Purdon with Young Rufus after the FFA

2001 AIR NEW ZEALAND NZ FREE-FOR-ALL

Young Rufus earned a ticket to contest the Miracle Mile in Sydney, but he won't be going. Harness Racing's latest budding star was officially issued with an invitation to the event after his sensational victory in the $100,000 Air New Zealand Free-For-All at Addington on Show Day. But trainer Mark Purdon says at this stage of the pacer's season it was not in his best interests to trek across the Tasman, where four of his six owners live. "He's done a big job this week, winning those two races," Purdon said. "And if we went over there we'd have to keep him up, plus there's all the travelling with a float trip to Auckland and a flight to Sydney. I just thought we are doing the best by the horse to decline to offer."

Young Rufus's elevation to centre stage this season has been sudden but not totally unexpected, although his trainer/driver is slightly surprised. "He has always been a nice horse, but I never expected him to rise to this level so soon," Purdon continued. "The night he finished sixth first-up at Alexandra Park he was supposed to be in a 4-year-old race that never got of the ground, so he ended up racing against his own class and they went 2:42.5 (2200 metres), home in 55. He probably wasn't ready for that. But after he came back from Auckland he went super one day at the trials, beating a couple of nice horses including Kym's Girl, and I thought then that he may have just turned the corner."

To Ashburton on Labour Weekend and Young Rufus scored impressively there, so impressively in fact that Purdon thought he could have almost won the Flying Stakes earlier that afternoon had he got the run that stablemate Bogan Fella did in the event. Purdon kept his feet firmly on the ground though, and come the minor Free-For-All on Cup Day he had some reservations very late in the piece. "When we were walking around at the start I looked at the other horses in the race and thought 'gee, I hope I'm not being too tough on him here'. But he put up a huge preformance that day, and it looked even better when I watched the replay of the race later that night. You just don't see horses do what he did."

Nominated for Show Day's Air New Zealand FFA just so Purdon had the option up his sleeve, Young Rufus showed no ill-effects from his tough Cup Day outing so he started him in it. And what the young pretender did to his older more experienced rivals was simply outstanding.

Having just his 19th raceday appearance, Young Rufus eventually got to the lead, ran them along, and still kept enough gas in the tank to kick with the best of them in the home straight. "In front was the place I wanted to be," Purdon confirmed afterwards. "Kym's Girl was the horse to beat, because the Cup winner generally is in the Free-For-All, and you can count on Colin (De Filippi) to be timing his run to perfection. I looked round turning for home because I thought 'she'll be turning up here very shortly'. But when you run your last quarter in 27.7 in front and on the fence like he did, it makes it hard for the rest,"Purdon said.

Credit: John Robinson writing in NZHR Weekly

Take A Moment and Anthony Butt

2001 CLARKE BOYCE LAWYERS DOMINION TROTTING HANDICAP

A lap from home, Tim Butt didn't like it. His runner Take A Moment was halfway through a move around the field; Last Sunset had not spent a lot of gas in front and Mountain Gold looked even fresher in the trail. "I didn't think he had much chance," Butt said. "I could see he was going to have to sit parked over the last thousand metres. Outside two good horses that had done nothing, that probably would've been enough."

Then the unthinkable happened. Last Sunset galloped and came back onto Mountain Gold. Both horses chances were extinguished in the blink of an eye - not to mention others who were up handy but had to take evasive action; out wide and out of trouble, Take A Moment trotted around to the front and then made the race his by reeling off a last half of 57.8 seconds. "I think God had ten each way on Take A Moment tonight," said Butt in his usual jovial manner, still shaking his head at what had unfolded.

All joking aside, it was a magnificent effort by Tim and his brother Anthony to get Take A Moment ready for this big assignment. "A few people had written him off a bit, but I suppose that's understandable after his disappointing run on Show Day," Butt continued. "Still, he was the only one off ten metres tonight and people forget that. His coat was not good at all on Saturday after last week's run, so we just concentrated on keeping him fresh and well within himself. We gave him a bowl around the day before the Dominion and it was only then when I thought he was starting to come back. I still thought it was possibly a week to soon for him though."

Butt said it was a special feeling to win three Dominion Handicaps in a row. Looking through the list of big trotting races that he's won with Lyell Creek and Take A Moment you would almost think that pressure wouldn't play a part, but funnily enough it's the Dominion that has tested Butt the most. "When Lyell Creek won it two years ado he was still on his way up, and he was meeting Mountain Gold for the first time. Then the following season Lyell had been beaten on Show Day after galloping, so the pressure was on to fix that. And this year we were playing catch up with Take A Moment. You can never take these big races for granted," he said.

Amazingly, Take A Moment has won an Inter-Dominion Grand Final and a Dominion Handicap, and has only had 25 starts. "He's still a year away from being able to handle the tough runs against the gun horses week in and week out. He's not thriving on it yet, but he's got the potential to in another twelve months time."


Credit: John Robinson writing in NZHR Weekly

Shania Patron winning the Oaks from Sands A Flyin

2001 WAYNE FRANCIS MEMORIAL NZ OAKS

Cran Dalgety stood patiently, waiting for the call. He had just watched the Wayne Francis Memorial NZ Oaks from in front of the public stand and like everyone his eyes were glued to the finish line as Sparks A Flyin and Shania Patron crossed it locked together.

You could tell Dalgety's instinct was worrying him; he knew what the judge's findings were going to be even before they barked across the loud speaker. "Favourites don't have a great record in this event," he muttered, shaking his head as he turned and walked away. He was right. But he wasn't feeling hard done by. Sparks A Flyin had gone to the front starting the last mile, pinged along at a super clip, and in the end done everything but win. Bombed late by a flying Shania Patron, a nose was the difference between Dalgety staying to give a victory speech, or heading back to the stables to un-gear a runner-up.

The man who did step up to the microphone was Shania Patron's driver Ricky May, and quite rightly so too because he and his parents Terry and Pat had looked after the Holmes Hanover filly since her fourth in the Southland Oaks on April 8. Shania Patron's first-up effort from her temporary base a week earlier was much better than the '0' in her formline reflected, and last Friday night her telling late strides were even bigger still and she thoroughly deserved her victory. "You just can't have them right all the time," Terry said shrugging off the suggestion that Shania Patron hadn't been at her best in recent weeks. She's a horrible track worker, we even ran her with Pure Adrenalin last week just to spark her up a bit."

Shania Patron is raced by Jim and Irene Holland, of Mokoreta Valley near Wyndham, together with the filly's trainer Brendon McLellan and his wife Megan. None of the quartet were on-course for the victory. "I asked Brendon if he was going to come up for the race, but he just said 'no, you'll do the job'," May continued. Jim and Irene are lovely old people, and we've trained horses for them for years; there has been so many of them I've lost count. One of their first winners with us was Adios Adieu, and the others include Young Beau, Elderberry and Some Legacy, who won the DB Fillies Final in 1990."

The McLellans dedicated Shania Patron's victory to Brendon's late mother Marlene, who died a month ago today (Wednesday) after a brief battle with cancer. "She got a lot of enjoyment out of following Shania Patron, so yes, this win is definitely for her," Brendon said. "I know her formline has not been the best lately, but she's been letting herself down. She's had a few niggly problems like over-racing and hanging during her events, and that has been enough to make the difference. Just in the last month I reckon she's come back to her old self again."

McLellan says he can't remember when there was ever a better crop of 3-year-old fillies, and that the results in races like the Oaks and this week's Nevele R Fillies Final come down to luck in the running. "Shania Patron was always going to have a broodmare career, winning a race like this is the icing on the cake." he said.


Credit: John Robinson writing in NZHR Weekly