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RACING HISTORY

INTERDOMINIONS

2004 INTERDOMINION SERIES

This series was held at Glouster Park in Perth. The Pacers Final was won by Jofess and the Trotters Final by Sumthingaboutmaori

HORSES

A Young Rufus but not the original was the competitor at Addington last week. Had it been the Young Rufus of old, he would not have scrambled home like a handy 'C sixer' ahead of Clifford Jasper in a kind race for him last Thursday. His margin should have reflected the great horse he is - or was. Indicating he had lost interest in being a racehorse, he got home by a neck.

With a booking to leave for Auckland, and then on to Melbourne, trainer Mark Purdon was immediately faced with the choice of retirement on a high note or a campaign that carried a high risk of ending on a sad one. "I would not like to take him to Australia and for people to see him finish down the track," said Purdon.

As it was, the winner of the Auckland Cup by nearly eight lengths a year ago and last season's Pacer of the Year was all-out to win a five-win front off 20 metres with just a flicker of the old flame. Purdon said it was pleasing for Young Rufus to end his career on a winning note and top $900,000 in stakes.

Up in the trainers' stand, Grant Payne, his attendant since Purdon had shifted south, was "disappointed." "I expected him to win by three or four lengths. In his last hopple before the race, he had worked as well or better than ever before. When he got to the races, all he could think about was the breeding barn. When he came back to the boxes, he was pretty fresh - you wouldn't have thought he had had a race," he said.

Payne said he had enjoyed the travelling that came with caring for a great horse. "Five times to Australia, everywhere here. He was a great mannered horse, and liked company. He never really liked being by himself."

Payne's devotion to the stallion played a part in his remarkable recovery from a life-threatening operation to mend a twisted bowel on the eve of the Inter-Dominions at Addington last year. For three nights, he slept outside his box as Young Rufus tettered between life and death. "I never really thought he was going to die, but Bill Bishop said to me later he put the chance of survival at thirty percent."

Payne said the Auckland Cup win was his most compelling performance. "He was one fit horse for that. I don't think any horse in the world would have beaten him that night," he said. "No matter how quick you were going with him, you knew that you were on something special. But he would always hang a little. You would straighten him, and he'd just hang the other way."

Pyne said Young Rufus was always a pleasure to parade. "He was a show horse. You would finish grooming him and stand back and look at him, and you couldn't help thinking how good he looked. He was one of those horses that you'd walk out, and people who didn't know him would ask 'What's that horse?'"

Bishop, who performed the operation to save Young Rufus, said the horse was not affected physically by his experience. "He got back all his old habits. It is hard to evaluate whether the operation had any lasting affect. It is fair to say the expectations on the track were high. But how he looked and how he raced did not co-relate," he said.

In the meantime, Young Rufus is having a few days swimming to keep himself in trim.

Credit: Mike Grainger writing in HRWeekly 28Jan04

HORSES

Last weekend marked the end of an era for Roydon Lodge Stud with the death of Smooth Fella.

The son of Most Happy Fella was a flagship stallion for the Christchurch-based stud during the 1980s, and it was a solemn moment for all when he slipped away peacefully in his yard on Saturday afternoon.

"I think it is sad when any great horse like this dies," said Roydon Lodge Stud's Director Keith Gibson. "I would not say his death was expected, but we knew he was nearing the end and he hadn't served any mares for a number of seasons. He'd had a long life for such an active stallion, and a great one."

Smooth Fella made an indelible impact on the harness racing industry in this country. At last count he was the sire of 793 NZ-bred winners (787 pacers and six trotters), with 235 in 2:00, and damsire of 687 NZ-bred winners (681 pacers - 231 in 2:00; and eight trotters - one in 2:00).

Smooth Fella is the sire of 16 1:55 pacers, the fastest of them being Skip (1:51.8), Commander Paul (1:52.4) and Rainbow Fella (1:53). He is also the damsire of 57 to break this mark, the top three in this respect being Silky Pockets (nee Birthday Boy, 1:51.2), Just A Butler (1:51.4) and Valiant Heart (1:51.4).

Without question Smooth Fella's greatest son was Roydon Glen (22 wins, $463,244), who later would sire champion trotter Lyell Creek, and Smooth Fella himself also left other successful sires in former champion juvenile Tuapeka Knight, Slugger and more recently Ermis.

Smooth Fella was the leading sire of 2-year-old pacers four times, with his first three crops in 1980/81, 1981/82 and 1982/83, and then again in 1986/87; he was leading sire of 3-year-old pacers once, in the 1983/84 season; he was the leading sire of pacers once, in the 1984/85 season; and he topped the broodmare sires' list twice, in 1997/98 and then again in 2001/02. Remarkably, he is currently the leading broodmare sire for this season.

Smooth Fella had not served a mare since the 2000/01 season, but in his time at stud in NZ he covered a total of 2314 mares for 1733 live foals.

He was 31 years old at the time of his death.

Credit: John Robinson writing in HRWeekly 14Jan04

HORSES

Blossom Lady winning her Cup in 1992

The passing of Blossom Lady last week would have meant different things to many different people.

For her countless fans around Australasia, an admiration earned mostly by sheer guts and determination, it would have rekindled memories of a truly marvellous racing career, the nature of which we are unlikely to ever see the likes of again.

For the Polly Syndicate's Manager Ralph Kermode it was like the last chapter in a book, but if irony and coincidence play any part in the racing scheme of things, it won't be the end of the story. Because the same day that the fateful news came from Canterbury, Blossom Lady's last foal arrived home at Kermode's Palmerston North property. Thus there was the end of an era, but also a beginning. Finding an appropriate name for a filly by Live Or Die while retaining the 'Bloss' or 'Bloom' theme under such circumstances is the task presently ahead for the Polly Syndicate.

For all the Kermode family's friends in the syndicate - Bob and Barbara Williams, Ian and Jenny Smith, Ross and Adrienne Kennedy and the late Pat Foley and his wife Mary - Blossom Lady was their first standardbred.

Kermode was in a reflective mood last week, recalling the events which led to a horse of a lifetime. "I was interested in a filly by a commercial sire from a nice family, but just being a poor school teacher at the time, couldn't afford to get one at the yearling sales," said Kermode. "So I had advertised for such a weanling in the 'Calendar' and had about fifty phonecalls, mostly from the South Island, and they all reckoned they had the best family in NZ. I arranged to go to about a dozen properties while in Canterbury over a Queen's Birthday weekend, and was at the Ashburton trots on the Monday. When I got home, (wife) Judy said a fellow from Ashburton called Bill Cook had been calling all weekend, and that I had better ring him - Bill was rather gruff. So I did, and when I said who it was he said 'where the hell have you been ?' - that was the first thing Bill ever said to me."

All this led to Kermode buying a filly by El Patron from Lumber Lady, and subsequent "pestering" about her year older half-sister by Farm Timer. "Farm Timer didn't exactly fit my criteria for commercial - I'd hardly heard of him - but Bill wouldn't let it go, so in the end I agreed to lease her and beat him down to a right of purchase of $5500 within six months."

Blossom Lady soon showed sufficient promise and speed for that option to be exercised - more ability than the unraced Paleface Lady anyway - and Kermode knew he had "something" when she began her career as a 3-year-old. "She didn't like to get involved in races - she would just hang around at the back and pace roughly. Then one night at Hutt Park, Stephen (Doody) was at the back at the half and let her go and she went past them in a hundred metres. Then she hit the bend again and she just about finished up in the tide at Petone."

Progress was not rapid however, and it would be another couple of years before there was a realisation that Blossom Lady was a lot more than something. This was at Ashburton during a Queen's Birthday weekend again. "On the first day she finished second to Clancy and on tape you can see Peter (Jones) still trying to pull the ear plugs after the finish. He came back and said 'who put those (bl....) ear plugs in?'" On the second day, Blossom Lady streeted Millie's Brother and company over 3200m in 4:03.8, which bettered Delightful Lady's national record for mares by two seconds.

That was just the start of the highlights and memories of course. From that point, between the ages of six and 11, she would win another 35 races and $1.3m. The New Zealand Cup was special, and her second Hunter Cup was "bloody amazing". That night she served it up to Golden Reign in front and "brained them" - running 3280m from a 30 metre handicap in a staggering 2:00.6 mile rate after being three-wide in the open for much of the race. "Anthony (Butt) came back and said she could have gone round again - she was just unbeatable that night."

Kermode also singled out an Easter Cup where she "took it" to Chokin at the height of his powers before going down fighting, and the Palmerstonian Classic from 90 metres before a big hometown crowd as other memorable moments. The biggest disappointment was the Inter-Dominion at Addington, where she was "carved up" at the 600m mark. A heat of that Championship as a 10-year-old would be her last win, and her first foal would be Mister D G, whose career has followed an amazingly similar path.

There is another 'beginning and end' aspect to all this as well. Since Blossom Lady's foal was fostered at one month, she has been cared for by Ohoka veterinary couple Bruce Taylor and Margaret Evans. Last week, Kermode recounted the story that was told to him during Blossom Lady's career by Jim Dalgety, who stood Farm Timer, the horse to naturally service Lumber Lady. "Apparently Lumber Lady was such a bag that Jim had to used a twitch on both ears as well as her lip, and even then he doubted the horse had got the job done. It was Margaret who would come around and palpate the mares, and Lumber Lady was among them one day. Whe Magaret said that 'there was a nice foal in there', Jim said 'that can't be - she has been too much trouble'."

Dalgety's reaction to this surprise was something to the effect that..."the mare had been that much trouble, that the foal would either be worth nothing and knocking on the head, or a champion." It wasn't the first or the last time Dalgety was right of course, but the essence of the story is the fact that Evans was there in the beginning, and the end.



Credit: Frank Marrion writing in HRWeekly 26May04

FEATURE RACE COMMENT

2004 WYATT & WILSON PRINT SUPERSTARS 4YO CHAMPIONSHIP

The Wyatt & Wilson Print Superstars 4yo Championship again lived up to its billing as one of the most exhilarating races on the Addington calendar. The 2004 edition was no exception with another uppercut for the favourites, dashing moves that backfired, a tight finish, and a race that again tripped the backmarkers.

It all made for great theatre, and marvellous action, and the hero in the end was the unsung, quiet achiever, Chris Riley. In his favour was a quick start from a front line draw and busy midrace activity by Likmesiah, Born Again Christian, Lennon and Waipawa Lad that eventually brought them to heel.

Colin De Filippi had Chris Riley second early, behind Jimmy Kelly, but lost his place as Born Again Christian went forward. There was more push and bustle from the 1200 metres, then Mark Jones suddenly shot off at great speed with Waipawa Lad that took him to a clear lead near the 600 metres. The winning post was still a small monument in the distance when Waipawa Lad started to buckle and battle 200m out. The boys in blue had arrived back on the scene by then, but Lennon, Born Again Christian and their tiring stablemate had a new enforcer with them, De Filippi hunting up with Chris Riley. He came with a rattling good run that took him past Lennon by a neck, with a neck back to Born Again Christian. "Waipawa Lad opened them up for me. That really made it for us," said De Filippi. Mark Purdon said the sprint by Waipawa Lad "took the punch out of" Born Again Christian.

Chris Riley is raced by the Southern Men Syndicate - Murray Stuart, Warren Hamilton, Robin Jenkins, Noel Costello, Clark McLean, John Davis, Richard Hall, Robert Davis, Rod Moffat and Chris Widdon who had asked De Filippi to find them a suitable horse. De Filippi cautioned them to be patient. "I kept in touch with them until I drove Chris Riley at Blenheim and liked him. I drove him again at Greymouth, and thought then that he was the horse for them," he said. De Filippi, who trains the son of Christian Cullen in partnership with his wife Julie and is also a member of the syndicate, knew he was putting the horse in at the deep end. "I didn't really expect him to beat them tonight," he said.

Previous surprise winners of the race include Anvilanunoit ($27), Glen Lustre ($77), Lucky Boy ($19), Pathfinder ($41), Defoe ($22) and The Orator ($18).

Credit: Mike Grainger writing in HRWeekly 13Oct04

FEATURE RACE COMMENT

Advance Attack outfinishes Tribute

2004 INTERNATIONAL CARGO EXPRESS RISING STARS 3YO CHAMPIONSHIP

Advance Attack, the little brother to Courage Under Fire who is trained and driven by Mark Purdon for John Seaton, gamely closed on Tribute to win the $30,000 International Cargo Express Rising Stars Championship.

He had finished a close second the week before to Presido in a Sires' Stakes heat, but improved sufficiently to take the higher ground in the pecking order for the time being.

Presido was parked mostly, and dropped off Tribute by two and a half lengths at the end.

Credit: Mike Grainger writing in HRWeekly 13Oct04

FEATURE RACE COMMENT

Sundon's Luck's connections with the Ordeal Cup

2004 ANTHONY SHEARER LTD/ PINK BATTS ORDEAL TROTTING CUP

Anyone thinking about life in the city only needs to talk to Kevin Townley. He is likely to champion the merits of a town and country lifestyle. Now confortably settled in suburban Christchurch, Townley travels each day to Ohoka - a 30 minute trip - where he has a team of eight. He formerly trained at Weedons, but is using the training property of Wayne Ross, who is also working the same number.

Townley has a racing team of one - Sundon's Luck - but six of the others are young trotters, and three of them will soon be tested to see if they have classic potential. It's a track Townley has been down many times before, and Sundon's Luck has been and done it. Now six, Sundon's Luck has been out of sorts since a stella season at three, when he won six races including two Group 1s and a Group 2, and his win in the Anthony Shearer/ Pink Batts Ordeal Trotting Cup at Addington last week indicated the change might be suiting him, too.

"He hasn't trotted like that since he was three," said Townley. "He could be getting back to that form; I'm hoping so," he said, after the gelding stole up inside hot favourite Sonofthedon and worried the win out of him. Lyell Creek carried his 11 years lightly, and was a gallant third, hinting at rich improvement to come.

Townley has not exactly had it easy training Sundon's Luck, after "he packed up racing at Auckland". When he returned to training at four, the horse was all at sea, and raced only five times before being set aside again. "The spell actually did nothing for him, when he came back in at five. He came back in like he went out," he said.

Townley wasn't working on "little niggles" alone. Bill Bishop, an authoritative Christchurch equine vet and part-owner of the horse with his wife Helen and Ben and Karen Calder, was also on the job. Sundon's Luck was well enough to race last season at five, and win three races, but Townley said he did it "under sufferance". "In the end we think it was a fetlock problem, and it looks to be cured," he said.

Townley, who says he has "no complaints" about his left hand that was badly crushed in an accident last season, will not be surprised if Sundon's Luck remains competitive at the highest level. "I'm not saying he's any better than any of the others, but he is a great little racehorse."

Credit: Mike Grainger writing in HRWeekly 22Sep04

FEATURE RACE COMMENT

2004 MACH THREE NZ STANDARDBRED BREEDERS STAKES

This time last year, Coburg had only just cleared maiden ranks. The Falcon Seelster mare got 'on the board' with a win at Alexandra Park on January 30, beating Pacing Grace by a nose to end a string of minor placings. Sure, there had been cheques arriving in the mail after all bar one of her first nine starts, but finally the Coburg Syndicate that raced her received one that had a bit of weight about it. And her trainer Mike Berger breathed a sigh of relief.

"When she was racing as a two and 3-year-old I remember telling the syndicate not to lose any sleep," Berger said. "Coburg always felt like she had the goods. And even though she had taken so long to win a race, I thought she was going to be something special one day." Twelve months later, that day is here.

Coburg is now the hottest mare in the country, and last Friday she completed the second leg of the 'double' when she won the $100,000 Mach Three NZ Standardbred Breeders' Stakes at Addington in devasting fashion. It was an even more dominant display than the week before when she had taken out the PGG Premier Mares' Championship, and it stamped her as a lady of real class.

A one and three-quarter length victory that could have been more, a 1:56.8 mile rate for the 1950 metre trip and near record time, and a chegue for almost $62,000... what a difference a year can make. Driver Peter Ferguson said he was 80 per cent confident when he steered Coburg onto the track for her warm-up, and by the time the race was underway and they had passed the 1000 metre mark he was "a hundred and ten percent". "She felt enormous," he said. "After we got a good run through to settle three-back, all I had to do was wait; if they came around, I was going. It wouldn't have mattered where she was in the running."

Ferguson has sat behind his fair share of good mares before, none better than Kate's First. "Coburg and Kate are actually similar types of horses," he said. "I don't like to compare different horses from different eras, and Coburg has got a long way to go to match Kate's deeds because she won an Auckland Cup, but it is their adaptability - they can race anywhere in the field. Coburg gives you a lot of confidence as a driver. If you get caught out wide or have to do a bit of workto get a possie, most horses will tire on you, but with Coburg you know that she will pull you through at the other end."

Ferguson has been in Coburg's sulky for the last six appearances following a suggestion by syndicate member Barry Gordon that he would suit the mare. The move has been well worth it, with four wins, a second and an unlucky eighth the tally for the new partnership so far. Both driver and trainer agree that there is no easy path ahead for Coburg from here, and just what her career entails for the remainder of the season is yet to be decided. "It could be hard work chasing the big 4-year-old races now, but I suppose you have really got to because there is nothing much else for her," Ferguson said. "Yeah, she's going to start running out of opportunities," Berger said. "We might even look at Australia, and see what races there are for her over there. She has probably done enough to secure her broodmare career though."



Credit: John Robinson writing in HRWeekly 4Feb04

FEATURE RACE COMMENT

2004 SIRES' STAKES 2YO FINAL

Having gone within a lip of being the fastest 2-year-old in New Zealand's history, and doing everything but lower the colours of Advance Attack at his latest outing, no one could say the Marika did not deserve to win a big one this season. And at last Friday night the Presidential Ball colt got his due reward when he and regular pilot Ricky May took out the $150,000 Garrard's Sires' Stakes Final.

May was in stellar form all evening, driving five winners in total. On the few occasions he didn't come back at the head of the field May was watching and taking notes, and in the end that helped him snare the night's biggest prize. "Not many leaders had won tonight," he said, remembering his thoughts as he hopped into Marika's sulky for the Group 1 event. "We had to use our handy draw and go to the front, but I knew once there, we were going to be taken on because Advance Attack and Bailey's Dream were always going to come around."

May was still in two minds whether to try and lead all the way as the field gathered speed behind the mobile, and in the end the decision he was leaving right up to the last minute was made for him - by Anthony Butt. May took Marika to the front easily, and then Butt pushed on from his wide draw with purpose and May took a trail. It was the winning of the race. Butt's drive Tribute pinged along in front, and as predicted the moves soon came from the back, with Advance Attack and then Baileys Dream making their way around the field.

May sat patiently, waiting for his chance and knowing that his main rivals were using up vital reserves of energy; Tribute dragged him and Marika all the way to the passing lane and he rallied his colt for the charge to the line, eventually winning the home straight battle by half a neck after the last quarter flew by in 27.7. "It was our turn tonight," May said afterwards. "Marika's a pretty versatile horse, and he has got great manners for a 2-year-old. You can do anything with him."

Credit: John Robinson writing in HRWeekly 19May04

FEATURE RACE COMMENT

Thanksgiving holds out Jazz Legend

2004 SIRES' STAKES 2YO TROTTERS CHAMPIONSHIP

When Tommy Behrns heard the bang of the hammer after he had put in a bid for $31,000 on Lot 71 yearling at the Inter-Dominion Sale last year, he said to himself "I'm crazy". A seller of horses, one who had never raced a 2-year-old trotter before, and with not an owner for the colt in sight, Behrns knew he was playing a dangerous game. "But I truly liked the horse. I had picked him on conformation, and just got carried away at the time," he said.

His sire was the fast Speedy Crown horse King Conch and his mother was the superbly-bred but elderly Diedre Hanover, who died last week, and was offered by trotting enthusiasts Gary Allen and Trevor Casey. Diedre Hanover had also left good winners Sunny Florida, Diedre's Girl, Arnover and Roysimon, and to come was this season's Great Northern Trotting Derby winner, Hurricane Flyer.

With the damage done, Behrns went to the Dellaca brothers, Richard and John, Brendon Richards and Paul Young, and sold them each a fifth. "It wasn't easy putting it all together - I'd be telling a lie if I said otherwise," he said. But Thanksgiving soon took the weight off his sholders. "He just trotted from from day one. He didn't take any making," he said.

Still big and overgrown, Thanksgiving won his first two starts, then made an early break and ran last behind Damian Carlos at Addington last month. Driven by Jim Curtin, Thanksgiving swept up out wide near the 600m in the $35,000 NRM Sires' Stakes Championship and soon had Hoops covered. Jazz Legend, by Holdonmyheart, made a spirited run in the straight, and failed by only a head to reverse the result.

Credit: Mike Grainger writing in HRWeekly