b4breeding

Tasmcmanian was American bred and imported Down Under for breeding. She comes from the Angel Hair side shoot of the K Nora/Adora branch, and is the only one by her dam Shy Devil to be by McArdle.

Most of Shy Devil’s foals were by Artsplace and several went to successfully cross back to the U7 family in the shape of Western Ideal and American Ideal.

Since Tasmcmanian was brought to New Zealand by Bob McArdle of Bromac Lodge, I’d be tempted to see Bob’s hand in Tasmcmanian’s breeding as the stallion McArdle was named after him and later stood here as a sire at Bob’s Nevele R Stud.

Tasmcmanian has had 8 foals and the most successful of those on the racetrack were also bred back to two outstanding U7 family sires – Tas Man Bromac (American Ideal-Tasmcmanian), who won 10 of 31 races for $119,722 when trained by Nathan Williamson and subsequently was sold to West Australia, where he died after just 6 races, but won at lifetime total of over $162,000; and Taroona Bromac (Western Ideal-Tasmcmanian) who has heaps of talent and as a 5yo now has won 15 of 49 starts and over $126,000. Like his half brother, he was exported to Western Australia, this time as a 3yo, and had a particularly good last season, winning 11 of his 27 races and $90,000. For those who are interested, I came across this quote in an article about Taroona Bromac when he was starting his racing career here in NZ:

Although Tas Man Bromac (by American Ideal) and Taroona Bromac (by American Ideal’s sire Western Ideal) are closely-related, they are opposites in physique. “Tas Man Bromac was a lovely, beautiful, little nuggety horse,” Barry said. “Taroona Bromac is a lot bigger so we have to be a bit careful with him not putting pressure on his joints, so we’re just going slowly with him.”

Article in archived news blog, Bromac Lodge

Three of the four fillies left by Tasmcmanian have gone to sires with no connection to the U7 family – Santanna Blue Chip for Tilly Bromac, Mach Three for Trendy Bromac, and Auckland Reactor for Tempest Bromac.

Tilly Bromac didn’t make a lasting impression on the racetrack but has had some success as a broodmare with three foals to date, all colts, for Ivan and Ann Behrnes – two by Mach Three and one by Sunshine Beach. Balducci is doing a great job over in Australia with 7 wins, 10 places from 22 starts and $50,000 in stakes so far. His younger brother is recorded as deceased after just three starts over there. And the Sunshine Beach is in new ownership as a yearling.

Trendy Bromac showed some good racing ability and fast times here before following the route to Australia to complete her racing career with a very respectable 7 wins and 13 places from 39 starts and almost $59,000 in stakes. She’s now started her breeding career in Australia with a 2020 service by Bettor’s Delight.

Tempest Bromac’s race career never really got underway, but she has started breeding, firstly for Alabar NZ – a He’s Watching colt which was sold as a yearling in May 2020, and the following year a Rock N Roll Heaven colt for Ivan and Ann Behrnes which was sold as a weanling (to Western Australia) in May 2021. Both as yet unnamed but ones to follow – their sales videos show nice types. The match with He’s Watching is of course back to a large dose of U7 blood. If anyone can add more recent information of these two, please add a comment to the blog.

Tasmcmanian’s 2016 foal Tas Girl Bromac is by American Ideal (U7). It looks like she was qualified in 2019 for Barry Purdon, then out for a year, back in for Jack Harrington and lightly tried, bred in the 2020 season to Art Major but missed. Back to racing, she has got 2 wins from 15 starts in Jack Harrington’s colours and is now leased by Harrington with the Vella brothers, so they may be trying again with breeding her this season. There’s a story in there, and she may not be the easiest horse to train, but I will leave it for another day or someone can fill in the gaps. Again, a nice one to follow in her racing and breeding career.

Tasmcmanian’s last foal born in New Zealand in 2017 is Twilight Bromac, a gelding by Art Major (U7) who is currently racing in the South Island for Trent Yesberg, and is starting to show a bit of ability.

Tasmcmanian herself was exported to Australia in 2018 and is now being bred by the Vella brothers. She has a 2020 unnamed foal by He’s Watching (U7) and hopefully is due soon to Always B Miki.

Tasmcmanian has done a remarkable job at keeping this branch of the K Nora/Adora U7 family thriving Down Under. I rate it as one of the strongest descendant families we have available. At 15 years old, she still has breeding time ahead hopefully, but already she has proven to be very consistent and potentially starting some really good modern lines of the family in both New Zealand and Australia. Often the gems will really appear a generation or two on, but solid breeding choices have given her family a real chance to succeed.

Updates and comments about this family are welcome!