b4breeding

Kym Kearns – more than whispering

(Article first published in Breeding Matters magazine nov 2011)

Kym Kearns, breeder of 2yo trotting champion Flying Isa, was only eight years old when she started on a journey with horses that leads to (but by no means ends with) a Breeders Crown cup on her mantelpiece.

She comes from a family with no interest in horses and wasn’t allowed any pets. However when she discovered a nearby paddock full of horses belonging to Ces Williams (Cambridge entrepreneur, real estate agent and trotting owner), something clicked. “There were about seven horses, all different types of characters, some nasty, some kind, some big, some small, lots of different personalities. I started hanging out with them rather than with other kids from school,” she says. “I had no knowledge but a lot of courage. They became like brothers and sisters to me.”

The time she spent patiently observing their behaviour, and then breaking in, educating and selling riding horses for Ces Williams when she was still in her early teens, laid a strong foundation for the future. Forty years after that first encounter, her ability to “read” horses, develop a bond with them and educate them still motivates Kym to put in long hours around her day job at Cambridge Public Library. She has built an intuitive understanding of horses that is lot deeper than any horse whispering you can learn at a one-day seminar.

Not a flash in the pan

Flying Isa’s success is not a ‘flash in the pan’. It is based on Kym’s determination to rebuild a good trotting family, starting with a Count Bay-Isa Ville yearling filly with a swollen knee that she bought for $1200 at John Curtin’s dispersal sale at Denby Lodge, Cambridge in 1987. Named Isa Countessa, the filly was the full sister of Count Isa who later chalked up 30 wins, 1.54.8, $288,537 in stakes and who still features on the list of the fastest and best trotters bred in New Zealand.

“This was a good solid trotting family, but it was in danger of fading out. I believed the family deserved its chance again. It’s been my goal to get it back to its best and make it as widely known as it should be. I can’t do that on my own, so I breed the best I can and get the family out through the Sales so other people can carry it on.”

Isa Countessa grew into a stunning 16.2 hands mare, although never raced due to bone chips in her knee. She is now a much loved 24 year old matriarch and the dam of Sundon mare Sun Isa (4 wins, now broodmare), Britewell mare Toggle (3 wins to date), and Toggle’s full brother Isa Goodlooking (6 wins, 17 places for Brian Hughes, now retired).

Of course, Sun Isa is the dam of Flying Isa and his younger sister Isa Smiling (who is already showing promise for John Dickie). An Angus Hall foal is due from Sun Isa soon. (Update: born early December) So the goal of breeding the family back to full strength is becoming a reality for Kym.

Breeding a good trotter

Kym’s choice of sires is based on a lot of thought. “I’m not just breeding for the sake of it, but to make a good trotter,” she says.

It can take Kym many years to decide on a stallion. “I like to look at the physical attributes of the stallion and their progeny – that’s what gets my attention first. I assess its legs, its reach, and its likely lasting (cardiovascular) ability. Then I look at the stallion’s genetic background and the pedigree of their top progeny. I’m interested in some of the great sires that reappear again and again in top pedigrees, which indicates strength in those lines. I’ve tried to bring that strength up close in my lines, for example Stars Pride with Isa Goodlooking and Toggle, through Britewell.”

Britewell wasn’t a very commercial choice for Isa Countessa, but Kym was focused on her longer goal of improving her family. “Britewell offered great gait, speed, width and good bloodlines,” she says.

She sent the mare south three times to Britewell who stood in Christchurch, and the resulting siblings Isa Good Looking, Toggle and My Two Cents Worth (who showed promise in her first preparation but died from an infection) are bred 3x4x4 to Star’s Pride, which is not an easy thing to get these days. The Britewell/Count Bay cross is also not common but produced Interdom winner Uncle Petrika and current good performer Neville Vaughan.

In complete contrast and for very different reasons, Kym sent Isa Countessa twice to Sundon – a quality proven stallion, very good type, affordable and a genetic outcross – to get Sun Isa and a brother who was a lovely athletic type but had a reoccurring calcium growth on his stifle joint that prevented him striding out.

Character just as important

Deliberately, Kym has retained two completely different mares for breeding purposes – and both are winners on the track. She describes the 16.3h Sun Isa, dam of Flying Isa, as “bold, majestic, powerful”, while the 15h Toggle is “cheeky, professional, a sprinter.” The characteristics she attributes to them both are “honest” and “mentally tough”.

“Racing is no place for wimps – you need something solid out on the track,” Kym says. “You have to build character, not just physical attributes. The way I raise horses, their character will reflect what I am. They pick up what we are like inside, they can feel it, they just know.”

Kym has been a versatile sportsperson herself. She played inline and roller hockey as a New Zealand representative for many years, including winning two world championships in Europe and Canada. “What I learned in training and competing as a sportsperson I can bring to my work with horses and help them develop in that way too,” she says. That includes determination, keeping to basics, stickability, and staying well disciplined and performing to your best within clear boundaries. “To compete and win, you have to have good routines, eat and exercise properly, and sleep or rest to rebuild for the next day,” Kym says. “It’s the same for horses.”

Raising Tintin in America

With a fulltime job at Cambridge Library, Kym says it is impossible to expand to raise other people’s horses at this stage, with friend Bee Pears being the sole exception. It was Kym who raised top pacer Tintin in America for Bee, so she has had a hand in another Breeders Crown cup – which is quite remarkable considering the odds.

She describes the young Tintin as “nuggety, mentally tough, quick on his feet (you had to be really alert around him), very assertive, a natural go-forward type.” Kym is currently raising Tintin in America’s half brother, Destination Moon – whose first destination will be the yearling sales in March. “He’s very like Tintin in type and attitude. When I lead him, his energy feels so much like Tintin’s used to.” Destination Moon will be prepared by Kym under the Isa Lodge name, just as Flying Isa and Isa Smiling were.

Sneak preview of Pegasus Spur

As with all her breeding decisions, Kym put much thought into identifying the right stallion match for Sun Isa. With Pegasus Spur she had a sneak preview that many other Kiwi breeders didn’t have.

“I was in America in 2006 for the Little Brown Jug, and went to the local Ohio yearling sale to see what some of the lesser known US sires were producing. The Pegasus Spurs looked like classic trotters and he stamped many of them – tall in the back legs, straight shoulder in front, good length of neck, good barrel, strong legs. I also watched videos of his top progeny racing and saw they had a real motor.”

Her next choice for Sun Isa was Angus Hall – “a world champion and top sire with high percentage statistics of performing progeny, and he brings in some exceptional genes that will cross very well with my mare.”

The dam of Count Bay (Sun Isa’s grand-dam sire) was Baynie, full sister to world champion Ayres. Their dam, Arpege, is from the wonderful mare Goddess Hanover. Arpege is the full sister of Cassin Hanover who is in Angus Hall’s maternal pedigree (through Texas). Ayres also shows up in Angus Hall’s pedigree as his sire’s grand-damsire. Throw in Speedy Count – the sire of Count Bay, of course – in Angus Hall’s superb Amour Angus maternal line and you have some very interesting double ups of the best trotting blood around. These are lines which have been hard to get in New Zealand until very recently.

Once you know more about Kym, her success with Flying Isa comes as less of a surprise. She is developing a reputation for breeding and bringing up horses in a way that adds value. “That’s something I truly believe in. You want the future owner and trainer to have the best possible base for success,” Kym says.

 

Update as at December 2014

Kym shows the rapport she has with her mare Sun Isa, established as foal and continued through Sun Isa’s racing career and now as a successful broodmare.

Sun Isa is the dam of the very good Flying Isa, spectacular winner of the Franco Australian Trotters Final at Menangle on 29 November – by 24 metres and in a 2:05.2 mile rate for the 3009m journey. He’s also an Australasian mile record holder.  His total to date is 15 wins and more than $355,000 in stake earnings. He is now a 6yo and racing in Australia in the stable of Luke McCarthy, and finding super form again. Sun Isa has produced a full sister to Flying Isa this season….photos coming soon.