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Rich N Elegant’s unraced son to stand at stud

Posted in Harness racing, Pedigree matching, Standardbred breeding, tagged , on February 9, 2014| 1 Comment »

I saw this in Harness Racing Update issue of 25 January. Given my recent blog on a yearling with double ups to the mare Rich N Elegant  in our 2014 sales, I thought this might be of interest.

Russell Hanover is by Somebeachsomewhere from Rich N Elegant, so a half to Rocknroll Hanover, Red River Hanover, Rustler Hanover et al.

A hock injury early on seems to have put paid to a racing career. Hanover Farms were patient and waited for him to get sounder, which he did but not to the point where he could be trained.

Breeding to him has been largely in-house so far, on purpose, wisely seeing how things went, and his crops have been around 25 mares. The first crop will sell at public auction in 2015 as yearlings.

Jim Simpson of Hanover Farms  says: “We are in the business of relying on genetics and I can’t think of a better bred prospect for a sire than he is. I understand that doesn’t always work out. We were devasted when he was untrainable and unsaleable. Being a Beach and a good looking individual, which he is, he would have been close to the top of our sale.”

Interestingly, Russell Hanover was an embryo transfer, and Hanover’s Farm Manager made the comment that Rich N Elegant (“Richie”) was such a good mother that had she raised the foal herself the injury may never have happened. See here for the full article (November 2012, when Rich N Elegant died).

To subscribe to the very good Harness Racing Update online newsletter go here

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Updates…

Posted in Harness racing, Pedigree matching, Standardbred breeding, tagged , on February 8, 2014| Leave a Comment »

… to my Shy Ann family article

One of the USA/Australian-bred members of Shy Ann’s family, Follow The Stars, took out the New Zealand Sapling Stakes today at Ashurton’s flying mile day in a very good 1:53.8.

The colt was bought by Mark Purdon at the APG Sales as a yearling. Link to article on the All Stars Stables website which gives the details of the breeding.

The connection is via Dateable/Tarport Martha/Adios Betty, one of the strongest branches of the family.

My article on Shy Ann can be found here or just use the Articles tab at the top of the blogsite

… to my blogs on the last foals of In The Pocket

Another interest in today’s racing at Ashburton was 5yo mare Highview Aria coming 3rd in her race, and 4yo mare Sara Holley coming 2nd in hers, after doing it tough three wide for much of the way. They are from ITP’s last and second to last crops. Twenty years after his first crop, he’s still got representatives running and doing well today. Remarkable! See my previous blogs about Sara Holley, and some dead but still with us sires.

 

Great racing at Ashburton today – highlights for me were Majestic Time’s win in the 3yo Hambeltonian Trot – didn’t he just fly! – and Ricky May’s drive on Helena Jet, talk about “threading the needle”!

 

 

 

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Female double ups at NZ yearling sales Part 3

Posted in Harness racing, Pedigree matching, Standardbred breeding, tagged , , on February 8, 2014| Leave a Comment »

The last in this series looks at Lot 231 at the Premier (Christchurch) yearling sale – a colt by Rock N Roll Heaven out of Highview Diamond, who is a Red River Hanover mare.

So that makes the colt, named Rockn Roll Xtra, 3×3 to the great producer Rich N Elegant. There are also double ups to sires – to Western Hanover 3×4, and to Direct Scooter 4x4x5. But I’m focusing on the female double up. I’m not sure the position of Rich N Elegant in the sire’s pedigree is as influential as it may appear expressed as “3×3”. I made the same comment in my Part 2 blog about Roydon Gal. Rock N Roll Heaven’s maternal line is superb, and would have much to do with his success as a racehorse and potentially as a sire. In my view, it places him well to be a sire of good fillies as well as colts.

Nevertheless, Rich N Elegant is a class act in any pedigree. I’ve blogged on Rich N Elegant before so I won’t repeat myself – see my blog of November 2012 when she died, and from there you can link to the 3-part series about her sons at stud.

Basically she has left several very, very good racehorses, and the best was definitely Rocknroll Hanover who won over $3 million. He is also the only son to etch out a second career as a highly successful sire both in North America and in Australasia. Her other sons at stud here – Rustler Hanover, Red River Hanover and Righteous Hanover – have left some good horses here and there, but not consistently top racehorses.

Still, the quality of the genes they carry from their dam’s strong pedigree and their sires could make them good propositions as damsires.

Red River anover

Red River Hanover. Photo: Nevele R Stud.

This is very much the case for Lot 231’s damsire Red River Hanover who was a million-dollar racehorse but only a very moderately successful sire. He was a tall good looking stallion, 16.2h, but from what I have heard many of his foals here were a bit ‘fizzy’ or lanky and weak –  not suited to run early – and even when given time many of them simply lacked high speed.  He was given plenty of chance at stud, having live foal crops of 127, 84, 86, 122 in his first years at Nevele R Stud, but it dropped dramatically after that and he was exported to Australia. He has left some very nice types – Garnett River and Chloe Maguire, both racing in Australia, are examples, and Drop Red won $700,000 plus in North America.

A note: Red River Hanover died in Australia of a snake bite just over a week ago. 

So let’s have a peek at Red River Hanover as a damsire so far in New Zealand. On the ground he has 19 registered foals who are 2yos or 3yos, nothing older. He also has 14 unregistered foals on the database who are not yet yearlings. Some of his daughters have had more than one foal, indicating some level of confidence in the broodmare perhaps: Qualified mare Motu Glitz N Glam has two by Real Desire; qualified mare Tiber Franco has been to Bettor’s Delight twice and to Real Desire; nice two-win mare River Belle has been to Bettor’s Delight twice; unraced Miss Elegance has been to Mach Three, Real Desire and Gotta Go Cullect; David Phillip’s Hambletonian Ltd has put unraced Cathar to American Ideal (died), Art Official, Modern Art and now Tintin In America; unraced Zoe Bromac has been twice to Falcon Seelster. There are some trends there – quite a few searching for speed and going to sires who carry another strain of Direct Scooter. And with Real Desire, the attraction may also be his maternal Golden Miss line, which Rich N Elegant also has.

Highview Diamond, however, is the only Red River Hanover mare put to Rock N Roll Heaven so far in New Zealand, to get that 3×3 double up to Rich N Elegant. In Australia, there is also an unnamed yearling filly on the same cross, being by Rock N Roll Heaven from the New Zealand Red River Hanover mare Red River Laine who was exported to Australia in 2008.

A quick check shows to date in New Zealand and Australia, mares by Rustler Hanover haven’t been tried on this cross with Rock N Roll Heaven yet, either – but Rustler Hanover’s overall record as a broodmare sire looks quite promising with the likes of Shelbyville and Glenferrie Rustler (both raced in Australia), Franco Nikau and Franco Nadal, and the successful trotter now in Australia (Our) Dolly Would whose breeding is a bit of a surprise for a trotter, being by Artsplace from a Rustler Hanover mare Dixie Darlin (who is from the same family as Courage Under Fire). Sorry just an odd aside!

Rich N Elegant’s third son at stud here, Righteous Hanover, had very few foals and only one so far has been tried as a broodmare, the 7 win Samarias Bromac who has a weanling by Falcon Seelster. There are a few more in Australia, but none using the cross to Rich N Elegant.

Another siring son Richess Hanover never stood ‘down under’ as far as I am aware.

The fourth son is the top sire Rocknroll Hanover, but of course as the sire of Rock N Roll Heaven his mares would be out of the question for that cross. However there is a 2013 colt foal in Australia who is by Rocknroll Hanover from a Red River Hanover mare (Nolarama) which would make it inbred 2×3 to Rich N Elegant, so I guess you never know what breeders might try!

Of course it is very early days for Rock N Roll Heaven as a sire, and more foals 3×3 to Rich  Elegant may turn up in future.

Looking at Lot 231 overall, it’s a family that has had some strength back a bit with the Venetian Star/Star Rhapsody branch, but other branches have not kicked on. His dam Highview Diamond is being given every chance to reverse those fortunes. The result of her first mating is a 3yo filly by American Ideal who looked okay at workouts late last year and has had only one race start to date – her name is Highview Idol. Lot 231 is her next foal, and the Strongs forked out the service fee for a top quality sire and one who throws that interesting double up to Rich N Elegant into the mix.

You can see the colt on PGG Wrightsons Sale of the Stars website – video for Lot 231. He looks a good enough type and it will be interesting to view him in person when I’m down in Christchurch.

Certainly, Rich N Elegant is a very classy mare to have twice in your pedigree!

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Shy Ann /Adios Betty article

Posted in Standardbred breeding on February 7, 2014| 2 Comments »

A heads-up (yes, I can do short blogs sometimes!)

The article I wrote about the influence of the Shy Ann family is now online. Just click on the Articles tab at the top of my blog. This article was originally published in Breeding Matters, and thanks to them for approval to reprint on my blog. I cover some of the historical and present day connections in New Zealand, and to a lesser extent in Australia (readers: please add comments to flesh this out).

Photos from Rod Croon and Highfields Bloodstock show some of the older representatives of the family that are still alive (and in some cases breeding) in New Zealand.

Shy Ann not so shy after all

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Female double ups at NZ yearling sales Part 2

Posted in Harness racing, Pedigree matching, Standardbred breeding, tagged , , , on February 6, 2014| Leave a Comment »

Arndon

Arndon, son of Roydon Gal and sire of the great Sundon.

Roydon Gal is the next double up I want to look at in this series of 3 blogs about lots at the NZ Yearling Sales 2014.

Lot 45 at the Premier Sale in Christchurch is a colt by Sundon (Arndon x Sungait Song) from a Sierra Kosmos mare Sierra Action. In pedigree terms this makes that colt 3×3 to the Super Bowl mare Roydon Gal. She is the dam of Arndon (world champion trotter). Roydon Gal is also the grandam of Sierra Action on the maternal bottom line of Lot 45.

It’s line breeding to Roydon Gal that Roydon Lodge has tried many times before – there are several examples in branches of the family where a daughter/grand-daughter of Roydon Gal has been bred back to Sundon to get “the best of the family blood”. The results have been mixed and not with a lot of luck in the foaling department. By far the best results of this breeding to Sundon are Aspiring Gal and Aspiring Son from Roydon Gal’s daughter Aspiring Lass, which makes them both 3×2 to Roydon Girl (and I’ll get to them shortly). The other success was the very good Sunny Action (65 starts, 13 wins, 5 seconds, 8 thirds, Lt $180,173 ) who is from Roydon Gal’s daughter All Action Gal and therefore also 2×3 to Roydon Gal, but the best she has left since becoming a broodmare is My Mum Beat Lyall who can certainly go alright when she’s in the mood but is not a standout. Other foals from All Action Gal by Sundon have also done well – All Action Son, Solar Active and All Sundon.

In the immediate family of Lot 45, his dam Sierra Action has been bred exclusively to Sundon and the end results are really still to unfold. As the advertising says, two of her foals have raced as 2yos including Rocky Mountain Son who sadly died earlier this year, and there is a 2yo filly called Sunset Peak….and then Lot 45 Alpine Sun of course.

This branch of the Roydon Gal family (from All Action Gal) is still young and forming, and certainly has potential to throw up top trotters.  A yearling from All Sunny, a Sundon daughter of All Action Gal,  is also in the yearling sale, Lot 125 at the Premier Sale in Christchurch, for Classic Equine NZ. She’s been bred to the Victory Dream sire Raffaello Ambrosio.  Arndon is Raffaello Ambrosio’s damsire, which makes Roydon Gal 4x4x3 to this yearling colt. A really in-depth look at the Roydon Gal family is well displayed in the pedigree of All Sunny who is a broodmare at Classic Equine – www.classicequine.net is their website.

The most successful branch of the Roydon Gal family is her good daughter Aspiring Lass (by Prakas) who won 8 races here and another 4 in USA for a total of over $100,000. She was a disaster at producing foals, but among the few live ones she did have were the successful Aspiring Son and then later Aspiring Gal – both by Sundon, so the breeding makes them 3×3 to Roydon Gal, just like Lot 45.

Aspiring Gal is the gem of the family. She is the dam of very talented Royal Aspirations (28 starts,  14 wins,  3 seconds,  3 thirds,  Lt $256,149 to date – and he’s only a 4yo) by Monarchy, Jinja Gal (54 starts,  6 wins,  4 seconds,  4 thirds,  Lt $107,696) by SJ’s Photo, and Triumphant Monarch (T1:59.7 $131,893) as well as several younger foals coming on – a 3yo colt by Majestic Son is showing up at the trials, and a 2yo filly by Monarchy likewise. I am a huge admirer of Royal Aspirations – he has kept stepping up and I have seen personally the commitment Fred Fletcher has to letting this lovely trotter develop.  Jinja Gal tragically died last year before she had any foals. Aspiring Gal has a yearling Lot 141 at the Premier Sale in Christchurch, a filly by The Pres (Andover Hall x Southwind Allaire). Given the strength of this branch, you would imagine a nice type of filly will be getting a very good price!

Going back to Roydon Gal, of course the question has to be asked: how strong is her own contribution in the scheme of things? It lies definitely in the massively fast if erratic Arndon, who later sired Pine Chip as well as Sundon, and also in the lines of two daughters: Aspiring Lass and All Action Gal. There has been enough respect for the family that two others have stood at stud – Roydon Boy and Simon Roydon, but the two great horses Arndon and his son Sundon are where Roydon Gal’s name really shines in siring pedigrees.

And for me, this is the interesting point. I am not convinced that where Roydon Gal sits in Sundon’s pedigree is especially influential as part of a double up, being on the siring line rather than through a maternal line. That’s just how I see things. Arndon was a precociously fast 2yo and 3yo, as was his son Sundon, and Arndon’s own sire Arnie Almahurst was a tough, fast 2yo and 3yo champion. High speed is not a trait I see coming through the maternal family or specifically through Roydon Gal. (See here for an interesting 1998 article on Pine Chip that touches on this).

However there is definitely quality in Roydon Gal’s genes. Tapping back to Sundon is probably bringing in that speed factor which is Sundon’s wonderful contribution to New Zealand trotting as a long term sire. So it is more compatibility of types: stamina and heart crossed with high speed (although I would not say manners so much with that siring line, as both Arnie Almahurst and Arndon were racehorses that tended to break, and Sundon’s progeny can be a bit keen, but that is often the flip side of high speed. Interestingly Sundon himself was a very relaxed horse, and there is merit in the belief that his progeny are often highly intelligent and acutely aware of their surroundings rather than “hot”.)

Whatever the reason, the faith in line breeding back to Roydon Gal has been rewarded now and then, particularly in the strongest female lines I’ve mentioned and with some top quality racehorses.

In his chapter on Arndon in Modern Trotting sire Lines, John Bradley describes his maternal line like this:

The Super Bowl mare, Roydon Gal is Arndon’s dam and she followed him with two more [American bred] stakes trotters, Roydon Boy 4, 1.57.3 (by Arnie Almahurst) and Aspiring Lass 3, T1.58.2 (by Prakas). She also has  a daughter named Roydon Lass, a full sister to Arndon, who has produced Roydon Lad 4, 1.56f (by Bonefish). Roydon Gal is a half sister to the stakes winner Rising Wind 4, T2.00.1 ($218,332) and is from the Miss Bertha C. maternal family. This is not one of the stronger branches; Arndon is the only major star.

I’m going to conclude with an extract of interest from The Roydon Heritage by Sir Roy McKenzie (of Roydon Lodge), published in 1978 when Roydon Gal was in foal to Arndon:
(for those who don’t know the history of Roydon Lodge and the contribution of Sir Roy and his father Sir John McKenzie, I recommend the article in the Addington Raceway timeline).

Roydon Gal in foal

Extract from page 111 of The Roydon Hertiage, and photo of Roydon Gal carrying the great Arndon in 1978.

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Female double ups at NZ yearling sales

Posted in Standardbred breeding, tagged , , on February 2, 2014| 1 Comment »

There are 3 lots I want to look at because of a double up to quality females, all at the Premier sale in Christchurch – Lot 39, 45 and 231, and the double ups concerned are, respectively, Three Diamonds, Roydon Gal and Rich N Elegant.

Six Diamonds yearling colt

Lot 39 Christchurch yearling sale 2014, Six Diamonds (Photo Tuapeka Lodge)

I’m going to start with Lot 39 is a lovely long barrelled type of colt called Six Diamonds, which immediately acknowledges the 3×3 to Three Diamonds in his pedigree. He’s from a Life Sign mare (Three Diamonds was Life Sign’s dam) and is by American Ideal whose dam is from a daughter of Three Diamonds (Matt’s Scooter x Three Diamonds). check out his video on the Tuapeka Lodge website.

This cross has occurred before in New Zealand, including a current 3yo filly and 2yo colt from the nice mare Imprint, who is the dam of the good filly (Am)Opulent now in Australia. Neither have shown up yet but will be interested to keep an eye on them.

Another is Delia, who I noted at the 2012 New Zealand yearling sale at Karaka, in a blog: Three Diamonds and a ton of Adios – and did a tip o’ the hat to Three Diamonds who was a very classy racehorse and broodmare. I also looked at the success of that cross in America, but I haven’t updated those statistics yet. However I have updated news about Delia – she is being trained by John Hay and is due to get to the workouts any day now. He says earlier she was a bit weak, but now she’s working better and bowls around okay, and it will be just a matter of seeing how she steps up.

There are a few other unregistered young foals on this cross, and one unregistered 2yo to date, but  wouldn’t be surprised to see a few more in future. You wouldn’t expect early precocious speed – it isn’t coming from American Ideal regularly although he leaves lovely athletic types and very good 3yos, and nor did precocious speed come often from Life Sign, at least not when crossed with our New Zealand mares. But for those who are willing to let horses grow into their frame and strengthen up, the double up of Three Diamonds via Life Sign and American Ideal is a very attractive option.

 

 

 

 

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New sires trying to gain traction

Posted in Harness racing, Pedigree matching, Standardbred breeding, tagged , , , , , on January 30, 2014| 2 Comments »

It was hard enough competing as a racehorse. Now they are competing in an even more high risk game – being a sire.

You have to be successful, have all the right connections and be very good looking, preferably good natured in the breeding barn, highly fertile and with the ability to stamp your kids with the only your best qualities and none of your poorer ones. Ideally you should leave precocious 2yos who not only perform brilliantly but are sound enough to continue their winning way as 3yos and later become all aged champions.

As our New Zealand Tui beer adverts say, “Yeah, right.” Which translated means: Really?? Not!

We ask a lot. And some horses – remarkably – deliver.

To bring ourselves down to earth, I’ve taken a look at six sires who came on to the New Zealand scene recently, and how their progeny are performing so far – Santanna Blue Chip (see blog about his return to the racetrack but also my blog about his NZ foals), Gotta Go Cullect, Gotta Go Cullen, Ohoka Arizona and then Changeover, Shadow Play and Art Official (whose oldest race crops are only 2yos).

American Ideal

American Ideal at Woodlands Stud. (Photo Bee Pears)

And then I’ve added into the mix American Ideal, whose oldest crop is 5yos, as a bench marker, a sire that came with high recommendations but been given time to find his feet, and who has not to date been an outstanding sire of 2yos in New Zealand but is building a more secure reputation for quality and percentages.

I think we are so quick to judge new sires – and so few can deliver the multiple 2yo standouts that we desire as proof of their ability. So this blog isn’t comparing these sires in a negative way at all. I have a lot of admiration for each of them, and I have chosen a sample which I believe have potential to establish themselves.

Remember that we are only half way through our racing season and with 2yos and 3yos more are qualifying, racing, winning every week – so this is a snapshot in time. Out of date probably before I even publish it!

My point is how hard it is for a new sire to get traction – and it reflects the other side of the coin from the old sires I wrote about last time who got established, contributed hugely and are still gaining our respect, getting winners and even producing new foals, long after they have passed on.

The many reasons for early success can relate to

  • the types of mares a sire gets (ironically a very speedy sire may end up getting slower/heavier types of mare looking for an injection of speed)
  • the type of breeder/owner who supports the sire (smaller breeder/owners using less pricey sires may not feel under as much pressure to try their progeny as 2yos compared to the more commercial trainers/owners with horses bought at the yearling sales, for example), and the early development of the foal may well be managed differently even at the weanling/yearling stage
  • a sire may stamp his progeny with some precocious factors – great natural gait or the conformation, growth pattern and mental maturity that can help a horse to go early rather than needing time to grow
  • the sheer weight of numbers of foals or the lack of them.

I’ve added the breeding of these sires, as several of them are New Zealand breds and therefore will not be very familiar to some overseas readers of my blog – but these are racehorses and family lines that come with a heap of credentials “down under” and are forging a great revival in locally bred sires at the moment.  Of course they will need to sort themselves out over the next few years, but it is an extremely positive sign for New Zealand breeding. A mix of top quality sires and racehorses from overseas, plus top quality sires from our own particular breeding stock. (I’ve listed a couple of links at the bottom of this blog for those who want to know more about where the new breed of New Zealand standardbred pacing sires are coming from).

Gotta Go Cullect at Alabar

Gotta Go Cullect at Alabar

Gotta Go Cullect – Christian Cullen x Elect To Live (Live Or Die)

  • Live foals 2010 (currently 3yos) 125
  • 2011 (currently 2yos) 96
  • Qualifiers to date (approx mid season) 32 (including 4 x this season’s 2yos)
  • Starters 22
  • Winners 8

Gotta Go Cullen – Christian Cullen x Sparkling Burgundy (Butler BG)

  • Live foals 2010 (currently 3yos) 29
  • 2011 (currently 2yos) 38
  • Qualifiers to date  9 (including 2 x this season’s 2yos)
  • Starters 3
  • Winners 0

Ohoka Arizona – In The Pocket x Millwood Krystal (Falcon Seelster)

  • Live foals 2010 (currently 3yos) 84
  • Live foals 2011 (currently 2yos) 25
  • Qualifiers to date   21
  • Starters 12
  • Winners 5

Santanna Blue Chip

Santanna Blue Chip at Alabar (Photo by Bee Pears)

  • Live foals 2010 (currently 3yos) 65
  • Live foals 2011 (currently 2yos) 52
  • Qualifiers to date  24 (including 3 x this season’s 2yos)
  • Starters 13
  • Winners  4

2yo crop only:

Changeover – In The Pocket x Chaangerr (Vance Hanover)

  • Live foals 2011 (currently 2yos) 160
  • Qualifiers to date   11
  • Starters 1
  • Winners 0
Art Official at Alabar

Art Official at Alabar (Photo Bee Pears)

Art Official (Art Major x Naughty Shady Lady (Falcon Seelster)

  • Live foals 2011 (currently 2yos) 49
  • Qualifiers to date 0
  • Starters 0
  • Winners 0

Shadow Play (The Pandersosa x Matts Filly (Matts Scooter)

  • Live foals 2011 (currently 2yos) 19
  • Qualifiers to date   2
  • Starters 0
  • Winners 0

American Ideal – Western Ideal x Lifetime Success (Matts Scooter)

American Ideal has foals racing who are also 4yos and 5yos, but for this exercise I’m just focusing on his current 2yo and 3yo crops.

  • Live foals 2010 (currently 3yos) 59
  • Live foals 2011 (currently 2yos) 80
  • Current qualifiers who are 2yo and 3yo   29 (including 2 x this season’s 2yos)
  • Current starters who are 2yos or 3yos   21 (all 3yos)
  • Winners  16

On type of the sire, I would’ve expected Gotta Go Cullect to have had more foals qualifing st 2yos – he was an early runner himself and is a medium sized, athletic type. Whereas I’m interested that Changeover has had a few 2yos showing up and several trainers are commenting on the natural gait and willingness of his progeny. His yearlings looked to me to be more scopey, even rangey types that might need time, and Changeover the racehorse was certainly one that just got better and better. So he is leaving some qualities (including “gait speed”, a great asset)  that will definitely help him get traction as a sire. Those are two local sires who certainly have had the numbers on the ground and will be looking for some flagship progeny over the next 12 months. Ohoka Arizona was more of a speedy 2yo type himself and is doing okay as a sire to date, but will need to have his initial big crop really step up now as 3yos to keep attracting the mares. Shadow Play will be helped by his overseas success – and he got a much better book this year in ew Zealand. Art Official has a much larger crop of yearlings on the ground than his current 2yos, and that will give him a chance to hang his hat here. He is another that will be helped by overseas results.

The newer sires have a way to go, and it will be interesting to see what sort of credits and reputation they will have built by the end of the current season.

I’ll keep an eye on it.

The stats are all via HRNZ’s Info Horse database, but the opinions are my own.
For more information about the development of New Zealand siring lineups over recent years try this previous articles of mine (in the Articles tab at the top of the blog):

https://b4breeding.com/articles/nz-bred-sires/

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Old sires still leaving young legs

Posted in Standardbred breeding, tagged , , , on January 26, 2014| 2 Comments »

Here’s two more of our great New Zealand sires of recent times, now dead, but living on in some surprisingly young progeny.

Previously I noted a filly from In The Pocket‘s last crop – Sara Holley – who is currently racing, and there is another good horse Light Up Boss, a 3yo colt, also from that crop. See blog here from January 2013 on Sara Holley, who is now a 4yo mare with 13 starts for one win, two seconds and a third, while Light Up Boss has had 5 starts for one win and two seconds.

Then in December I got a jolt seeing a Soky’s Atom 3yo and 4yo breed by Mike Stratford that are currently racing, and blogged about them – see blog here.

Today I watched a 3yo filly Gracey Lacey by Holmes Hanover (out of Cameleon mare Janis Joplin) in her first race at Banks Peninsula. She’s shown up okay at trials, but didn’t really kick on on the grass. She’ll improve as she strengthens, as most of the Holmes Hanovers did.

There were 8 foals in Holmes Hanover’s 2010 crop, and one other has so far got to the races, Take After Me (out of Live Or Die mare Give Or Take who is from the Tabella Beth family). He’s a 3yo gelding and started at Invercargill races at Ascot Park yesterday for a good fourth. His previous start at Ascot Park on 15 January was a nice debut for 2nd.

Holmes Hanover has 22 registered 4yos, so are 10 of them qualified and 3 of those are winners.

More interestingly, he has a few still to come – 6 2yos (4 of them registered), and 3 yearlings (one of which is already registered).

Holmes Hanover was a fertile stallion and I remember comments about how robust his frozen semen was. It’s quite a remarkable feat from a sire that was humanely euthanised in 2006 at the age of 25 (see harnesslink article at the time). He remains one of New Zealand’s greatest sires and broodmare sires.

Falcon Seelster is another sire that continues to produce from frozen semen well after his death in 2011 at age of 30 (see harnesslink article at the time), and he was pretty much retired from breeding the previous year.

However his stock is so respected that the 2014 Sale Of The Stars yearling sales in New Zealand in February boast two colts by Falcon Seelster in the Premier sale at Christchurch and a filly by him in the Australasian sale at Karaka. So he appears in the catalogue as a sire, damsire and grandam sire.

He’s got three qualifiers recently as 2yos that will be worth keeping an eye on – Festive Flyer, Tintinara and The Jazz Man.

For information about the frozen semen still available from Holmes Hanover and Falcon Seelster, see the Bromac Lodge website. As they say in sport, form is temporary, but class is permanent.

In my next blog I’ll switch from looking at the very “old” current sires to the very new ones.

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Coming up and looking back

Posted in Standardbred breeding on January 23, 2014| Leave a Comment »

Sorry about lack of blogs last week or so. Just a reflection of busyness at my day job (it earns the money) and that I have been writing an article for the next NZ Standardbred Breeding Assn magazine Breeding Matters on the “down under” connections with the family of the great producing mare Shy Ann. Will post that up on my articles tab (top of my blog home page) when it is published.

And of course as Isa Lodge we are right in the middle of prep for the yearling sales. Two lovely colts – a trotter (Lot 19 Karaka) and a pacer (Lot 39 Karaka), who reside just outside my bedroom window.  I don’t do the hands-on work, that’s the expertise of Kym Kearns that adds so much value to getting a really good foundation for racehorses. But it is still a busy time for support crew – and keeping an eye on the mares who are positive in foal now. “Those also serve who stand and feed.” lol

I have a couple of blogs coming up shortly on the yearling sales – looking at the representations of sires (a topic I come back to again and again), profiling some lots from new sires and some interesting breeding choices, so hopefully I will be delivering on that over the next couple of weeks.

Keeping checking in, your feedback and discussion is always welcome.

In the meantime, try looking back at some of the past blogs you may have missed like the ones I have done about influential broodmare sires who punch above their weight like

Or go to the Articles tab at the top of my blog page and lets look at how the hugely improved range of NZ sires might go over the next sales and racing season.

 

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Introducing our sales yearlings

Posted in Harness racing, Pedigree matching, Standardbred breeding, tagged , , , , , on January 11, 2014| Leave a Comment »

Isa Lodge has two yearlings this year, both colts.
One is from pacing mare Zenterfold, the other from trotting mare Sun Isa.

Real Desire x Zenterfold

Thephantomtollbooth Lot 39 Real Desire x Zenterfold

yearling colt by Pegasus Spur from Sun Isa

Isaputtingonmytophat Lot 19 Pegasus Spur x Sun Isa

That makes them a half brother to Tintin In America, and a full brother to Flying Isa.

You can see photos, profiles and insights into the families and the breeding choices on the two new pages which also show as tabs at the top of my blog. There’s even some background about the names.

Of interest might also be Amazon Lily, a Bettor’s Delight yearling filly bred by The Blue Lotus Syndicate (Ken Breckon, Dom Zame, Bee Pears and Kym Kearns) and she is Lot 34 in the Breckon Farms draft.
View video on PGG wrightson Sale Of The Stars upcoming sales website.
The Blue Lotus is a daughter of Zenterfold, and a half sister to “Milo”, and was 3rd in the Sires Stakes Group 1 Final as a 3yo behind Carabella and Under cover Lover. She is currently in foal to Shadow Play.

View also the recent very good recent win from Flying Isa on HRNZ website – “Bert” is his full brother.

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