After a great run on Day 1, the Mark Jones trained, I Get Around was surprisingly sent out a $10 shot on Day 2 at the Nelson harness racing meeting. After getting a sweet trip in the trail, she burst to the lead in the straight and won as she liked for long-time owner and breeder, Kevin Stanley. Based in Sydney, we got in touch with Kevin to congratulate him.
What got you interested in Harness Racing?
My Dad was a keen racing man and he started taking me to Hutt Park, Wellington, when I was only about 10 years old. The whole thing fascinated me – the crowds, the cheering, the horses, the meat pies! As a teenager, I became even more fascinated – the intricacies of race tactics/driving, seeing stars of that era race up-close-and-personal, and the regular clashes between horses from the North Island and the South Island. Watching Bob Young, Maurice Homes, Charlie Hunter, Cardigan Bay, Geffin, Control (winning both double legs in one night, beating the pacers in one), Garcon Roux, etc, wasn’t a bad start in the game. The main things that have never left me are the accessibility of harness racing to the general public, the incredible evolution of the breed over my lifetime, and the genuine value, bang for buck, the sport offers.
When my wife and I married, in 1970, we didn’t have the wherewithal to become involved in harness racing as owners or breeders. Having kids, moving cities, studying, etc didn’t make it any easier. We both loved the game, especially me, so it was inevitable we’d get into it more seriously at some stage. After a $5,000 treble dividend at Ellerslie while recuperating from a cartilage operation (more serious back then), we bought our first horse, in 1979, a weanling colt by Mark Lobell. After he ran 4th in the first 2YO race of his season, we were offered reasonable money for him. Should have taken it – lesson one!
How long have you been breeding Standardbreds?
I bought a filly called Baise Francaise from Bruce Barlass back about the mid 1980’s. She didn’t make it as a racehorse, but I bred her with a stallion called Happy Cat. No idea why, and no success there either, but I guess we all learnt a lot. We were then out of the game, as more than race-fans, until 2004, after we had been living in Australia for about 15 years.
We then had a successful return to racehorse ownership, prompted by a good friend contacting me about an untried 2YO that his brother, Sydney trainer Martin Herbert, was very keen to purchase from Spreydon Lodge. Significantly for my future breeding biases, the colt was one of the first crop of Bettors Delight in NZ. History shows this horse, Franco Nester, won 29 races and was good enough to be a Harold Park “Horse of the Year”. What a return, and we were obviously hooked. Being a bit better placed financially to be involved in harness racing, for which we had never really lost our love, a few more racehorses followed, mostly purchased as young up-and-going horses from NZ.We started breeding, as a hobby really, in 2013, with a mare called Anna Finn, also by Bettors Delight. Anna had showed great speed but had bone chips and we decided not to try her as a racing proposition. She had breeding that intrigued me, being from a New York Motoring mare and a half-sister to the best early 2YO filly of her year in Australia, Molly Finn.
So, we’re new to the game really, but now we have three mares, two in Canterbury and one in NSW. Of potential interest to other breeders, we don’t have land, so we base these mares in the care of friends or respected agistment professionals. This can obviously be expensive, but it would be interesting to compare the real costs of having a small broodmare band on your own property, or paying someone else to do it all. Get involved with people you trust and who respect the horse as an animal – lesson two! Anna has an attractive filly in this year’s APG Sydney Sale, and we have two in the Christchurch Sale, a filly by Rocknroll Heaven from Niki Franco (Franco Nester’s half-sister by In The Pocket), and a colt by Mach Three from Cotton Row, who we raced in NSW but sent back to NZ for her breeding career. Niki had a colt by Bettors who sold in last year’s Christchurch Sale. He was our first “NZ bred” foal.
First horse you bred?
Anna Finn’s first foal was a colt by Stonebridge Regal. Named Regal Lager, he has won four races in Adelaide and we believe he has more wins to come. We race him with friends and he’s been a great source of fun. His first win was as thrilling as people say your “first bred winner” is! I’m conveniently forgetting the Happy Cat filly in the 80’s and saying we have a 100% winners to foals record.
First race winner you bred?
As above.
Why do you breed Standardbreds?
We’ve had a lot of luck with our racing ventures since Franco Nester. I put that success down to selecting from pedigrees that are either proven or involve new stallions from our favourite sire lines, to having great advisors when it comes to assessing conformation, and, of course, good trainers who have a love for their horses. We breed with that same spirit – loving the challenge of finding the right cross, the next successful stallions, and having the faith in the families of our small band of mares. My wife Linda would not want us to stay involved unless all the horses were well cared for – like damned pets, but it is important for her, and for me. We really do get a lot of joy out of seeing the young ones come through and get the best chance they can to make it. We plan to put all or most foals up for sale as yearlings, but are perfectly happy to retain any that don’t sell, because they will have passed the tests I refer to above – sire lines/crosses, conformation, and maternal lines we believe in. Saves us buying from other people…….
I could go on about this subject for ages. We certainly want to breed a top horse, but we’d hope to do that with good stock, not just hoping a good one will appear “from nowhere", and not by spending a fortune on the very best families. Breeding is a great challenge all round, and very rewarding. We’ve met some great people, as we have without racing interests, so it’s about the best retirement hobby a person can have – is that lesson three?
What is your favourite horse (or) the best one you have bred?
Young Quinn was my favourite from “back in the day”, but then along came Nester! He gave us so much fun and proved the little guy can make it in harness racing with the right advice. Making the final of the NSW Derby with him, beating Lombo Pocket Watch in the heat, was about as good as it gets.
What is your favourite Stallion of all time?
Bettor's Delight. He’s the latest in a line of game-changers in the standardbred breed. The next one? Oh if only we knew! The first time I realised this phenomenon of a pacing stallion making a significant improvement in the breed was Vance Hanover.
Have you bred anything this season?
All our three mares have nice foals on the ground now, so we are looking forward to proving, one way or the other, the merit of our mares and their families, over the next few years. We’re just heard that two of them are back in foal, Anna Finn to Sunshine Beach, and Cotton Row to A Rocknroll Dance.
Something you would like to see change for Breeders?
More professionally managed syndication initiatives. The more people we have involved in ownership, the more there will be for everyone in all aspects of our sport. Perhaps more professional advice for breeders when it comes to financial challenges and opportunities. The opportunity for people who have land and a love of horses, and breeding, but who don’t have the mares to realistically breed a good horse, to access well credentialed mares whose owners do not want to spend time and money breeding from them. Some people with good racemares just don’t want to be breeders, and some who do, can’t afford well-bred mares. Can we in the sport/industry help bridge the gap, and not simply lose foal numbers and potentially good breeding stock?