Harness racing breeders in New Zealand have been quick in the last fifteen years to give our locally bred champions a real chance in the breeding shed with the likes of Christian Cullen and Courage Under Fire fueling that to a degree.
One of the more recent stallions to be given his chance is the In The Pocket entire, Changeover.
With Christen Cullen and Courage Under Fire also being sons of In The Pocket and with Changeover being the biggest stake winner of the three by some margin, breeders have given him every chance to establish himself against most of the leading sires in the world today who either shuttle to New Zealand or have frozen semen available to breeders.
His first crop are currently three year olds in New Zealand and number 151 foals.
The statistics around that crop make good reading half way through their three year old season as the graph below shows.
Foals – 151, Qualifiers – 81, % Qualifiers to foals – 53.6, Winners – 25, % Winners to foals – 16.5
A lot of the eighty one three year olds that have qualified have been placed already and that winners percentage will go up a lot in the next six months.
So on the surface Changeover appears to be well on his way to becoming a successful sire but in our view he has one box that he has yet to tick.
And that is the box of weather he can leave that elite level horse that can win an Oaks or a Derby.
The Great Northern Oaks didn't have a Changeover in the field last week and this week there are no Changeover's in the Great Northern Derby.
Head over the Tasman last weekend and it is the same story with Changeover having no runners in either the New South Wales Oaks or New South Wales Derby.
He does have several runners in both countries who are not far away from that level but are struggling to make the step up.
One Over and Prince Of Pops are both smart three year olds but just a notch below the best ones in New Zealand while Nuala is going great in Perth but the overall standard in the west is not what it is in the eastern seaboard of Australia or New Zealand.
The second crop of Changeover numbers 99 live foals that are two year olds this season and he has already left a winner and several qualifiers.
One of those qualifiers Linton Shard has looked to us like the horse that might make the breakthrough at classic level for Changeover.
He has trialed super in Canterbury from the Cran Dalgety barn locking horns with most of the All Stars runners and has more than held his own.
A big overgrown type, the half brother to Smiling Shard and Pemberton Shard looks just the type to develop into a classic winning three year old next season.
If Changeover can produce a couple like him in the next twelve months then he will be well on the way to carving out a niche for himself in the fiercely competitive New Zealand sires market.
Harnesslink Media