Armbro Operative gelding Corka Dream is such an example of a good horse, but for those involved with his relations at present and in the recent past, there will many mixed emotions whenever he is stomping down home straights with clear air back to second, as was the case in the Marlborough Winter Cup recently.

Not the least of these mixed emotions will be coming from Mike Finlayson, the Christchurch owner of his dam Deb's Dream, who missed this season to Armbro Operative after slipping foals the previous two years and since he acquired the Deal Direct mare.

Last year, Finlayson also bought Deb's Dream's half-sister Brooklyn Dream, a daughter of New York Motoring whose first two foals are more than useful types in Brooklyn Guy (2 NZ wins, US1.55.4) and Brooklyn Bute (Aus1.57.7, 13 Aus wins, $125,545), the latter a winner of six consecutive races in Victoria recently culminating in the Markovina FFA at Moonee Valley.

Finlayson knew Brooklyn Dream had missed to Mach Three when he bought her last year, but she is now in foal to Julius Caesar.

Then there are the previous owners of Deb's Dream, the second foal and first filly from Soky's Dream (Soky's Atom-Del's Dream).

Finlayson bought Deb's Dream a couple of years ago from the Marketplace pages of the Harness Racing Weekly from Tauranga's Hamish Roberts after he had bred a now 2-year-old filly by Pacific Rocket called Avicmaro.

Deb's Dream was not a dear mare at the time as part of the deal was that Roberts would get the Badlands Hanover foal she was carrying, but she slipped that foal.

She had earlier lost a Badlands Hanover colt shortly after birth and Avicmaro is in fact the only foal from Deb's Dream since Corka Dream.

Roberts had bought Deb's Dream empty a couple of years previously from Ron Burrell, who was beginning to sell up his extensive breeding interests at the time and ultimately his Mid Canterbury farm.

Burrell has pretty much finished that process now and is living in Christchurch, working for Trevor Craddock's Car Storage company at the airport.

Deb's Dream has other half-sisters in the qualified mares She's Left (by Fake Left) and Kelvins Dream (Presidential Ball), who were actually from the same Cam Fella sire line which has produced Corka Dream.

She's Left was owned by the late Kelvin Falconer and produced three foals which included Wot The Owl (3 NZ wins), but she has not left a foal since 2006 and her two daughters are still appearing in the ownership of his estate.

The 6-year-old Kelvins Dream has not been sighted since qualifying as a late 2-year-old and has not produced any foals.

She was owned by Te Awamutu's Basil Blackwell, but after she bowed a tendon he gave her back to Falconer, who was killed in a track accident at the Cambridge track back in August.

Cambridge trainer John Dickie suspects that both Kelvins Dream and She's Left have gone to heaven, but he has had the latter's 2-year-old daughter by Dream Away called Flipinowl in and out of work and he thinks she might make the grade next year.

So there have been a few people around who have been following Corka Dream's career with more than passing interest, but the most perplexed of them all will be Finlayson, who has pulled the right rein a couple of times now and has little if anything to show for it so far.

Corka Dream is yet another example of a Hal Dale saturated sire which has produced a good horse from an outcross mare.

Armbro Operative has eight crosses to Hal Dale within seven generations, with five in the fifth generation and double ups to Meadow Skipper (3x4) and Bret Hanover (3x4), giving him a very high Hal Dale 'co-efficient' or ratio of 4.88.

The next biggest influence in Armbro Operative's pedigree is Peter Volo with 16 crosses, but none appear closer than the sixth generation and his ratio is 2.39 because he is 'in behind' all the Hal Dale blood.

One has to look to the third dams of both Cam Fella (line-bred 4x4x4x4 to Hal Dale) and Armbro Operative before finding any outcross blood of note in the latter's pedigree.

Deal Direct's dam Dee Bee Hitter was by Hot Hitter, a son of Strike Out who was line-bred 4x3 to Hal Dale, while Soky's Dream was by the Albatross and largely Adios horse Soky's Atom.

However, there are no duplications within four generations of Deb's Dream's pedigree and it is very much an outcross pedigree, with Billy Direct and Tar Heel playing a slightly more significant role than Adios and Hal Dale.

The now 16-year-old Armbro Operative has sired a lot of foals and winners, but pretty much all of the best of them have been from mares by outcross sires and or with outcross pedigrees.

His best Australian-bred performers have been Fleur De Lil (mare by Preux Chevalier), Jilliby Spirit (Koala King), Ashleys Babe (Kentucky), Toe Taper (Classic Garry), Yada Yada Yada (Walton Hanover) and Indigenous (Lordship), the latter the winner of 14 of 21 races including a Gold Chalice and now the dam of the smart Life Sign filly Life Inthefastlane (Vic Youthful Stakes), who has won a NSW Oaks heat and Vicbred semi final this year.

In New Zealand from outcross mares, Armbro Operative has sired the likes of Armbro Innocence, Rangataua Ray, Reality Check, Special Ops and the siblings Montecito and Pullover Brown.

Awesome Armbro is from the New York Motoring mare Abbeybell, but her dam in Orbell had an outcross pedigree including a dam in Light Chase who was line-bred 2x3 to Light Brigade.

Corka's Dream's third dam Del's Dream was by Armbro Del (by Tar Heel) from Rosa Dream (Lumber Dream) and she was a fine mare winning 14 races for Arthur Cross.

She won four 2-year-old races before chasing Noodlum home in the NZ Juvenile Championship, beating Tricky Dick for second.

Del's Dream was the second foal from Rosa Dream and either side of her were the open class pacers Mighty Gay (Ashburton Flying Stakes) and Bronze Trail (18 NZ wins, NZ Juvenile Championship) along with Valiant Dream (6 NZ wins, G2 GN Stakes, 2nd NZ Juvenile Championship).

Rosa Dream was the first of 11 foals from the Court Martial mare Rosa Fay and none of them ever raced, which included four subsequent brothers and a sister, but that didn't stop Rosa Dream's first four foals being top horses for three different breeders and her being the 1979 Broodmare of the Year in what was a quite remarkable turn of events.

Del's Dream's first six foals were fillies as were 10 of her 12 in the end, although the last of them in a daughter of Genghis Khan was not registered.

The first five won races and Soky's Dream was the sixth.

She was the first foal bred by Meadowlands Breeding Ltd and was sold for $82,500 at National Bloodstock's inaugural International Yearling Sale at Alexandra Park in 1987, where the top price was $135,000 for a colt by Apollo's Way called Rope Of Sand.

Renamed Khazaam in Victoria, that colt eventually won a race at Warrnambool and $2050 from 23 races.

Soky's Dream was one of the top priced fillies at that sale and was purchased by a trio of industry novices which included Wellington's Charlie Norwood and Liberata Meo, and joined the stable of the then training partnership of Les Purdon and Steven Reid.

After three unplaced races at Hutt Park as a 3-year-old, Soky's Dream reappeared two seasons later under Irvin Behrns and managed a few placings in a 15 start career, before she was leased by Auckland's Alan Mortensen and Burrell and produced the Butler B G colt Smokey's Dream, a minor winner in New Zealand, Australia and America.

Burrell later took up the option to purchase Soky's Dream in foal to Deal Direct and the result was Deb's Dream, who was sold for $5250 at the 1996 Australasian Classic to West Australian clients of Dave Gibbons.

She made her debut as a 2-year-old in December later that year, but made no impression in two subsequent races that season, and Burrell actually bought her back later and put her to stud as a 5-year-old.

To Safely Kept, Deb's Dream produced a filly in Tracy's Dream, who was bought by Alabar's Alan Galloway at the 2002 Premier Sale for $8000.

Sam Ballantyne produced her as a useful looking trotter as a 2-year-old and she won a race at Addington that season, before eventually winning a maiden race at Motukarara two years later where she beat Lets Get Serious and Geeky Looking.

Tracy's Dream came solid to win four of five starts at one point in Victoria a few years ago, and she is now the dam of a filly by Earl this season.

Burrell would subsequently breed three consecutive colts from Deb's Dream which all went through the Premier Sale.

The first was a son of Mystcial Shark in Sharkie's Dream who was bought by Doug Gale for $15,000, and he managed a couple of thirds as a 3-year-old.

Gale had earlier bought the third foal from Soky's Dream, a colt by Genghis Khan in Major Anvil who proved a smart juvenile for Graham Beirne before being sold to America.

Major Anvil won a Sires Stakes 2yo heat at Addington before chasing Courage Under Fire, Cigar and Revonez home in the final a week later.

The second foal from Deb's Dream was a son of Pacific Rocket in Rockie's Dream, who went to Southland for $13,000 and who has won a couple of races from Hamish Hunter's stable.

It was 2005 when Deb's Dream's third colt in Corka Dream showed up at the Premier Sale and was sold for $3500 to trainer John Vincent's and Invercargill's Henry Hubber.

Vincent qualified Corka Dream as a late 2-year-old and lined him up in a juvenile race at Ashburton won by Da Ginstar before he was purchased by Ian Dobson and joined the stable of Robert Dunn shortly after.

"He was always a very lean horse because you just couldn't get him to eat much, and I think Robert (Dunn) has always had the same sort of battle with him, among others," said Burrell.

"He had also knocked his canon bone on the way to the sale, so he wasn't looking that impressive, and I remember Vincent saying to me that they had paid too much for him.

"We were having a bad sale and he was one of the last lots, so I had to let him go," he added.

Burrell offered eight yearlings that year including six colts, and sold seven for an average of $6700, and that would be "the beginning of the end", although he sold a Life Sign colt from Tender Is The Knight for $40,000 a couple of years ago and she has just been leased out for the season.

"I've still got a couple of colts from Tender Is The Knight (by Badlands Hanover and a yearling by Bettor's Delight), but we had been breeding horses for over 20 years and the time came when we wanted to move on."

Burrell also bred a yearling colt by Life Sign from Brooklyn Dream before also advertising her in the HRW last year and her sale pretty much signalled the end of his breeding interests at the time.

That colt has been broken in by Jamie Gameson after Burrell had offered Brooklyn Dream at the 2007 Mixed Sale in foal to Life Sign and passed her in, so what odds on him making it?

If anyone is seeing the lighter side of all this though it is Roberts, a breeding enthusiast formerly from Christchurch who is in possession of Deb's Dream's sole filly in New Zealand at this point after offering her at the 2006 Mixed Sale in foal to Pacific Rocket, and passing her in well short of her $2000 reserve.

"I remember reading the 'Around the Stables' column in the HRW and how Hamish Hunter labelled Rockie's Dream as his horse to follow, so I bred Deb's Dream to Pacific Rocket," said Roberts, whose first effort at breeding a horse was Gretamaro (10 NZ 2 & 3yo wins, $241,106, US1.56).

"Later I got to having those thoughts like 'what on earth are you doing', so I put her in the sale, but I knew Corka Dream was not far off the trials and I didn't want to give her away.

"There was no interest at that sale at all, but there was plenty of it a year later when Corka Dream started winning," he added.

Roberts couldn't take the horses when his work took his family to Tauranga a while back, but he kept the Pacific Rocket filly and the now 2-year-old is being prepped by Rodger Austin.

He hopes that filly along with a 2-year-old half-sister to Gretamaro by Badlands Hanover will "do something" with a view to their broodmare careers when he and his wife Stephanie return to Canterbury one day.

The 'Maro' comes from a combination of the first letters in their surnames - MacFarlane and Roberts.

There is much more to the family of Del's Dream as of her nine named daughters, six were winners and six have bred on to varying extents and degrees of success, but that is the story of Corka Dream's closer relations anyway.

Frank MARRION