Photo: Race Images
Octogenarian Rodney Doidge has a new love in his life thanks to Busted Love (AUS), the dam of the recent Royal Descent Stakes (1600m) winner Cool Change (by Showcasing [GB]).
Doidge along with his son Kelvin, bred and race Cool Change, a mare he fell in love with soon after she was born.
A retired chicken farmer from Pukekohe, Doidge enjoyed a bet on a Saturday with his old mates from his rugby playing days, and as a younger man had the odd share in a racehorse and always had a few horses on his Puni farm.
His son Kelvin grew up around the horses on the farm but was really only a social racegoer who enjoyed a bet in the pub with his mates, until he met his future wife NZTBA Councillor Shannon Taylor.
When Shannon decided to buy Busted Love, it was Kelvin who suggested they bring in his parents Rodney and Barbara to give them a bit of an interest in their retirement.
“The idea was to sell the foals,” Taylor said. “Well when Cool Change came along, Rodney fell in love with her and said he might like to race her.”
“So we kept her and put in her in work with Nigel (Tiley). She was stakes placed at her first start at Counties in the Listed Counties Challenge Stakes and was placed a few more times as a two-year-old.
“When Nigel decided to downsize his operation I asked Peter and Dawn (Williams) to take her on.
“They have done an amazing job as she is not an easy filly to train, Peter and Dawn are pretty patient and have improved her manners out of sight. She can be a little tart.”
Cool Change has now won five races and run seven placings, including a third in the Lisa Chittick Plate (1400m) at the start before her win at Pukekohe Park.
She is the third foal from the winning Flying Spur (AUS) mare Busted Love. Her first foal Disruption (Showcasing) is also a winner. Busted Love herself is a half-sister to Be Bee, the Champion Two-Year-Old in Singapore in 2017 and to Platinum Express, a stakes placed winner of five races. Be Bee and Platinum Express are also by Showcasing.
They in turn are out of the unraced Fusaichi Pegasus (AUS) mare My Other Woman (AUS), a daughter of the 1992 Australian Champion Two-Year-Old Burst (AUS). A daughter of Marauding, Burst won seven races, five of them as a two-year-old including the three big Group One events in Sydney the Golden Slipper, Sires’ Produce Stakes and Champagne Stakes.
At stud she produced five winners including First Burst who was a stakes placed winner in South Africa and went on to leave Winter Burst, a stakes winner there. An unraced daughter Bounce produced Éclair Choice, a dual Group Two winner in Melbourne.
Burst was a daughter of Sudden (AUS) who won twice at two, securing wins in the Listed VATC Blue Diamond Prelude, and the MVRC Silver Jubilee Stakes before running third in the Gr.1 VATC Blue Diamond Stakes.
This is a family that Taylor knew well when she worked as the Sales and Marketing Manager at Haunui Farm, before moving on to her current role at IRT, and it has turned out to produce the best foal she has been associated with breeding.
“I knew the mare as she was bred by Marie Leicester and I remembered her as a yearling at Haunui,” she said.
“She was from a good strong Australian family, being a granddaughter of Burst and I thought that Showcasing would be a really good mating for her.”
Since then Busted Love has produced an Iffraaj (GB) colt that was the equal top price yearling at the second book of the Magic Millions two years ago. As Natural Nine he has been placed this season.
Her next foal was also by Iffraaj, a colt that they have retained and will work along. This year they sold a Ribchester colt at the Magic Millions Book two sale.
“She had a Ribchester filly this year which is probably the nicest foal she has had,” Taylor said.
“It’s been really good for Rodney, he goes to see Cool Change once a week at the stables, and often pops into Haunui Farm to see the mares and foals.” – Michelle Saba, NZTBA
