A good many years ago a group of mates in the South Island keen on racing got a syndicate together to race a horse.
They have had a bit of luck in that time and three of them are still racing a horse together - Dozintmateranyway who recently won the listed CJC Easter Cup at Riccarton.
According to one of the trio, Southland NZTBA branch member Robbie Gibson, it all started years ago with a Conquistarose (USA) mare, Conquisate (ex Princess Daisy).
"We started with Conquisate. She won a couple of races and was stakes placed (2nd listed Wickliffe Press Stakes) and we then bred from her. She left Volronamo (Volksraad[GB]) and we had a lot of fun with him and it has just gone on from there. There are now only four of us involved; Ken Heckler, Walter Cameron, myself and Mike Smith who joined up with us along the way.
"Dozintmateranyway is out of a sister to Volronamo, a mare we are also breeding out of at the moment. It was another good win and we will now press on and take him to the Brisbane Carnival. He is set to join Liam Birchley's Brisbane stable very soon.
"Liam is a good friend of mine. I first met him at the Karaka sales in Hallmark Stud's tent, and the friendship developed as we have caught up every year. I have other friends who have horses in his stable who are happy with him. He is one of the best trainers in Brisbane.
"Shane (Kennedy) hasn't campaigned a horse in Brisbane before and as he doesn't know the ropes over there he is quite happy for me to switch the horse into Liam's stable for the six weeks or so that Dozintmateranyway will race there.
"For a horse that has nearly died twice he's done pretty well. He has had Marie's Disease twice and recovered both times – which is pretty amazing because only about 20% of horses affected by it recover," he added.
Marie's Disease in layman's terms is a massive build up of calcium which blows up horses joints. Its medical name is Hypertrophic Osteopathy and it is very rare in horses, more common in humans and dogs.
"We thought about putting him down the first time but the vet persuaded us not to, besides he also had the best heart rate of any of our young horses at the time. There is only one drug that you can use to treat it and it takes a while to get it out of their system, that's why he is so lightly raced."
Dozintmateranyway has now won seven races including the listed Timaru Stakes earlier this season and is trained at Riccarton by Shane Kennedy and Anna Furlong.
He is the first foal of Conquisteraad (Volksraad – Conquisate) who won only one race - a maiden at Wingatui on the same card as her elder brother Volronamo won his third race. He went on to win seven races including the group three White Robe Lodge Handicap and the listed James Hazlett Stakes.
Conquisteraad has also left two filly foals to No Excuse Needed. Morfunzneeded is still a maiden after two starts and Whezmyphone also still a maiden. She has a Savabeel (AUS) foal at foot, but is currently empty.
Her dam Conquisate was out of an unraced Ruling mare Princess Daisy. She in turn was a daughter of the very good race mare Habinita who won 11 races including the listed Nathans Memorial and listed Oliver Nicholson Handicap. As well she was stakes-placed in the ARC Welcome Stakes, Ladies Mile, Avondale Stakes and South Auckland (Counties) Cup.
She in turn left a reasonably good horse in Bra Hest by Copenhagen II (GB) who won six races and was second in the group one George Adams mile at Trentham.
"We also have another family that we are breeding from and have a Van Nistelrooy(USA) mare called Missarooy Belle. She has just had her first foal by Raise The Flag(GB)."
Missaarooy Belle is out of Palliser Belle (Jetball (AUS) – Heidi Belle), the Vela's branch of the Belle family which has produced amongst other the stakes winners Finezza Belle, Christiania Belle, Winning Belle and Zino Belle.
As well as Dozintmateranyway and Volronamo, Gibson also bred and raced the group two CJC Stewards winner Tooth (Waikiki Star – Santa Lucia).
Gibson is a third generation farmer at Malvern Downs in Tarras, at the start of the Lindis Pass in North Otago. Malvern Downs is famous for its super fine merino wool, and has over the years had several champion merino rams. Tarras also now has a reputation for growing Pinot grapes of the red and white variety and with the introduction of irrigation a number of sheep are being replaced by dairy herds.
Two of Gibson's partners in Dozintmateranyway are also South Island based with Walter Cameron living up the road in Kurow and Ken Heckler in Clarkville just out of Christchurch. Mike Smith on the other hand is managing a hotel in Phuket. However it sounds like the four of them may all be heading to Queensland in the next few weeks for a winter break and to watch their horse perform.
- Michelle Saba
They have had a bit of luck in that time and three of them are still racing a horse together - Dozintmateranyway who recently won the listed CJC Easter Cup at Riccarton.
According to one of the trio, Southland NZTBA branch member Robbie Gibson, it all started years ago with a Conquistarose (USA) mare, Conquisate (ex Princess Daisy).
"We started with Conquisate. She won a couple of races and was stakes placed (2nd listed Wickliffe Press Stakes) and we then bred from her. She left Volronamo (Volksraad[GB]) and we had a lot of fun with him and it has just gone on from there. There are now only four of us involved; Ken Heckler, Walter Cameron, myself and Mike Smith who joined up with us along the way.
"Dozintmateranyway is out of a sister to Volronamo, a mare we are also breeding out of at the moment. It was another good win and we will now press on and take him to the Brisbane Carnival. He is set to join Liam Birchley's Brisbane stable very soon.
"Liam is a good friend of mine. I first met him at the Karaka sales in Hallmark Stud's tent, and the friendship developed as we have caught up every year. I have other friends who have horses in his stable who are happy with him. He is one of the best trainers in Brisbane.
"Shane (Kennedy) hasn't campaigned a horse in Brisbane before and as he doesn't know the ropes over there he is quite happy for me to switch the horse into Liam's stable for the six weeks or so that Dozintmateranyway will race there.
"For a horse that has nearly died twice he's done pretty well. He has had Marie's Disease twice and recovered both times – which is pretty amazing because only about 20% of horses affected by it recover," he added.
Marie's Disease in layman's terms is a massive build up of calcium which blows up horses joints. Its medical name is Hypertrophic Osteopathy and it is very rare in horses, more common in humans and dogs.
"We thought about putting him down the first time but the vet persuaded us not to, besides he also had the best heart rate of any of our young horses at the time. There is only one drug that you can use to treat it and it takes a while to get it out of their system, that's why he is so lightly raced."
Dozintmateranyway has now won seven races including the listed Timaru Stakes earlier this season and is trained at Riccarton by Shane Kennedy and Anna Furlong.
He is the first foal of Conquisteraad (Volksraad – Conquisate) who won only one race - a maiden at Wingatui on the same card as her elder brother Volronamo won his third race. He went on to win seven races including the group three White Robe Lodge Handicap and the listed James Hazlett Stakes.
Conquisteraad has also left two filly foals to No Excuse Needed. Morfunzneeded is still a maiden after two starts and Whezmyphone also still a maiden. She has a Savabeel (AUS) foal at foot, but is currently empty.
Her dam Conquisate was out of an unraced Ruling mare Princess Daisy. She in turn was a daughter of the very good race mare Habinita who won 11 races including the listed Nathans Memorial and listed Oliver Nicholson Handicap. As well she was stakes-placed in the ARC Welcome Stakes, Ladies Mile, Avondale Stakes and South Auckland (Counties) Cup.
She in turn left a reasonably good horse in Bra Hest by Copenhagen II (GB) who won six races and was second in the group one George Adams mile at Trentham.
"We also have another family that we are breeding from and have a Van Nistelrooy(USA) mare called Missarooy Belle. She has just had her first foal by Raise The Flag(GB)."
Missaarooy Belle is out of Palliser Belle (Jetball (AUS) – Heidi Belle), the Vela's branch of the Belle family which has produced amongst other the stakes winners Finezza Belle, Christiania Belle, Winning Belle and Zino Belle.
As well as Dozintmateranyway and Volronamo, Gibson also bred and raced the group two CJC Stewards winner Tooth (Waikiki Star – Santa Lucia).
Gibson is a third generation farmer at Malvern Downs in Tarras, at the start of the Lindis Pass in North Otago. Malvern Downs is famous for its super fine merino wool, and has over the years had several champion merino rams. Tarras also now has a reputation for growing Pinot grapes of the red and white variety and with the introduction of irrigation a number of sheep are being replaced by dairy herds.
Two of Gibson's partners in Dozintmateranyway are also South Island based with Walter Cameron living up the road in Kurow and Ken Heckler in Clarkville just out of Christchurch. Mike Smith on the other hand is managing a hotel in Phuket. However it sounds like the four of them may all be heading to Queensland in the next few weeks for a winter break and to watch their horse perform.
- Michelle Saba