To top off a wonderful day Armidale reared mares ran 1st and 2nd in the Group 3 Bow Mistress Stakes over 1200m. Up and coming star REBEL BRIDE (Telesto – Striking Sort) defeated the gallant mare LADY LYNETTE (earnings of over 1 million).

Great to see Tassie Bred horses performing well against the ‘interstate raiders’!! Someone asked me at the races if we minded the interstate horses coming to Tassie to race. I replied ‘No not at all as long as we beat them!’ But seeing as Methuselah is 100% Tassie bred then we didn’t mind him winning at all. Hopefully his owners will now be tempted to come back to Tassie and purchase some more top quality racehorses ! There’s no doubt we can breed them here.

Well we were planning to commence yearling photographs this week and were worried that the flies would annoy the horses and make it difficult. No flies at present, just scuds of rain and a blustery wind so the photos have been put on hold.

One of the joys of my job is sitting in my office doing boring book work, but being able to look out the window and watch the staff walking the yearlings around the garden. One that caught my eye this morning was the TELESTO – FORGETFUL colt, LOT 70 at the Magic Millions Sale on 21st February in Launceston. Bek has him marching along and together they make a great team. He isn’t a big horse (but neither is his Group 2 winning half sister NUCLEAR FREE, or his other half sister who was stakes placed and won 13 MISLAID), but boy can he walk and he’s all athlete. I wouldn’t be at all surprised if he’s the next stakeswinner to come from the Armidale draft. Of course TELESTO has the brilliant filly REBEL BRIDE (6 wins and 2 places from 8 starts) racing at present, and she’s facing her first big challenge this coming Sunday when she meets multiple stakeswinner LADY LYNETTE (bred by Armidale) in the Listed BOW MISTRESS STAKES  at Elwick.

Once again this year we have a great team of young horsemen and women working with our yearlings. For anyone who loves horses and enjoys working in a team environment it is always worth giving us a call to see if we have some work available. The horse industry is so labour intensive and we are always on the look out for talented young horse people with a passion for the industry.

Every Friday during yearling prep we have a staff meeting to discuss any horses that are posing problems and to plan for the coming week. So far so good – most horses behaving the way we would like, and condition and coats are coming along well.

The new wash bay has had  a good work out this week and everyone gives it the big thumbs up. This wash bay has been literally years in planning but finally its here and its wonderful. Many thanks to David and William, and Peter Walker who did all the hard yards to get it built and operational. Good safe facilities make such a difference when handling young horses.

AT inspections this week the HELIKE – CARNIVAL RIDE filly really caught my eye. She is a stunning type, with a wonderful work ethic and lots of scope and bone. Another horse that is really blooming is the LADONI – GENUINE BLONDE colt – a typical LADONI with a lovely loose, long walk he is starting to build up nicely and come sale time he should really stand out.

Speaking with David Brunton this week to congratulate him on his 6 winners at Elwick, he said the HELIKE filly LOST ISLAND has pulled up well and will most likely head for the $50,000 THREE YEAR OLD MAGIC MILLIONS race on the 15th February at Mowbray.

LOST ISLAND (HELIKE – ECHARPE) started the ball rolling with a convincing first up win in the Three Year Old Maiden over 1100m. Bred and sold by Armidale to astute trainer David Brunton, this filly looks like she may have the class to go on and win some bigger races. Co trainer Scott Brunton was quoted as saying “she’s going to be a serious racehorse when the penny drops….. we have a healthy opinion of the Helike’s and have another 3 by him at home”.  Second  in the race was another Armidale reared filly KNOT’S SISTER bred by Tim Debnam from his mare NO REFLECTION. This TOUGH SPEED filly was also having her first start and will no doubt benefit from the experience and looks set to break her maiden status very soon indeed.

The second race on the card at Elwick provided another win for Armidale – this time the four year old DERAILLEUR (by UMATILLA from HEY THAT’S MY BIKE) again trained by David and Scott Brunton. Bred and raced by well know breeder and owner Brett Williams this gelding was born and reared at Armidale Stud and continues the great run of success of progeny from HEY THAT’S MY BIKE.

SI VITE (SAVOIRE VIVRE – DON’T BABBLE) won the Class 1 over 1600m for Longford trainer Bill Ryan and continued the outstanding run of success the SAVOIRE VIVRE progeny are having at present. This season so far he has had 25 individual winners of 45 races and over $600,000 in prizemoney. RIALTO JOHN (SAVOIRE VIVRE – ALWAYS SLICK) made it a double for this successful sire winning over 1100m with Michael Guthrie in the saddle.

And to top off a great day BANCA MO (TOUGH SPEED – I GOTCHA BABE) careered away to win the Class 2 over 1100m again for Michael Guthrie and Team Brunton.

Congratulations to the Bruntons for training 6 winners – what a wonderful achievement.

The only sour note for the day was once again the track conditions – with parts of the track heavy enough to have the track downgraded from slow to heavy, and trainers and jockeys were complaining about the inconsistency in the track.  This is a very poor reflection on the Tas Racing Board, particularly those responsible for the track.  Not only does it make Tassie the laughing stock of the nation, it also discourages punters and owners and trainers.

With only 4 weeks to go  until the Tasmanian Yearling Sale our staff are busy educating our babies to cope with all the demands of sale time. Obviously some cope far better than others but its amazing how much they learn and develop over the 6 – 7 week preparation. They are all lunging and walking well, coping with rugs being put on, and feet being picked out daily. Some already have their manes pulled and front shoes on,  and most are being introduced to the hose bay this week for a light shampoo.

The half brother to LADY LYNETTE (by MAGNUS) is a stunning type and a real athlete.(Inglis Premier Sale, Victoria)  He looks so good we could put him in the sale tomorrow, but some more time working on his manners won’t go astray! The DUKE OF MARMALADE colt  from the imported mare CHERINE is also a lovely type, with the most beautiful fine coat.

Harriet has fallen in love with the ARAPEHO filly by SAVOIRE VIVRE. She is a lovely filly and nothing is too much trouble for her – she seems to take everything in her stride and as long as there’s feed in her bin and hay in her rack she’s contented. The HELIKE filly from CARNIVAL RIDE is a stunning type – great shoulder and heaps of bone, and a wonderful fine coat.

Racing is at Elwick today and the Armidale team are particularly looking forward to the first start of one of our favourite yearlings from 2 years ago. The HELIKE filly from ECHARPE named LOST ISLAND is making her debut in the first race. Trained by David and Scott Brunton this filly is a half sister to the smart galloper FORBIDDEN QUEST, and of course ECHARPE is a half sister to QUEEN’S OWN dam of LADY LYNETTE.

Armidale stallions had another good day yesterday with 3 winners from the 10 race card. SUGAR GUM (TOUGH SPEED – TASSIE BLUE GUM) bred and raced by Bruce and Katrina Archer of Westwood, raced away for a comfortable win in the maiden over 1400m. Trained by John Blacker and  raced by Bruce and Katrina with a group of friends this filly had put the ‘writing on the wall’ with an impressive second last start.

ABERVALE STAR (SAVOIRE VIVRE – TAINUI STAR) looks to have found form again with an impressive win in the Class 1 over 2100m. Born and reared at Armidale,  and bred by Danny and Rowan Hamer, ABERVALE STAR is trained at Spreyton by Barry Campbell and was ridden by Stephen Maskiell.

REBEL BRIDE (TELESTO – STRIKING SORT) took out the  Winzenberg Trophy Handicap for 3 year old fillies in convincing style. Just how good is this filly? She now has 6 wins and a second from 8 starts. Born and reared at Armidale and bred by Victorian Paul Sholly, Rebel Bride is also trained at Spreyton by Leon Wells.

Armidale will be selling the only TELESTO in the Magic Millions Yearling sale on 21st February  - he is a half brother to Group 2 winning mare NUCLEAR FREE and also half brother to the very smart MISLAID (stakes placed, 12 wins). Catalogued as Lot 70, he is a short coupled, tough, running type similar in build to NUCLEAR FREE, which isn’t surprising as he is bred on similar lines being by a son of Mr Prospector (Nuclear Free is by Geiger Counter who is  a son of Mr Prospector) out of the Armidale mare FORGETFUL. In fact we mated Forgetful to Telesto hoping to get a filly that we could race and keep as a broodmare but it wasn’t to be.

Our Summer of Racing ‘disasters’ continues with the Mowbray meeting having to be called off before the last 2 races were run due to lighting problems, and then the trials at Longford changed due to track issues. One wonders just what is happening – we seem to have more staff than ever to run racing, yet more problems than ever! The industry is far from happy and needs some immediate answers from the Tas Racing Board.  I hear there is a board meeting next week when Gary Lottering returns from holidays, so it will be interesting to see what comes out of it, but I do hope some of the Board members ask some searching questions to find out exactly what is happening. Lets just hope the Hobart Cup carnival can go off without any problems, and the track is a suitable surface to ensure the horses are getting the best chance of performing and staying sound.

Word is that one of the state’s leading jockeys walked the track at least 24 hours prior to the meeting and declared it unsafe for racing – so why weren’t the races cancelled or better still transferred then, saving trainers and owners considerable time and expense travelling to Hobart? Increasingly more and more money is being spent on highly paid positions in Tas Racing so we have a well run industry and what happens – there are more ‘stuff ups’ than ever, and no one appears to want to shoulder the responsibility. Its not the first time this has happened – only 6 weeks ago trainers complained the track was rock hard and unsuitable for racing and many horses pulled up sore after running and had to be spelled. Oh it won’t happen again we were told ! It’s hardly surprising the industry feels disillusioned with Tas Racing and the Government who are responsible for this situation.

Good news now – if only dear old Bert Wicks was still alive to see the success of his breeding efforts. Yesterday METHUSELAH (3 year old gelding SAVOIRE VIVRE – DAZZLING VINTAGE) saluted over 2000m at ARARAT for Victorian trainer John McArdle. Having only his 3rd start METHUSELAH cruised away to win by over 5 lengths. Born and reared at Armidale Stud METHUSELAH was a lovely individual and sold to Redgum Racing, Victoria for $30,000 at the Magic Millions Tasmanian yearling sale.

Well it has prompted me to think that perhaps I should consider a blog after all. One of our  staff  POITR, who is into marketing, has been nagging me for ages to do a regular  blog because he thinks some people may find it interesting. Can’t imagine that many would find it interesting but we will give it a go anyway and perhaps if I get some positive feedback I may continue! Who knows?

This week has been hectic here with the last of our yearlings coming into the boxes to be prepped for the Magic Millions sale in Launceston on 21st February, and the Inglis Premier Sale in Melbourne at the end of February. We now have 23 horses in stables and 6 capable young staff in charge of their every need. The wild winds we have been having this week have made their job particularly challenging. Thank goodness today is much better and I can already see the staff falling into a good routine. So far I have closely checked 2/3 of the yearlings and I am very happy with their general condition- all need a little more muscle and ‘top line’ and one filly (the Arapeho)  could do with a Jenny Craig diet, but otherwise just some work on coats and manners and we should be OK. It is amazing how much these horses develop and change in their 6 – 7 week prep, and it really is wonderfully satisfying for everyone involved to see them develop into racehorses.

Speaking of which what a wonderful day yesterday for Armidale! For the THIRD year in a row an Armidale reared horse won the DEVONPORT CUP. This year DREAM FLYER (Savoire Vivre – Unamah) took the honours for owners Michael Mee and Rob Nightingale and trainer Troy Blacker. Capably ridden by the State’s leading jockey Brendan McCoull DREAM FLYER came from mid field in the straight to win by well over a length. Last year the cup was won by his half brother DREAM PEDLAR, and the previous year it was won by our great little mare WITH DECORUM (Savoire Vivre – Royal Egypt). Each of these horses spent their first 18 months at Armidale, and both Dream Flyer and Dream Pedlar spell at Armidale.

WITH DECORUM is now a mum! She has a HOLY ROMAN EMPEROR foal at foot and is back in foal to ARTIE SCHILLER. She resides at Ken and  Jenny Breese’s lovely farm TOOLORA LODGE in Victoria. Ken and Jenny own half of WITH DECORUM and we also own the beautiful mare  SHORT N SWEEP with them. SHORT N SWEEP is the dam of the stakes placed three year old this season FIRST COURSE (by Snitzel) whom we bred with Ken and Jen and sold to Ken Keys at Inglis Premier a few years back.

Not only did we supply the last 3 cup winners, but Armidale also reared a treble yesterday, with DREAM FLYER, ROYAL MISWAKI (Tough Speed – Royal Ruby) and REBEL BRIDE (Telesto – Striking Sort) all winning. There’s no doubt the Armidale grass is wonderful!

Well its time I checked all my mares and foals (around 60 at the moment) so enough for today.