As each season comes to a close it means it is awards time among other things. When it comes to the horses under review this past season, most categories are pretty clear cut and Auckland Reactor can start practising his speech as the recipient of the Horse of the Year Award, as can the likes of Smiling Shard, Lauraella, Kiwi Ingenuity, The Fiery Ginga, Ima Gold Digger, Pocaro and Leighton Hest.
Trotter of the Year will be a little more interesting between One Over Kenny and Stig and so too will the 3yo Pacer of the Year after the pack closed in and in some cases passed Stunin Cullen towards the end.
Changeover no longer has such a compelling argument with Monkey King for Aged Pacer of the Year when he loses the Len Smith either.
The honours were pretty well shared around among the 2-year-old pacing fillies as well.
Flying Pocketlands (Caduceus), Gotta Go Harmony (Diamond) and Yankee Dream (Sires Stakes) each had Group One wins and they can each make a good case for this award.
It is the win by Flying Pocketlands in the Sales race, where she downed Sixpence and Lancome, which should tip the scales in her favour however.
She was also second in the Sires Stakes and won $216,349 and it is probably only Gotta Go Harmony’s NZ record win (1.55.5) at the Jewels which might sway some voters.
That took her stakes to $186,000 after also beating Smiling Shard on debut in the Young Guns series back in early December, and finishing second in that final to Anvils Best Ever.
Either filly would be a fitting and deserved winner, but it was Flying Pocketlands who had the best record of them all when the ‘big three’ of the Caduceus, Sales race and Sires Stakes came around within a few weeks in April.
A daughter of Badlands Hanover and the In The Pocket mare Fleet’s Pocket, Flying Pocketlands was bred by Lex and Heather Williams, who sold her for $20,000 at last year’s Premier Sale to Graeme Rogerson.
Fleet’s Pocket was purchased at the 2002 Premier Sale for $29,000 along with the Albert Albert filly Galleons Memory for $15,000 a few lots later on the second day, and they represented the Williams first forays into the standardbred world.
Neither made the grade as racehorses after qualifying, but they were essentially bought as broodmares anyway and Fleet’s Pocket is well under way in that respect now.
Flying Pocketlands is her third foal and second winner following her brother Mighty Pocketlands, who was a placed 2-year-old at Addington before being sold for good money to Australia, while the only foal of racing age from Galleons Memory in a 2-year-old filly by Badlands Hanover has been sold to Australia.
Having been farmers and breeders for many years, it was hardly surprising that the Williams took the same route when they began buying horses seven years ago.
Having been successful with stud sheep and breeding dogs for trialling and so forth, it comes as no surprise that they have become successful at breeding horses in such a relatively short space of time as well.
“I’ve always been a breeder and when we decided to buy a horse, we figured we might as well buy something we can breed from later,” recalls Lex.
“The only diversion from farming over the years was accidentally falling into the movie business (buying a theatre in Oamaru and building a Threeplex before selling it about three years ago).
“We knew John Seaton through our farming connections – he was always buying the sheep I wanted for a start – and one day I asked him about what to look for in a horse.
“He said to just follow your instincts and buy what looks good to you,” he added.
Williams already had a few clues about breeding sheep, having won a National Lambs competition held in South Canterbury which involved providing three fat lambs for judging which were then slaughtered and measured for ratios to meat content etc.
“That was a pretty big thrill as there were a lot of entries from the North Island as well.
“When we went to the yearling sales in Christchurch, we went looking for the best fillies on type and bought our first two preferences, although Fleet’s Pocket was easily the first.
“I wasn’t so worried about top drawer pedigrees – just the best types on conformation as long as they were from solid enough families.”
There was certainly nothing special about the pedigree of Fleet’s Pocket when Williams paid good money for her.
Fleet Vance (2, NZ1.59.6, US1.55.2) was a daughter of Vance Hanover and the Lordship mare Glitter who had shown useful early ability and speed, but the rest of the family was at best just dotted with handy, hard hitting aged performers such as Sparks Will Fly (5 NZ wins, US1.54.8, $194,267), Our Graedy (4 NZ & 9 WA wins, US1.52.8, $220,443) and Mister Gregory (6 NZ wins, US1.59).
Fleet’s Pocket was broken in by Phil Williamson and qualified for him as a 2-year-old, and raced a few times at two and three for Tim Butt, but was “rather hard to manage and never tractable enough to be a racehorse”.
“Even now she is a real bitch whenever she has a foal and is not very popular at the studs, but she had speed and gait and produces nice foals.”
While Fleet’s Pocket didn’t go far on the track, her immediate family was going forward at a rapid rate all the time.
She was a first foal and the second foal from Fleet Vance was a first crop son of Badlands Hanover in Place Of Glory, a smart juvenile for breeder and co-owner/trainer Ken Odgers who was third in Tribute’s 1.54.9 Kindergarten and also a close fourth in the Sires Stakes won by Marika over Baileys Dream.
He has to date won 20 races and over $200,000 in Australia, his latest success being the Golden Mile at Harold Park in 1.56.6 in January.
Fleet Vance has also subsequently left the good Badlands Hanover filly Lifeswhatyoumakeit (1.59.8, $54,894) and Falcon Seelster colt Passion N Glory (1.59.5, 6 NZ wins, $58,524) along with the promising 3-year-old winner Cruise To Glory.
It was Place Of Glory’s early 2-year-old trial form which persuaded Williams to send Fleet’s Pocket to Badlands Hanover when she went to stud as a 3-year-old.
The resulting Mighty Pocketlands was entered for the 2006 Premier Sale and in line to make good money, but had to be withdrawn when he developed OCDs in the knees and needed an operation, and where Williams suspects he may have been guilty of overfeeding.
Put to Falcon Seelster the following season, Fleet Vance produced the filly Falcon’s Flybye, who was bought by clients of Gareth Dixon for $40,000 and who qualified back in October.
“Apparently she has an attitude just like her mother and they’ve had some issues.
“I said last year that I would have her back for breeding any time, but I can’t see that happening now.”
Williams didn’t need any encouragement to send Fleet’s Pocket back to Badlands Hanover in 2005, but by the time a Badlands Hanover filly reached the sales last year, the reception for Flying Pocketlands was always going to be lukewarm despite the fact that she was also an excellent individual.
Rogerson also bought the colt by Falcon Seelster at this year’s Premier Sale for $24,000, while Fleet’s Pocket had a filly by him this season who has been called Flying Mrs Williams and who is a three-quarter sister to Passion N Glory.
Williams plans to retain the latter, while Fleet’s Pocket is in foal to Mach Three, with the latter a foal which will be line bred 3×3 to Direct Scooter.
This is a family which has certainly blossomed since Williams bought Fleet’s Pocket and Flying Pocketlands is just the latest instalment.
As the owners of One Over Kenny, the Williams will almost certainly be collecting the award for Trotter of the Year again – she won it two years ago – but they will no doubt get as much satisfaction as the breeders of Flying Pocketlands should she make her way to the podium.
Frank MARRION