Back at the beginning of the new millenium I worked for a couple of years ( 2002 + 2003 ) at the fledgling Standardbred stud, Linden Park, Pukekawa, where stallions stood such as Sands A Flyin, Road Machine and others the likes of Tuapeka Knight, Hitchcock, Butler's Reward and even a trotting stallion in Bellam.
Whilst each was competitive as a racehorse, none were deemed highly Commercial or stallion's to consider for breeding Yearling Sales prospects.
At an early date Sands A Flyin did have a few cracking racetrack performers in Sly Flyin and Sparks A Flyin to be followed by Monkey King but still these super horses were not enough to see any sort of flow of Commercial broodmares, let alone any significant increase in numbers, either coming through the gates of Linden Park or via increased off-farm semen transportation.
Commercial stallion's were the realm of the big Studs largely because of their ability to grapple with the costs of shuttle stallions and the latest and greatest bloodlines from North America.
The so-called "little players" or "Wee man" as Grant Beckett aptly puts it, were left to pick up on domestic stallions ( Grant has two currently in Royal Aspirations and Locharburn ) or discarded shuttle stallions looking for re-homing.
"Breeding to race" was essentially their place in the market and "lesser" mares the norm.
So it came as no surprise when Grant & Di Beckett from Phoebe Standardbreds burst into print last week on their Facebook page admonishing racing journalists and reporters alike for the lack of any acknowledgement or story regarding the Group 1 success on 31 December 2020 of Imperial Count's highly progressive daughter Keayang Livana in the Vicbred 4YO Trot Mares Final at Tabcorp Park in Melton, Victoria,in an impressive 1:57.8 mile rate and in the process providing her sire Imperial Count with his first Group 1 winner.
I can fully understand and empathise with this claim having worked at Linden Park and facing a similar situation with stallion's not considered Commercial.
Bosses like Graham Bell at Linden Park and Grant Beckett at Phoebe Standardbreds must become so frustrated when they face the question of "What could be if only their stallion's could be given the opportunity with a bevy of better bred or Commercial mares?" It always leaves the big question unanswered and therefore highly frustrating and in the case of Graham, forces them out of the game in sheer despair.
Good on Grant and Di hanging in there, with sheer passion, but for how long?
A horse such as Keayang Livana ignites this passion and keeps it fuelled for a good deal longer. For her sire Imperial Count it has happened at the right time to provide future hope.
Her victory in the Group 1 Vicbred 4YO Trot Mares Final made it 4 wins in a row for this exciting new talent having been preceded by two Group 2 victories in both the Breeders Crown 4YO Trot Mares Championship and the IRT Australia Matriarch Trot.
Keayang Livana now has 10 wins from just the 21 starts having already bankrolled $130,930 with the promise of a whole lot more to come.
There is no doubt that a lot of her "genuineness" can be attributed to her sire Imperial Count who was just that himself as a racehorse, being one of the fastest and richest sons of Angus Hall, a Noble Victory-line legend.
Trained in North America by ex-Kiwi Richard 'Nifty' Norman, these were the words 'Nifty' used to describe Imperial Count "A horse trainer's dream, never been sick or lame, never made a break, never had a bad day, 26 seconds gate speed, very good gaited, very easy to drive, never wore a headpole on any sized track, Mr Reliable." Imperial Count raced from 2 years old through to 5 years old and predominantly in town hall company, winning 17 races and placed 21 times for $680,393 at a time when contemporaries included the likes of Market Share ( $3.4 million ), Daylon Magician ( $1.7 million ), Mister Herbie ( $1.8 million ), Sevruga ( $1.0 million ) and Tamarind.
With such a strong damline, racetrack performance and tracing back to legendary matriarch Minnehaha, Imperial Count possessed the right credentials to become a successful sire.
His own dam Miss Imperial won 12 races at 2 and 3 years old, taking a record of 1:53.6 with three of her foals being sub 1:58 performers whilst granddam Rush Light left 4 winners from 5 foals and great granddam Starlight Sue left 4 winners from 8 foals.
Arriving late into New Zealand during the 2013-14 breeding season to Jonathon McNeil's Barra Equine Stud in Canterbury, Imperial Count served only 15 mares in what proved to be a rather truncated breeding season.
A decision was made to switch him to Lemon Tree Stud ( Ross Gange ) Shepparton in Victoria for the 2014-15 season where he served 28 mares, staying on for the  2015-16 season where he was to serve a further 22 mares.
In an ironic twist, having been returned to New Zealand for the 2016-17 breeding season, Imperial Count's sons and daughters  have been "on fire" in Australia in recent times.
Apart from Keayang Livana, his flag has been consistently waved by his sons and daughters the likes of Monaro Mia, Countess Chiron, Glengariff and Who's Countin. You will hear a lot more of these names in the months and years to come simply because they are so genuine, just like their father was on the track.
From 2016-17, Imperial Count has served books of 3, 17, 24, and 15 in the 2019-20 season so has struggled to gain any real Commercial appeal from his new Canterbury base at Phoebe Standardbreds but now that he has proven he can leave a Group 1 winner off the back of very low numbers we hope New Zealand trotting breeders will take notice of the fact that Imperial Count "has kicked a Stephen Donald like goal" as a springboard to his future stallion career being still only a relatively young stallion at just 12 years of age.
Winners to date for Imperial Count have come from mares by Sundon ( 4 winners including Keayang Livana ), Wrestle ( Monaro Mia ), Gee Whiz II ( Imperial Whiz ), Monarchy ( Phoebe Imperial ), Bacardi Lindy ( Imperial Countess ) and Grinfromeartoear ( Imperial Poet ).
The last-mentioned of this list has a dam by pacing sire Grinfromeartoear but it comes as no surprise to us here at Premier Pedigrees that this blood has "nicked" with Imperial Count's bloodlines.
And here is where New Zealand and Australian breeders of trotter's should take note.
Grinfromeartoear's pedigree is full of lines of the grand old matriarch, Spinster. Some refer to her as being the "Queen of Matriarchs". And there are bountiful trotting mares out there that hold the presences of Spinster's sons and daughters, Light Brigade being one that readily springs to mind.
Breed them to Imperial Count and you may just get a pleasant surprise for your very modest outlay ( currently standing at NZ $1500+gst ),
Why?, do you say. The answer, we say, is because of the common genetic denominator that exists.
Spinster is tail female to Minnehaha. So too is Imperial Count!!!
In the case of Imperial Poet ( out of a mare by Grinfromeartoear ), the blood of Minnehaha ( via Spinster and her tribe of descendants ) is being returned to Imperial Count's very own line of direct maternal descent which also traces directly to Minnehaha.
And if you are a follower of effective breeding techniques, you will be aware that returning this same good blood from your mare to the stallion's "bottom line" is a well-recognised and practised breeding formula ( used in both equine codes ) for the creation of speed enhancement.
A high value stallion at a rock bottom Stud Fee shapes Imperial Count as a stallion promising an excellent return on investment as well as giving the "Wee man" with a passion for the sport, a helping leg up.   
 
  

It is extremely gratifying when one can witness a horse, in this case a mare, progress from humble beginnings to becoming the biggest act on the World Stage, of going from "ordinary" to "extraordinary" and perhaps defying her modest breeding.
But Shartin's breeder Grant Crabbe would challenge some of this saying as a young foal she was never "ordinary" but "special" and that her breeding was precisely targeted to the point of being cleverly constructed.
We will have a look at Shartin's pedigree a little later in this article but firstly a rundown on her life beginnings and racetrack accomplishments.
Bred in Canterbury in 2013, the result of a mating between Tintin In America and the Live Or Die mare Bagdarin, it was not until Shartin went to the breakers that it was becoming obvious to Grant that she was deserving of the "special" tag.
After winning a trial at Ashburton, Shartin was never to line up at a New Zealand race meeting, being sold to Australian interests off the back of her winning trial.
She had just the 13 starts in Australia during 2017, her three year old season, winning 7 of these including the Tasmanian Oaks ( Gr3 ) and the Queensland Oaks ( Gr2 ) as well as running 2nd in both the Queensland Derby ( Gr2 ) and the Provincial Oaks ( Listed ) and bankrolling $105,718 all in a little over 7 months.
It was however her win at Melton defeating Victorian Horse Of The Year Jilliby Kung Fu ( 1:48.4, $529,710 and now a sire ) after sitting parked out and winning in a class record 1:52.5 mile rate for the 1720 metre journey that caught the attention of Standardbred bloodstock agent John Curtin, always on the lookout for a suitable horse to handle North American racing for one of his North American buyers.
With the deal done, Shartin was on her way to the home of harness racing, the United States, where principal new owner Richard Poillucci of South Easton, Massachusetts, would also bring in firstly JoAnn Looney King of Delaware and a little later top driver Tim Tetrick, also from Delaware, into the racing ownership of Shartin.
And what a ride they were all about to experience.
Poillucci was the first to admit that when she first came into the barn of trainer Jim King Jnr, Shartin was not a well-mannered mare but through the tutelage of her trainer and the patience of her driver ( Tetrick ) along with the constant work and attention of JoAnn King they turned her into the World Champion that she became.
In 2018, Shartin captivated North American harness racing fans winning 19 of her 24 race starts, earning $1,053,236, and almost completing a clean sweep of the major races for mares that year. 
This earned her the title of Dan Patch Pacer of the Year, her earnings for the season setting a record for the highest ever total by a pacing mare.
As if this wasn't enough, 2019 was to get even better for her racetrack resume. In August of that year at The Meadowlands in the Lady Liberty, Shartin was on a pedestal the winning the race in 1:46.4, eclipsing the old record by 0.6 seconds and also becoming the fastest Standardbred ever to be bred in New Zealand.
By the end of 2019 the Shartin juggernaut had won another 15 of her 19 starts for season earnings of $982,177, a season's high for her gait and sex.
This culminated in her being  named 2019 Dan Patch Harness Horse Of The Year, becoming only the 5th female pacer and the first horse bred outside of North America to win this award.
To give you some idea of the exalted competition she was up against, this included champion 3 year olds Bettor's Wish 1:47.3 $2,781,240 and Warrawee Ubeaut 1:48.3 $1,948,175, the top FFA and joint world recordholder Lather Up 1:46.0 $1,917,935 as well as McWicked 1:46.2 $5,103,271 and world record holders and leading trotters Manchego 1:49.0 $2,857,315 and Atlanta 1:49.1 $2,859,610.
In her final truncated season in 2020, Shartin was to win another 5 races including both the Lady Liberty and the Artiscape for the third time each whilst also winning the Clara Barton for the second time.
With quarter cracks appearing in her feet it was time to look after the mare in another way with the curtain drawn on her racing career, retiring as the winner of 46 races from her 68 starts and the equivalent of NZ$3,745,946 in lifetime earnings.
As her North American owners were not really breeders it was time once again for New Zealand based Standardbred bloodstock agent John Curtin to once again step in and broker another deal this time finding a new owner to share in her breeding barn exploits, this being Ola Yoder of Kountry Lane Standardbreds based in Indiana.
Already it has been signalled that Shartin has her first date in 2021 with Captaintreacherous to be followed in 2022 by a date with Lazarus. Truly cases here of putting the best to the best and hoping for the best.
Shartin is a product of a family belonging to Ashmorven Farm in Canterbury set up by Bruce Francis's parents and continued by Bruce. It is a family beginning with the U Scott mare Chenault, born in 1955. Shartin's branch is arguably the best descending through Chenault's daughter Bravine ( by Bachelor Hanover ) a very good 8 win mare who teetered on the edge of Cup class. The female line continues through Bravine's daughter Kiatina ( by Fallacy ), a 5 race winner and a 3/4 sister in blood to Locarno. Those of us watching harness racing through the 70's will remember the blistering high speed Locarno frequently demonstrated in his highly successful 18 win $181,915 career as one of this family's leading performers along with the likes of Italian Delight 1:50.2, Donegal Delight ( North Island Breeders Stakes ), Im Bella Jay ( WA Wesbred 2YO Classic ) and Kanturk ( NZ Celebrity Stakes ).
Kiatina then produced Kinsale ( by Noodlum ) who qualified but went unraced. A mating of Kinsale with Ashmorven Stud's resident stallion Save Fuel produced Slatina, the winner of 5 races with a personal best of 1:57.9.
It was from Slatina's mating with Live Or Die that we saw Bagdarin's appearance in the world with the latter going on to produce Shartin.
If nothing else, this was a family that frequently produced high top end speed with the correct matings. Throughout it's development we have seen examples of this.
Having painted the background picture, it is now time for an analysis of the pedigree of Shartin and identify where and what we think may have contributed to her arsenal of talents as a racehorse.
What we do know is that Shartin had superior speed and stamina qualities all rolled up into one body.
So it would be good to identify the possible sources of these two great qualities from the presences within her pedigree page.
The first thing that stands out is that every one of her parents and grandparents close-up in her pedigree was a sub 2.00 minute performer.
From her parents Tintin In America 1:53.2 and Bagdarin 1:57.7TT, through to grandparents McArdle 1:49.0, Zenterfold 1:56.6, Live Or Die 1:51.8 and Slatina 1"57.9TT, the first foundations are laid for speed inheritance.
Shartin is a product of sensible linebreeding at 5x6x4 favourably sex-balanced to Bret Hanover ( his great attributes being a tenacious winning desire and a great heart ) with Tintin In America providing the key female balancing line via Margie's Melody's presence in his sire McArdle.
This is ably supported by strong sex-balanced linebreeding to Most Happy Fella ( stamina and toughness being his overwhelming attributes ) at 5x5x6x6. And what is particularly interesting here is that Shartin's pedigree not only combines two male and two female strains but the two female strains just happen to be Most Happy Fella's two best racetrack daughters in Happy Sharon ( his best daughter found in McArdle ) and the high speed Silk Stockings ( present in Live Or Die ). It is relatively rare to see these two great daughters of Most Happy Fella combining in a single pedigree. Are they a key influence in Shartin's greatness?. Or are they just part of it?
We have always said where you have heavy under-pinning of Meadow Skipper in a pedigree, present here at 7x7x6x6x6x7x6x7x5 and in favourable sex-balance, then so too should you have balanced lines of his two best sons for best results since they provide complementary attributes.
Albatross, in contrast to Most Happy Fella, is all about speed and good gait.
So we go looking for balanced lines of Albatross within Shartin's pedigree chart.
And do we find them? Yes, we do but only just. There is just the single duplication of Albatross in Shartin at 6x5 but fortunately for her it is favourably sex-balanced through son Niatross ( again via McArdle ) and daughter Makin Smiles ( in Live Or Die ), rather intriguingly in the same two forebears as the top two daughters of Most Happy Fella were found in.
Finally, and before we leave the pedigree make up of Shartin, it would be remiss not to mention some intricate linebreeding, again in favourable sex-balance, that is taking place in the maternal depths of Shartin's pedigree where she carries a 6x7 sex-balance to Bachelor Hanover ( via Noodlum and Bravine ) as well as a 7x6 sex-balance to Light Brigade.
The 6x7 sex-balance to Bachelor Hanover also meshes with the female line of Bachelor Hanover ( via Zenover ) in Tintin In America, both Tintin In America and Bagdarin carrying Bachelor Hanover as their 4th damsire.
And who is the common denominator here? None other than that grand old highly influential matriarch, Spinster, still weaving her magic all these years later.
And in Shartin she weaves a complex jigsaw with at least 8 presences through son Light Brigade ( twice ), grandsons Bachelor Hanover ( 3 times ) and Dancer Hanover ( once )via daughter The Old Maid, as well as through great grandson and great grand-daughter Race Time and Touch Of Spring ( full-brother and sister ) via another daughter in Lady Scotland ( twice).
The above sees 6 strains of Spinster coming via Bagdarin and 2 strains from Tintin In America resulting in even the great old matriarch herself being sex-balanced in Shartin's pedigree and providing a significant influence running through Shartin's veins.
We will follow the proposed matings of Shartin with Captaintreacherous and Lazarus with keen interest and pray they may result in offspring that can be at least somewhere near as good as their legendary mother out on the racetracks of North America. 
   

Here at Premier Pedigrees we firmly believe that there are times to linebreed, there are times to outcross breed, and yes ... you guessed it, even times to inbreed where the opportunity is presented, for best outcomes.
A lot depends on opportunity with the pedigree of the mare you have placed in front of you and the strength and desirability of particular ancestors within her pedigree and whether these can be favourably built upon with the available pool of stallions.
For a heavily inbred mare, an outcross stallion is probably the preferred option. A mare with desirable ancestors present may present better linebreeding opportunities if you decide to concentrate on the multiplication of a perceived superior ancestor.
And a mare with powerful female presences, especially featuring close-up in her pedigree may present inbreeding opportunities to stallion's carrying the same influential female presence up close.
In this particular article we are going to focus on inbreeding with Rainbow Blue being used as our example.
With specific reference to the standardbred as a breed, inbreeding describes the mating of close relations such as two individuals from the same immediate maternal line or two individuals who share a common ancestor that occupies a prominent or close-up position in each horse's pedigree.
A 1x2, 1x3, 1x4, 2x2, 2x3 or 3x2 duplication are all inbreeding positions ( in some cases incestual ) in the standardbred with Factor 5 ( say 1+4 or 2+3, you add the generational numbers rather than multiplying them ) being recognised as the outer edge of inbreeding.
Whilst this breeding practice has largely been avoided  mainly because of the increased chance of duplicating any faults the doubled-up individual may carry, there have been some successful stories documented with so-called "inbred" horses such as C R Kay Suzie ( a full-brother and sister are present at her second generation ) and A Stud Named Sue ( had two half-brothers at his second generation ) in North America where close-up duplication has taken place to seemingly fault-free individuals.
In Australasia, both Make Me Smile ( NSW Derby winner ) and Smiling Shard ( Australian Breeders Crown Final winner ) were bred on the same genetic template carrying a half-brother and sister at their second generational level.
In the thoroughbred world all four of the above horses are clear examples of inbreeding forces at work but technically in the standardbred world the common duplicated ancestor occurs at the third generational level and is at a 3x3 position in the pedigree ( Factor 6 ) therefore at the very inside edge of linebreeding. Nevertheless the point here is that close-up duplication of female ancestors in particular can be very effective and especially with regard to speed enhancement.
If you are going to undertake inbreeding or very close to it then it is recommended that you do so to superior and correct individuals.
Often standardbred inbreeding occurs to a superior female rather than a male forebear but in the case of our subject study Rainbow Blue we are going to focus on a close-up male forebear duplication.
Bred by Winbak Farm, Chesapeake City, Maryland, Rainbow Blue was foaled on 8 March 2001, almost six months to the day before 9/11. She was purchased for just $10,500 at the 2002 New Jersey Classic Yearling Sale by ex-North American baseball star George Teague Jnr along with his sister Brenda and good friends Kevin and Ron Fry ( K & R Racing ), all of Houston, Delaware.
Trained by part-owner George Teague Jnr and mostly driven throughout her career by Ron Pierce, Rainbow Blue was to achieve a lifetime record from 32 starts of 30 wins and a 3rd placing, bankrolling $1,428,934 with a personal best time of 1:49.4.
As a two year old in 2003, Rainbow Blue won 6 of her 7 starts, earning $102,674 but was to have her debutante season curtailed because of a knee injury.
Returning in 2004 as a three year old, Rainbow Blue was to sweep nearly all before her winning 20 of her 21 starts, bankrolling $1,195,010 and taking a personal best of 1:49.4.
She was the leading money winning pacer in 2004 and the first three year old filly to win two sub 1:50 miles. Her average winning margin of victory in her three year old season was 2 3/4 lengths.
Her extraordinary achievements in 2004 saw her elected as North American 3YO Pacing Filly Of The Year, North American Pacer Of The Year  and North American Horse Of The Year, the latter seeing her edge out Trotting Triple Crown winner Windsong's Legacy for the Dan Patch Award by 119-98 in the tightest vote since veteran trotter Savoir beat 3YO Filly Pacer of the Year Silk Stockings in 1975.
This achievement also allowed Rainbow Blue to join Fan Hanover ( 1981 ) and Bunny Lake ( 2001 ) as the only female pacers to win the Horse Of The Year award, ironically all three fillies winning it in their three year old season.
Her four year old seasonin 2005 saw Rainbow Blue win all 4 of her starts earning a further $131,250, running 1:49.24 again before succumbing to a tendon injury that brought an end to her wonderful racing career.
In 2012, Rainbow Blue was inducted into the United States Racing Hall Of Fame and deservedly so.
Rainbow Blue is by Artiscape out of Vesta Blue Chip, the latter a daughter of On The Road Again.
A perusal of Rainbow Blue's pedigree is an interesting exercise as it contains multiple genetic delights.
Firstly, she is bred on a 5x5 reverse-sex cross to Meadow Skipper which not only provides her with a breeding core but also a potential "engine room".
This is compounded by an intricate direct maternal line which sees her granddam Penny Royal bred on the famed Adios/Tar Heel golden cross whilst her great granddam Greentree Marie was bred on a Tar Heel/Adios cross.
And here is where we believe things get interesting genetically.
Rainbow Blue is also inbred 3x2 to On The Road Again on what is known as a female reverse cross ( as opposed to the much more common reverse-sex cross ). Observant breeders may also be aware that the highly successful New Zealand stallion Holmes Hanover was also bred on a reverse female cross at 4x2 to large heart progenitor Tar Heel. And he was a significant stamina influence as well, just like On The Road Again.
For those not aware, On The Road Again has frequently been acclaimed as the second greatest stamina horse ever produced in North America, behind only the legendary Cam Fella.
Could it be that On The Road Again is both the stamina influence and the speed influence in Rainbow Blue?
The stamina coming from his paternal pedigree ( via Happy Motoring / Most Happy Fella ) whilst the speed is derived from his maternal pedigree where his damsire Bye Bye Byrd "triggers" the deep maternal Adios presences in Rainbow Blue's dam Vesta Blue Chip by feeding her Adios's full-sister Adieu ( granddam of Bye Bye Byrd ).
It could be the case that this inbred 3x2 reverse female cross that Rainbow Blue carries is also in a position of great influence and one where we see "returning the best blood of the mare to the best blood of the stallion" right up close and personal and in the favoured second and third quartiles of the pedigree match i.e. right where Rainbow Blue carries it.
​Lots of speculation here but good sense at the same time and it just could be that this inbreeding presence featuring On The Road Again is the very reason why Rainbow Blue turned out as good as she did on the racetrack.     

It has been a long time since Australasia has had a standardbred stallion exert such prepotent dominance as that recorded by Bettor's Delight.
He has been a true revelation for those breeders subscribing to the breeding theory of "Breed to the best and hope for the best" simply because "Bettor's" did not leave many duds.
They say "timing is everything" and Bettor's Delight came along at the right time to march the "downunder" standardbred to a new level.
Detractors would say that this has occurred too quickly to the point that it has suddenly "narrowed the genepool".
We at Premier Pedigrees are not in agreement with this view. Rather we look it as a time of sudden in the quality of bloodlines going into our genepool.
Just a few decades ago "colonial bloodlines" prevailed with a mix of imported Adios blood ( particularly in Australia ) and in New Zealand we saw Meadow Skipper particularly through his complementary sons Albatross and Most Happy Fella making their mark on the previously largely "home grown" product.
The outcross influence of Direct Scooter through his sons such as Deal Direct, Direct Flight, OK Bye, WRH and In The Pocket in New Zealand as well as the likes of Stoneridge Scooter and Yankee Sensation in Australia came next and was to take the breed to the next step particularly through gait refinement which then facilitated higher levels of speed, an impact experienced on both sides of the Tasman.
All of this then played right into the hands of new stallion arrival Bettor's Delight.
He had the right genetic cocktail flowing through his veins to offer huge compatibility with the broodmares of the time.
He was bred on a 6x6 reverse-sex cross to Adios ( a speed upgrader in his own right pre Meadow Skipper ) so he had an invaluable breeding core as well as an "engine room" ( on display on the racetrack as well in his many great battles with his mighty foe, Real Desire ).
This would ensure he would be highly receptive to mares' with a strong Adios influence of which there were perhaps more in Australia than New Zealand.
At this time New Zealand had a plethora of Meadow Skipper-line mares mostly coming though either Albatross or Most Happy Fella. The Albatross over Most Happy Fella, or vice versa, breeding cross also abounded.
These proved a godsend for Bettor's Delight as his pedigree held exactly that which most of these mares lacked and in the firm view of Premier Pedigrees one of the key reasons for his success with New Zealand mares in particular.
Bettor's Delight possessed balanced lines of both Albatross ( speed and gait ) and Most Happy Fella ( stamina and toughness ). This meant he could immediately supply these mares with a sex-balancing line of either Albatross or Most Happy Fella so that their potential gene inheritance could be "triggered" in their resultant foals. Hardly any other stallion at the time could offer this thus giving Bettor's Delight a decisive "competitive edge" genetically.
It also meant that he had the means of instantly upgrading colonial bloodlines with an infusion of Meadow Skipper in the best possible manner through injecting sex-balanced lines of his two best sons in Albatross and Most Happy Fella with their complementary traits and attributes.
You may well ask then, "Why did Bettor's Delight develop a golden cross with firstly the blood of In The Pocket and then Christian Cullen when they were largely outcrossed bloodlines?" Was it the benefits of hybrid vigour shining through or was it something else at play?
In our constant perusal of pedigrees sometimes it pays to dig a little deeper than 7-generations to find a common denominator that may be at play.
And the one we find is perhaps one of Bettor's Delight's other great secrets, this one a little further "back in genes".
In The Pocket is a son and Christian Cullen a grandson of Direct Scooter meaning Direct Scooter is the common denominator.
So we search his pedigree make-up and compare it with the pedigree fabric of Bettor's Delight to see if we can find another common denominator that could lay reason to a possible genetic affinity.
And do we find one? Yes we do. His name is Volomite.
Peter The Great has 12 occurrences within Direct Scooter's 8-generational pedigree chart, easily the most by a single ancestor.
Direct Scooter is bred on a 5x5 reverse-sex cross to Peter Volo ( a son of Peter The Great ) thus the latter being at the very heart of his breeding core and "engine room".
Direct Scooter is also 4x5 paternally linebred to Peter Volo.
Both of these Peter Volo presences are through his son Volomite hence making Direct Scooter also 3x4 paternally linebred to Volomite with his damsire Noble Victory also being paternally linebred to Volomite at 2x4.
Because of Volomite being present in Direct Scooter relatively close-up at 3x4x6, on linebreeding weighting factors ( more points are allotted the closer-up the presences occur generationally without being incestuous ), Volomite incurs the highest weighting percentage at 5.08%.
How then do we relate this to Bettor's Delight's 8-generational pedigree? 
We hope Bettor's Delight displays a strong proportion of this Peter The Great-Peter Volo-Volomite presence as well.
And yes, we do find what we are looking for.
These are led by Abbedale 19 presences, Hal Dale 16 presences, Billy Direct 14 presences then both Volomite and Peter Volo with 12 presences each and Peter The Great with 4 presences.
Better still, as an additional genetic connector between Direct Scooter and Bettor's Delight, the latter holds in his 8-generational pedigree the presence of revered mare Volga E who is a full-sibling to Peter Volo ( both Peter The Great - Nervolo Belle ).
Where is all this heading then?
We are trying to put up a case for what bloodlines Bettor's Delight has reached an affinity with as a stallion and if these might work for his daughters in their future matings. Reverse therapy if you like.
Obviously, daughters of Bettor's Delight cannot go to sons of Bettor's Delight such as Lazarus or even grandsons such as Lather Up which leads any standardbred breeder having to look at sons or grandsons or now even great grandsons of the Western Hanover, Artsplace, Direct Scooter or perhaps even Cam Fella ( his own sireline ) as the dominant sirelines or else the more scattered less Commercial sirelines the likes of Dragon's Lair with a stallion like Fear The Dragon.
Truth is that Bettor's Delight has demonstrated his own versatility over a wide range of sirelines and "produced the goods" and this may very well prove a similar case with his broodmare daughters showing wide range versatility with a number of sirelines and sires.
Whichever way you might already have headed or are contemplating heading, one thing is for sure, there is no template or magic "golden cross" in play as yet.
No doubt breeders will be keeping a very close eye on North American "Crosses of Gold" just as they will in Australia and New Zealand for the next outstanding performer out of a Bettor's Delight mare.
The Studs are quick to come out in their advertising with crosses that are working for their stallion's with Bettor's Delight mares, for example, Rock N Roll Heaven has produced Let It Ride out of a Bettor's Delight mare and Heaven Rocks was produced from a Cam Fella-line mare etc but really the truth is the dust has yet to settle on a golden cross this way around.
Another practice has been to reverse-sex to Cam Fella ( utilising both a breeding core and a potential "engine room" ) which can be done with stallion's carrying Cam Fella in their damsire line as do the likes of Somebeachsomewhere, Rock N Roll Heaven and even Sir Lincoln.
Those breeders seeking a little value or breeding to race could also look at reverse-sexing opportunities to Cam's Card Shark ( a big influence on Bettor's Delight's own mojo ) via the likes of A Rocknroll Dance or Heston Blue Chip.
At Premier Pedigrees we are going to go out on a limb with another decision to breeders of Bettor's Delight mares and it is for part of the reason why we spent so much time in this article on Direct Scooter's genetic linkages with the blood of Bettor's Delight.
We are all well aware of In The Pocket's affinity with Bettor's Delight particularly in New Zealand at one time being New Zealand's "golden cross" but also working in North America to produce million dollar earner Dream Out Loud.
Well, we are going to endeavour to go one better by saying breeders possessing mares by Bettor's Delight should ensure that they have the presence of Matt's Scooter fitting somewhere in the bloodlines of the chosen consort for their mare. Our reasons for this are twofold.
Firstly, Matt's Scooter was Direct Scooter's best performed racetrack son, easily eclipsing the deeds of In The Pocket and also eclipsing him as a sire in North America.
As a racehorse Matt's Scooter sustained high speed, could run within himself, and possessed an extreme reaching stride which was best suited to top gear. He passed these qualities on to his top juvenile colts and fillies who inherited his own sustained speed.
Our second reason for the inclusion of Matt's Scooter is simply genetic but one where we see Matt's Scooter holding a huge edge over In The Pocket.
Matt's Scooter is tail female to Aida. So too is Bettor's Delight. In other words they descend from the same maternal family hence breeders should be taking the opportunity to compound this same blood but not in a way which sees either inbreeding or incest.
The following is a brief listing of stallion's either carrying the presence of Matt's Scooter in their paternal or maternal pedigrees;

Paternal:                              Maternal:

Captaintreacherous              American Ideal
Captain Crunch                    Fear The Dragon
Downbytheseaside               Net Ten Eom
Poster Boy
Sir Lincoln
Stay Hungry
Somebeachsomewhere

This may be a restricted bunch but it sure packs some quality and you may be feeling a little smug if you already have young stock on the ground by one of these sires' from your Bettor's Delight mare or if you currently have your "Bettor's" mare currently in foal to one of these stallions.
But there is also a little value to be found in the above listings for those planning to "breed to race" or with a non-Commercial "Bettor's" mare.
I can recall having a lengthy telephone conversation with Empire Stallions principal David James two to three years ago now with David preaching to me back then how Captaintreacherous was going to become Bettor's Delight's obvious successor.
With just 60 Captaintreacherous  bookings allotted to New Zealand breeders, I wonder just how many of these have been snapped up by breeders with Commercial Bettor's Delight mares and of those missing out how many have been accommodated by David James other stallion's with a Matt's Scooter presence the likes of Stay Hungry and Somebeachsomewhere.
One thing is for sure, there may be more than one reason why Captaintreacherous over a Bettor's Delight mare becomes the next "golden cross" and we may just have pinpointed one of the key genetic contributing factors as above.


  

 It must now be close to two decades ago that two keen young lads mucked out the boxes and drove work for their then youthful Pukekohe based boss in Todd MacFarlane, the latter relatively fresh from his tutorage under the experienced eye of Roy and Barry Purdon.
The two lads, Chris Gillies and Clint Mackay ( my son ) got on that well that soon the relationship extended to further family members on both sides.
Whilst Chris was shortly after to return to Cambridge, Clint has remained with Todd to this current day.
But distance was not a stopper when through my own two years working at Linden Park Stud, Pukekawa in 2002-3, I had singled out a couple of pacing mares running in a herd which had not been tried and were at least four years old.
Both were owned by Greg Corbett from Lurnea, New South Wales, whom I had the good fortune to meet on one of his frequent visits to New Zealand. Greg operated a large and successful second hand office furniture business in South Western Sydney and loved talking standardbred pedigrees.
And so began the Gillies / Mackay racing partnership as I was able to secure firstly Nullabor Song and then Cool Service which got us launched on the front foot.
After these two horses came a succession of useful pacers for us to race together which Chris had managed to acquire by keeping his ear to the ground including the likes of The Ledge, Can't See A Thing ( he actually only had one eye ) and Lofty Brogden.
By now we had multiple photos on the wall ( we even won two races on the same programme one evening at Cambridge ), attended the races regularly, and were beginning to think the game "wasn't too hard" even though we were not winning out of turn.
But it was from here on in that things were about to take a sudden change.
From memory it was 2010 when I took a phone call from Chris saying there was a well-bred young trotting filly for sale in the Harness Racing Weekly that was from the Martina H Family, a two year old that was big, had been prepped but needed another year to mature before becoming a racehorse.
This was a Family that breeder Kevin Marr had kept full control over but on this occasion he had too many filly's around him so was prepared to let her go.
She was advertised cheap at $2000. Chris said we had to move quickly to get her and we agreed to go 50/50 so a quick call to Chris's brother Owen ( who worked for Derek Balle where the filly was domiciled ) and we had her secured for less than asking price.
Sometime later Derek ( who trained Nullabor Song for us ) told me he could have sold Daniela H four times over and for more money than what we paid. But we were in first and got the chocolates.
At Chris's suggestion, since we had to wait a year, we put her in foal as a two year old with the intention of racing her after having the foal.
Derek Balle knew the Lang's from Victoria when he successfully campaigned Miami H at the Breeders Crown so was able to arrange a package deal of 7 mares to Skyvalley of which we became one.
When I went out to Woodlands Stud where she foaled a filly in 2011 the foal was anything but what I was expecting.
With Daniela H being 16.2 hands and a big mare and knowing Muscles Yankee ( sire of Skyvalley ) could leave quite coarse bone I was not expecting a petite very fine boned filly. Far from it.
All I could put it down to was that our dark brown bordering on black filly had thrown to Skyvalley's damside i.e. Chiola's Lass who was not very big herself.
We named this filly Valle De La Luna ( Valley Of The Moon ) and whilst racing and showing extreme promise with three good placings in her first few starts she did succumb, not unexpectedly, to ongoing tendon and suspensory issues that led to her premature retirement.
Upon having her first foal, we had Daniela H at Woodlands Stud to be mated with Pegasus Spur.
As Daniela H was by Dream Vacation out of a Sundon mare Justine H ( a full-sister to Martina H ), Chris had been told several times by his mare "Dixie" ( trainer John Dickie ) that any mare with Sundon close-up in her bloodlines, it would be foolhardy going to any other stallion than Pegasus Spur based on their personal experiences with the ill-fated Paramount Geegee and also the courageous Speeding Spur.
So to Pegasus Spur did we go and our resultant foal was literally a cross between an elephant and a giraffe. A colt, he could not have been more different than Daniela H's first foal.
We named him Whips N Spurs and we had to wait for him for a long time before he debuted but in a few starts he snaffled two wins at the "Ribbon of Light" ( Alexandra Park ) for trainer Derek Balle.
I recall rival trainers including Todd MacFarlane saying "what a magnificent animal he is" when he was parading around in the birdcage at Alexandra Park.
But like Valle De La Luna, so too was Whips N Spurs to develop ongoing leg issues that were to curtail his return to the track despite his immense talent.
We then let a third party breed a foal from Daniela H. She was put to Monarchy and had a filly which we were told had some temperament issues and whilst tried from the Todd Mitchell barn was never to grace the racetrack.
After a brief financial breather for the partnership, Chris was keen to go again and we decided to go back to Skyvalley in 2015 and see if we could get a foal that perhaps threw to the paternal side of his pedigree.
But even the best laid plans can run amuck, and at the last minute ( the day before serving ) Chris was told that they could not get Skyvalley semen to him in time for insemination.
Chris phoned me in a mad panic saying he needed to order semen that day and who else could we go to where we could get semen in a hurry.
I said "leave it with me for half an hour and I will come back to you".
Quickly grabbing the Stallion Directory for that season and rushing through the "value stallions" I noticed that Master Glide had some of his best progeny success in North America from Dream Vacation mares so a decision agreed, the semen ordered same day, and the next season we had a sizeable Master Glide filly which Jan Gillies named Slippery Mistress for us.
After several preps because of growth spurts, this impeccably mannered now four year old mare acquired her qualifying ticket on 19 December 2020 for trainer Todd MacFarlane and we finally now have another racehorse. 
I already have her mate selected should she one day trickle towards the breeding barn in the Haras De Trotteurs stallion Volstead ( a sublime mating on paper ).
As part of my previous work for Queensland based Trump Bloodstock which included a service entitlement to Sebastian K, Daniela H foaled us "her best foal yet on type" in a colt we have named Sebastian Montoya, so different from all her other foal's being far more short-coupled and of average size. Now a three year old, he has had a couple of preparations at Todd MacFarlane's and according to Ian Hilliard ( who likes him ) he has shown Ian that he has "a lot of bottom to him". We have high hopes for him and do not intend to rush him.
If nothing else, the "trotting game" as opposed to the "pacing game" has taught us that you need a whole new level of patience.
In 2019 we tried to get both Daniela H and Valle De La Luna in foal, serving them both with the Trump Bloodstock stallions, firstly Sebastian K and then promising new stallion Centurion ATM ( from the direct maternal family of Sundon and a juvenile performer in similar vein to Muscle Mass ).
Surprisingly, Daniela H ( who normally gets in foal first serve ) did not hold to either stallion but her daughter Valle De La Luna did take to Centurion ATM and we now have a dark brown bordering on black yearling filly ( the only one by this sire in New Zealand ) that is built like a tank, although like her mother, not overly tall.
She remains on the lush pastures of Milan Park in Cambridge, where Jan Gillies currently works, mixing her daily life with her thoroughbred paddock mates but time will come soon where we will need her to realise what true life is all about.
Rather than leave Daniela H out in the paddock at the Gillies' Cambridge property ( on the Cambridge - Te Awamutu Road ), we have loaned her to Dr Lee Morris at Equibreed for use as a surrogate mother so she can maintain her maternal instincts in the interim should we decide to breed another foal from her as she is still only 12 years old.
For the moment, it will be Training Fees over Stud Fees as we see what we have got with these young ones but be rest-assured that if any start showing promise then out will come the cries to "breed another" such is our wonderful game.

Footnote:

I once told the Gillies' the wonderful s tory that the road they now live on just outside of Cambridge was once known as the "Swamp Road" which was surveyed back in the 1950's by my late Uncle, Owen Cooper Mackay, a huge Tauranga based yachting enthusiast who sailed many ocean going races as a valued navigator. Owen regularly sailed on a vessel Mata-a-Tua and he later became a considerable shareholder in the yacht Ceramco New Zealand.
As if this was not significant enough in the Gillies / Mackay partnership, I worked for 17 years for BP New Zealand at the same time as Don Gillies had worked for the same company for 35 years without knowingly crossing each others path. Don is now well into his eighties but has been a keen member of the Gillies / Mackay racing and breeding partnerships. Small world.  

Dedicated, visionary and opinionated are three words that come to mind when endeavouring to best describe former legendary Australian pedigree guru Mr Gordon Campbell who back in the late 1980's put himself through TAFE night school to study basic computer programming with a vision to create his own fully comprehensive Australian standardbred database.
A colossal challenge if there was ever one but a mighty powerful tool if ever completed.
Over the course of 11 years commencing in 1989 Gordon and his dedicated wife Valerie uploaded more than 350,000 records into their online database which incorporated every horse in Australia's pedigree from 1990 onwards out to 6 generations as well as full statistical data encompassing race performance, earnings and breeding exploits.
It was to easily form Australasia's largest privately-owned standardbred database and to Gordon it provided the trustworthy tool from which he could justify his breeding recommendations to client's in his role as a pedigree consultant.
Now, he possessed the cold hard facts on any breeding cross proposed and could purport this with statistical data on numbers and percentages to either support a proposed mating or to deter from it if the data did not support the likely success of the mating.
A powerful tool indeed and one used prolifically by Gordon in the wake of his own favoured breeding theories and to dispel others.
This whole exercise burst into reality after Gordon had identified that Tarport Low mares' needed Adios blood up as close as possible in a stallion ( the strength of this coming from the stallion's maternal bloodlines ) and having listed manually the pedigrees of some 430 Tarport Low mares plus the stallion's they had been bred to, he then had to go through the tedious exercise of ascertaining percentages in order to define success rates or otherwise.
There had to be a better more expedient way of deriving this data for future exercises and the resultant data mission formed the basis of the foundation of what Gordon named as Computabred Ltd with it's primary function being it's use for bloodline compatibility testing based on factual statistics.
It was from this vast database that Gordon was to substantiate many of his favoured breeding techniques and theories when doing his own writings or stallion recommendations for a client's mare. It also allowed him the flexibility of becoming receptive to new breeding trends the success or otherwise which could easily be identified from his own statistical data.
At the very forefront of his philosophy was a strong belief that maternal lineage is crucial to ongoing success both on the racetrack and in the breeding barn.
He was extremely cautious of the progeny of standout mares from ordinary families just as he was the likely success of sires with poor female families, the latter often being a derivative of Sires Stakes racing of which Gordon was no fan.
As the 'X' chromosome comes from the sire's mother, if this is weak so too will the progeny be weak. Heart size comes from the female which is all important to the athlete in any species.
Allied to this was Gordon's strong belief that one of the very best forms of breeding was to emulate that which occured naturally in the wild. This was centered on the horse being a herd animal and a flight animal, living in fear of predators, characteristics that are still evident today despite human involvement with the horse now stretching to some 3000 years.
A 20 plus year old mare in a natural state could not produce simply because she would most likely have been devoured. Speed was essential to simply exist with nature saying that the first born is vital for the ongoing existence of the species.
Are there not some clues or guidelines here on breeding from young mares with their earliest foals being their best? Much food for thought here including the wisdom or otherwise of breeding from an older mare, all of which could be supported statistically from the Computabred database.
Gordon has also been a staunch advocate for returning the best blood from a mare to the stallion's "bottom ( direct maternal ) line" as sheer speed and stamina is all that has enabled the wild horse to frustrate their would-be predators, and that speed and stamina comes from stallion's " breeding back into the herd" ( BBITH )from which they themselves have come.
We would like to point out that there are two variations here and both can be highly effective in a planned mating.
The first of these is returning is returning the same blood from a mare ( often via a different sibling ) from any position within her pedigree back to the stallion's direct maternal bloodlines ( otherwise known as his "bottom line" ).
This breeding practice has been happening for a long time now and it's success has meant that it has endured in both standardbred and thoroughbred breeding circles as it is looked upon as a highly successful formula for speed enhancement just as Gordon was referring to as occuring in the wild.
The second means of returning the same blood from the mare to the stallion is much more position specific and is known simply as "breeding back into the herd" ( aka BBITH ). This breeding formula features the same female ancestor present in "bottom line" of both the stallion and the mare ( either via the same or a different sibling ).
Once again this simulated that which naturally occured in the wild where the dominant stallion of the herd often covered close relatives or more distant relatives sharing the same maternal family.
Incorporated into this whole returning of the same blood from the mare to the stallion can be another breeding feature known as a Rasmussen Factor. Allegedly founded by Leon Rasmussen, the Rasmussen Factor was defined as "Breeding back to superior female through different individuals( siblings ) within the first 5 generations".
Gordon Campbell was a proponent of this practice offering the comment that "If the Rasmussen Factor is understood, it is on the mark", citing examples such as Surfing Safari and Mazzini Magic. Both of these very good horses are examples that position in pedigree matching is important otherwise there can be no effect at all.
Premier Pedigrees is also a fan of this form of breeding with no better example of it being highly effective in inducing high speed than the template set  by the superior mare Blue Horizon ( a grand-daughter of the "Queen of Gait" in Golden Miss ) when she featured in a 3x3 reverse-sexed Rasmussen Factor in the pedigree of the Paul Fitzpatrick trained NSW Derby winner Make Me Smile ( $517,518, 34 wins from 68 starts ) who possessed sizzling top end speed including blistering gate speed.
​So taken were we with Make Me Smile's dazzling speed that when Southland's Debbie Scarlett ( now Smith ) emailed Premier Pedigrees a short time later looking for a mate for her Panorama mare Sly Shard we had little hesitation recommending Grinfromeartoear. The template had been set and hence the beginnings of what was to become Smiling Shard.
Ironically, I was working at Geoff Small's barn sometime later when Cran Dalgety walked in looking for Geoff. It was just after the Karaka PGG Standardbred Yearling Sales and I made the comment to Cran in passing that he had purchased the best breed yearling in the Sales. I recall vividly his response "Oh, I don't know about that, the little squib, and I paid too much for him" knowing he had secured him for $42,000 and hastily showing me in his Sales Catalogue that he had him marked down as a $30,000 yearling.
The rest is history as they say as the " little squib" ( alias Smiling Shard ) won the Tabcorp Breeders Crown 2YO Colts and Geldings Final amongst his 17 wins from 50 starts with lifetime earnings of $1,089,831.
Whilst things like Rasmussen Factors were seen as real strengths in the pedigrees of top horses, Gordon Campbell remained open to the fact that genes further back in pedigrees could also have an influential effect on a foal.
This is something that has been more widely exploited in thoroughbred breeding circles particularly with regard to ascertaining patterns in a mare's pedigree and whether these carried through into the pedigrees of a likely consort.
Gordon was also not afraid to make a call on matters close to his heart and it was such bravery to "put it out there" which gave him his at times controversial reputation. These were often voiced through his regular Datapace columns that he wrote in the bi-monthly Harness Racing International magazine. I recall one particular phrase that he espoused time and again "Never believe every thing you read" often targetted at a glossy advertising brochure of a new offshore stallion arrival.
When In The Pocket was beginning to create a breed-shaping ripple with his first crops in New Zealand, Gordon was of the opinion that most Australian mares did not have the genetic make-up to  click with him.
We tended to be in agreement with Gordon on this one as the Australian broodmare genepool carried a massive Adios influence as opposed to the New Zealand genepool that was heavily skewed towards Meadow Skipper and his sons and grandsons.
One of the prime factors supporting our opinions was "position in a pedigree" with a lot ( and there were numerous ) of the grand-daughters of Meadow Skipper producing foals bred on a 4x4 reverse-sex cross to Meadow Skipper which proved an overwhelming success ( often to the point of lethal ) and featured in the pedigrees of most of In The Pocket's best sons and daughters led by the likes of Christian Cullen, Courage Under Fire and Under Cover Lover.
There may have been another factor at play here as well. Adios was well-gaited allowing for speed maximisation. Meadow Skipper on the other hand had imperfect gait and so the injection of Direct Scooter ( refined gait ) attributes via In The Pocket may have been far more breed shaping in New Zealand than it would have been in Australia.
This all appeared to make good sense but there is also a school of thought that Adios was in fact the catalyst that In The Pocket required to produce his best horses . With no Adios blood of his own, In the Pocket's two best performers in North America in Sanabelle Island and All I Ask both carry a double dose of Adios on their dam's side as do the three New Zealand performers we have identified above in Christian Cullen, Courage Under Fire and Under Cover Lover.
Gordon was also of the belief that Christian Cullen may have struggled as a sire on the grounds that he did not descend from a particularly strong maternal family and certainly not from a sire producing family up until that time, Tiger Jones and Julius Caesar following on but of no real consequence.
I guess there is always an anomaly to be found somewhere in any situation and when you are dealing with a freak the old adage " expect the unexpected" surfaces as Christian Cullen went on to become a dominant sire in New Zealand.
When Premier Pedigrees officially launched in 2001 and released extensive advertising into the Australian ( as well as New Zealand ) market to establish a new client base particularly through the excellent magazines Harness Racing International as well as Track Bred, little were we to know that in a very short time we would be inundated with breeding match requests from new Australian clients, many of whom were former Computabred clients.
Upon the passing of his treasured mother Elsie at the grand old age of 98 in 2001, and being an only child, Gordon and his loving and supporting wife Valerie, suddenly determined that there were other priorities in life and up-anchored to the central Northern Coast of New South Wales to go fishing and play lawn bowls.
Very few persons would know what happened to that great database that the couple developed, whether it is still in existence somewhere and still being privately maintained or whether it was left to simply expire but there has been no talk or evidence of it resurfacing in the two decades that have since elapsed.
Back in 1999 in a Datapace column for Harness Racing International, Gordon did make a comment, perhaps a little " tongue in cheek " and with thoughts of retirement obviously beckoning, that he may release a book "The Campbell Factors" in 22 years time.
Well, if that is the case and the thought has come to fruition, then Premier Pedigrees will be the first in the queue when it is set to go to print in 2021.










       

In the formative days of Premier Pedigrees back in 2001 ( also the year of 9/11 ) I recall taking a call from a hobby breeder by the name of Stan Dunlop who lived on the outskirts of Morrinsville.
Stan had a Camtastic mare by the name of Carnlough Bay and sought our advice as to a suitable stallion for her. He and his wife were going to breed her with their good friends the Monk's.
Stan told me, almost challengingly, that Carnlough Bay was from the "Grantham breed" tracing back through Dinnaken ( bred by the Corrigan's ) and what I vividly recall from Stan were the words "crossfire", "crossfired" and "crossfiring" throughout the conversation until they were absolutely ringing in my ears sufficiently so for me to be mentally ( not verbally ) replying "Direct Scooter", "Direct Scooter", "Direct Scooter" in response to Stan's pleas for a remedy.
This was at a time when Standardbred breeding was immersed to the point of saturation in the blood of Meadow Skipper but it also coincided with a new opportunity.
It also corresponded with the arrival of a new potential breed-shaper in the form of Direct Scooter bloodlines through several of his sons the likes of Deal Direct, Direct Flight, OK Bye and others.
But it was another son in In The Pocket who had begun revolutionising performance of the Standardbred on New Zealand racetracks through fast dominant and precocious horses such as Christian Cullen, Courage Under Fire, Tupelo Rose and Under Cover Lover.
Put a Meadow Skipper-line mare to In The Pocket and you just about had a licence to print money. And after all, Carnlough Bay was a Meadow Skipper-line mare.
Whilst this outcross blood was very welcomed to broaden the New Zealand Standardbred genepool from the almost total dependence on Meadow Skipper bloodlines, the real value at play here was the contribution that Direct Scooter made in enhancing the relatively moderate gait qualities inherent in a large majority of Meadow Skipper descended progeny.
Enhanced gait was Direct Scooter's trademark ( even if temperament wasn't ) and laid the platform for energy conservation and efficiency which in turn created the ability to sustain higher levels of speed over greater distances.
Evidence of this was certainly on show in plentiful abundance particularly with the top sons and daughters of In The Pocket.
When it came time to making a recommendation to Stan that he should breed Carnlough Bay to In The Pocket I was a little deflated when he thought he was a little expensive at his then Service Fee of $6000+gst. At that stage his progeny were in full flight and there were strong murmurings that his Service Fee was about to head North of this figure. In The Pocket was now proven and you knew what you were getting.
So it was back to the drawing board, but racking my brain it didn't take long to come up with an alternative.
I was hellbent on staying with a son of Direct Scooter and then I remembered.
I had been at Alexandra Park one day, not sure whether it was at a rare Sale Day they had there or if it was a race day/night and Michael House had a new stallion arrival in the barn on parade. His name was Tinted Cloud and he was a big 16.2 hands eye-catching son of Direct Scooter. Michael was displaying him proudly to prospective breeders and alike and I thought "what a grouse looking horse" and he was only going to be standing at $1500+gst.
I mentioned him to Stan and at that price I could feel Stan warming to him by the minute on the premise that he could counter a lot of the gait imperfections that his breed held.
So a breeding match was rubber-stamped and a booking made.
Little did either Stan or Premier Pedigrees know that together they were about to create another of Australasia's pacing greats.
As a non-Commercial foal, Smoken Up as he was to become known ( as named by the Dunlop's and the Monk's ) was bred as a racing commodity and placed in the care of trainer John Butcher at nearby Tamahere.
A 2002 foal, Smoken Up qualified locally at Cambridge on 24/8/2006 winning his trial in 2:51.5 at a mile rate of 2:05.4 so nothing out of the ordinary.
I saw Smoken Up run one evening at Cambridge in a low class event and was of the opinion that a small hitch was still evident in his gait.
This may have been an immaturity weakness which is often present in a young horse and later disappears as they develop but it was not enough to deter a vastly experienced Australian trainer/driver in Lance Justice to purchase him for a Group of his owners.
And it soon became evident with more racing and maturity that Smoken Up became more fluent in his gait.
Never in a thousand years could Stan or myself have believed that this horse of humble origins would go on to record 74 wins, 23 seconds and 11 thirds, earn $2,681,026 and acquire a personal best time of 1:48.5.
These figures could have been even better if he had not been disqualified from winning the Inter Dominion Grand Final in Auckland for a subsequent EPO breach.
I was there that night in Auckland as he flashed past the winning post in front of me some 3 lengths clear of some pretty reputable horses after easily doing the most work in the race. He left me just shaking my head in awe. What a heart this horse must also have had.
Smoken Up, you were one of the true ironhorses and one where we may have held a small but important part in his creation.

Footnote:

Tinted Cloud is testimony to the old adage that "every stallion is capable of leaving a good horse". The secret is presenting him with the right cocktail ( physical and genetic ) to allow it to happen.
For Tinted Cloud that horse was Smoken Up just as for Sharvid Adios it was Tyler Foulden whilst in the Thoroughbred world for Pag-Asa it was Bonecrusher and for Sharivari it was Shivaree.
There are many other examples in both codes and they will continue to occur sometimes planned but mostly by fluke.   

If ever a client exemplified the cliche "Our success is your success" then long term Premier Pedigrees client Queensland breeder Jeff Wallace would stand at the top of the pedestal.
Back in 2012 a brief but much appreciated note came through on the Premier Pedigrees email stating something to the tune of "Ken, thanks to you we now have 18 photos on the wall".
This positive feedback came from one of our most loyal Australian clients in Brisbane breeder Jeff Wallace and his wife operating with a band of around half a dozen mares.
It never ceases to amaze us how one stallion can change a breeders fortune and the stallion in Jeff's case was Western Terror.
The vast majority of the 18 photos Jeff possessed at that stage were provided by two sons of Western Terror that Jeff had named Blazing Terror and One Eyed Terror.
Both turned out to be evergreen warhorses.
Blazing Terror became the veteran of 242 starts for 36 wins, $234,654 in earnings and with a time credit of 1:54.6 whilst One Eye Terror fashioned a similar record with 254 starts for 45 wins, $229,226 in the kitty and a personal best of 1:54.9.
Another stallion to create an affinity with the Wallace's breed was Mach Three.
Some of their success stories with this stallion included Mach Dreamy, 58 starts for 10 wins, $75,257, 1:58.0, Mac Sweet, 124 starts for 13 wins, $61,908, 2:01.3 and the talented but ill-fated mare How Will I Know, 70 starts for 18 wins, $195,159 and a 1:55.9 mile credit. It was a bitter disappointment losing this mare carrying her first foal as she had provided the Wallace's with a great thrill on the racetrack winning the Group 2 Qbred Triad Final 4YO Mares in 2014.
Four mares have largely contributed to what these days would be closer to 318 photos on the wall ( I don't know if Jeff has kept a record of his winning tally ) for the Wallace's who are "Breed To Race" breeders rather than "Yearling Sales" breeders therefore emphasis when breeding each season has always been to look at stallions that offer value for money and most importantly are also genetically compatible with their mares.
These four mares are Forgiven ( Perfect Art ), Sweet Shania ( Fake Left ), Impish Princess ( Fake Left ) and the latter's daughter Lets Rocknroll ( Rocknroll Hanover ).
Forgiven has left Blazing Terror and Mach Dreamy ( see details above ) as well as Just Rokin ( Rocknroll Hanover ) 114 starts for 19 wins, $109,348, 1:53.7, and has foal's yet to hit the racetrack by the likes of Captaintreacherous and Always B Miki.
To date Forgiven's progeny have won 77 races.
Sweet Shania has left One Eyed Terror and Mac Sweet ( again see details above ) as well as Girl With Fire ( Grinfromeartoear ) 68 starts for 14 wins, $94,355, 1:53.7.
To date Sweet Shania's progeny have won 90 races.
Impish Princess was an elite racemare brought back from North America for breeding with the ill-fated How Will I Know ( see her details above ) being her best racetrack performer to date ahead of the likes of Mista Natural ( Mister Big ) 9 wins and Rocknroll Annie ( Rock N Roll Heaven ) 10 wins. 
Daughters still on the racetrack include Western Showgirl ( Western Terror ) 7 wins and Royal Princess ( Pet Rock ) whilst an un-named yearling filly by Sunshine Beach awaits in the wings.
To date Impish Princess's progeny have won 45 races.
Lets Rocknroll is the first foal from Impish Princess and only had one unplaced start before hitting the matron's paddock where she is now creating the beginnings of her own breeding legacy.
Her first foal Ima Rock Princess ( Shark Gesture ) won 1 race from 6 starts and is now being bred from but in her second foal Im Norma Jean ( Modern Art ) the Wallace's hit the jackpot fittingly providing them with Group 1 glory in the $100,000 2016 Qbred Triad Final for 2YO Fillies.
At last, the Wallace's had achieved a much deserved and treasured Group 1 winning photo on the wall and it came about through focussing on a mating that was endeavouring to exploit a Rasmussen Factor to a mare that oozed precocity in Wendymae Hanover.
It is immensely satisfying when a targeted mating plan comes to fruition for the right reasons given bloodlines are only one of the variables that contribute to winning performance at any level.
Im Norma Jean had 94 starts for 17 wins, $172,837 and a personal best mile credit of 1;52.8 so is well-credentialled as she heads into the breeding phase of her career..
Following on from Im Norma Jean, Lets Rocknroll had Corey William ( Mr Feelgood ) with another powerful genetic build behind him. To date Corey William has raced 89 times for 22 wins, $134,580 and a mile rating of 1:52.4.
Two years after the birth of Im Norma Jean came a full-sister in Miss Mia. As a now 5 year old to date her figures are 60 starts for 7 wins, a modest $38,691 in the bank and a personal best of 1:58.3.
From this outcome we become true believers in Mendel's Law Of Probability as it pertained to Genetic Variation where if you truly identify a superior pedigree mating then you should do it 4 times because of gene variation where in equine parlance one will be a superior performer ( Im Norma Jean ), two will be fair to modest performers ( we would put Miss Mia down as one of these ) and one a complete dud ( not being able to run fast enough to keep warm ). There already exists a lot of equine evidence to support this Law,
Ima Beach Babe ( Sunshine Beach ) and Joy Maker ( He's Watching ) have won 3 and 1 race respectively to date and are currently racing whilst Lets Rocknroll has had a Changeover filly this season.
To date Lets Rocknroll's progeny have won 51 races.
​It will be the daughters and grand-daughters of these four mares that will continue the already amazing breeding legacy of Jeff Wallace and his wife and Premier Pedigrees thanks the Wallace's for being allowed to be part of the journey.

Footnote:

Two years after the birth of Im Norma Jean a colt was born further South of Queensland bred on the same genetic template i.e. by Modern Art out of a mare who was a great grand-daughter of Western Hanover...his racing name is Lochinvar Art and he just happens to be one of Australia's current elite modern day pacers.
Whilst we cannot lay any claim to the mating which produced Lochinvar Art we did have at least six genetic reasons why Lets Rocknroll should be mated with Modern Art and the rest is history as they say.....the creation of a Group 1 winner.     

​Rene Descartes back in 1637 penned a famous phrase "Je pense, donc, je suis" ( I think, therefore, I am ) and one could be excused for thinking that he was applying this to legendary Canterbury horseman and standardbred pedigree authority Jim Dalgety.

A recent article written in the NZSBA Breeders' Weekly Update told us the story of Jim Dalgety and his wonderful racemare Imagine That ( Man Around Town - Happy Hazel ), winner of 15 races and $415,289.
From 2008 through to 2015 Jim had bred her to the best available stallions resulting in 5 live foals which included a colt by Mister Big and four fillies, one each by Falcon Seelster, Christian Cullen, Bettor's Delight and Art Major.

None of these foals was to meet with success on the racetrack.
​
In 2016 Jim had literally "given her away as a breeding proposition" and little was thought of her until one day noticed by a fellow standardbred breeder Keith Shadbolt in a paddock whilst passing by.
Being keen to breed from her, Keith took the advice of Jim to breed her to "trotting stallions" so adhered to that advice despite Imagine That holding what is predominantly pacing bloodlines, to a point where Keith is now the breeder of a colt by Andover Hall and a filly by Father Patrick from the mare.

So why would "a master" like Jim Dalgety recommend to Keith Shadbolt to breed her to trotting stallions other than the obvious that he had seen evidence of her trotting at some stage?

Perhaps only Jim can supply us with the real reason but I think I may know at least partial reason if not the full reason for this recommendation.

Back in 2008-9 I was working as a pedigree consultant at the thoroughbred stud Stoneybridge Farm in Karaka, having replaced Peter Jenkins who had moved on to Arrowfield Stud in the Hunter Valley, when I received a phone call from Jim Dalgety.

It was a phone call to "knock your socks off" from a man who regularly thought outside the square.
In brief, Jim was asking to breed Imagine That to the Stoneybridge thoroughbred stallion and former NZ Derby winner St Reims.

Why did he single out St Reims of all the thoroughbred stallions available in New Zealand?

Jim's fundamental concerns were that the Standardbred as a breed was quickly beginning to lose it's hybrid vigour. Whilst it was becoming faster, it was also becoming too refined and more frail, not standing up too long to the rigours of training and more regular racing with racing careers encompassing lesser starts than in decades gone by.

St Reims appealed to Jim to re-inject hybrid vigour, he had demonstrated stamina and as a son of Zabeel he offered scope as well as a more dense bone structure, all valid reasons to cross breed.

With the Standardbred becoming more refined particularly with the genepool beginning to narrow ( something which was to hasten in the future with the prepotent dominance of Bettor's Delight in the pacing ranks ) Jim saw a quick thoroughbred "bloodline infusion shock" as one way of reinstating hybrid vigour to his beloved standardbred breed.

Another option was to breed Imagine That to the more coarse or heavier boned trotting stallions although there wasn't the choice back then that there is now.

Having previously toured the great breeding farms of North America ( both Standardbred and Thoroughbred ) in the company of the likes of Patrick Hogan ( before his knighthood ) may have been another reason for singling out St Reims as Sir Patrick possessed a number of Breeding Rights to St Reims which could see nominations transferred in private deals at rates substantially below the Advertised Stud Fee of that stallion.
And Jim needed a Service Fee as cheap as possible as the resultant foal could not be registered with the governing body ( in this case Harness Racing New Zealand ).

He also needed to get a resultant filly foal from which to breed, any colt foal being a total write-off for that which he was trying to accomplish.

A filly foal could not be raced as a cross breed but she could be put to a standardbred stallion and have her foal registered for racing as a standardbred.

So a potentially costly path with inherent risks and patience required at the other end as this was a plan that was all going to take a little time.

Needless to say after talking with Jim we both agreed that his best course of action was to touch base with Sir Patrick Hogan and that is where we both left it.

I did not hear back from Jim or Sir Patrick and was certainly not aware of Imagine That being booked to St Reims in the time that I worked at Stoneybridge Farm so I can only assume the matter was not taken any further but I have often wondered what the outcome would have been if those ideas and events had come to fruition.

What we do know is that the alternative option did occur with Imagine That having been subsequently bred to trotting stallions in her most recent breedings  and we will watch her progeny's performance with keen interest knowing that there was " a Master" at work in their creation. 

​Premier Pedigrees lost one of it's most loyal client's with the sudden passing of Mike Stratford during Covid lockdown in 2020.

A client for nearly two decades, Mike would ring me with a list of 10-20 mares each season to be pedigree-matched utilising his favoured Tesio linebreeding techniques.
A builder by trade morphing into a property developer in more recent times, no one experienced the tough periods such as the Global Financial Crisis 2007-9 or the Christchurch Earthquakes 2011-12 more than Mike.

Whilst these major events did not deter Mike from breeding during these times it did mean that he adjusted either by breeding less mares or by breeding more where he could obtain a package deal price from a Stud.
Often his requests would come with the qualifier, "here's my list of mares, which are the best four mares that go genetically with Stonebridge Regal, Gotta Go Cullen or Sir Lincoln" during these times.
During the good times in the building and property development sector Mike had no fear in going to the best stallion's, the likes of Bettor's Delight, Mach Thee, Christian Cullen or Art Major if we felt the mare warranted them.

It was indeed from one of these that "we" were to able to breed Mike's best horse. The mating of his Washington VC mare Suzy's Delight to Christian Cullen produced NZ Derby winner Locharburn.
So where did Mike's passion for breeding Standardbreds originate?

Back in my early punting days through High School and onto University of the mid to late '70's like many others I had favourite horses that I faithfully supported primarily because of their honesty ( they seemingly always gave you a good run for your money ) and secondarily because they nearly always returned a healthy dividend when in the money.

One of these was the bonny Canterbury pacing mare Classiebawn ( Scottish Hanover - Heathmount ) who registered 10 wins when racing against legends of the grit that included household names the ilk of Bad Luck, Trusty Scot, Roydon Scott, Lord Module, Palestine, Rondel, Sun Seeker, Rocky Tryax, Wee Win, Majestic Charger, In Or Out and Sapling to name a small cluster of her illustrious opponents.
As fate would have it, Classiebawn was raced by Mike's father and was to become the foundation mare for the naming of Mike's father's horse stud.

Many of the broodmares that Mike took over to breed from had Classiebawn appearing at some generational level in their maternal lineage.

Most also carried Scottish names such as Penscroft, Stronechrubie, Monaveen etc and it was perhaps no coincidence that even foundation mare Classiebawn was by none other than Scottish Hanover, of course.
This Scottish naming tradition was also ingrained in Mike and something he proudly sustained as part of the Classiebawn legacy. No better later example than Locharburn.

Whilst many of his breedings were simply in the name of M J Stratford, many others were in the name of his company, Cee Bee Holdings Ltd, the Cee Bee naturally an abbreviation for Classiebawn.

It was under the latter banner that he acquired the nice racemare Sagitta to breed from, a move which provided Mike with some of his proudest achievements as a Standardbred breeder.

From this daughter of Nero's BB, Mike was to breed some outstanding racetrack performers including Deimos ( a prolific winner in Australia ) and Smiling Star ( $106,878 ) and from Sagitta's daughter Lilsistar things got even better with the latter becoming the dam of Classiesistar ( $209,799 ) and Just Cala ( $247,547 ).

The sheer number of horses Mike has bred in the last two decades is phenomenal for a relatively small breeder and his success rate also staggering.

The Standardbred family in the years to come are going to miss the breeding endeavours of Michael J Stratford but for now we will still see M J Stratford printed in the racebook or on the Internet as the breeder of horses currently running around such as Cranbourne or Bundoran to quickly name a couple currently doing battle out on the racetracks of New Zealand.
​
So long Mike, Premier Pedigrees thanks you as an unsung breeding hero and Standardbred participant.
​May you rest in peace.