12/13/2020 Peanuts to Producer - PineauWhen long time friends, Hawera accountant Gavin O'Dea and Auroa dairy farmer Johnny "Silver" Goodin asked Premier Pedigrees to provide them with a shortlist of broodmares to inspect at the May 2012 National Weanling, Broodmare and Mixed Bloodstock Sale at Karaka, we actually presented them with two lists.
List One included our favoured top shelf Commercial mares and List Two comprised what we termed a "value" list of mares considered slightly less Commercial. We presented them with two lists simply because the economic environment at the time and possible bargains may have sprung from our List One. We were also a little unsure of the financial parameters under which Gavin and Silver were operating hence our preference to develop two lists. What we did know was that Gavin and Silver had an intent to buy a nice mare together that could possibly be developed into a Commercial broodmare. At the very top of List Two ( our "value" list ) was a mare named Pineau, by Carnegie and out of Dopff ( a mare by revered broodmare sire Tights )who was in foal to Tavistock, the latter at that time standing at just $6000+gst. Pineau was being sold by Blandford Lodge ( Graham and Kylie Bax ) in partnership with Go Bloodstock ( Sir Owen Glenn ) on the basis that she was a passive mare and dominated by the other mares' in her group. They believed that she would be better suited with a smaller breeder with one or two mares, certainly not a larger Commercial breeding operation. Silver and Gavin had obviously "done their homework" on both the Catalogue and our two presented Lists and inspected Pineau upon their arrival at Karaka which included a pre-Sale talk with Graham Bax on all the details they needed to know on the mare. When they joined me in the selling arena they told me they were going to have " a crack at her". From recollection they were prepared to go to $10,000 tops for her so you can imagine their ecstasy having her knocked down to them at just $6200+gst. Needless to say it was job well done and Pineau was on the horse transporter and off to her new home at Silver's newly acquired and very sheltered lifestyle block at Bell Block near New Plymouth where she was about to lead the life of luxury and quickly be given the paddock name "Peanuts". And the good friends did not have to wait too longas Pineau's 2010 foal Dancer's Tale ( by Tale Of The Cat ) was successful at her two year old debut on September 8 2012 at Wanganui to be followed shortly afterwards by a 3rd placing in the Listed Wellesley Stakes at Trentham in October. The following month Dancer's Tale was to acquire thick black type for both herself and "Peanuts" when successful in the Listed Barneswood Farm Agistment Welcome Stakes $50,000 over 1000 metres on 17 November at just her third start in the hands of the King, Michael Coleman for trainer Murray Baker. It was a short career for Dancer's Tale which would see her win 4 races from 24 starts and bankroll $75,860. This black type success for Dancer's Tale and her mother came just four days after Pineau had foaled a lovely Tavistock colt ( on the writer's birthday ) at Waikato Stud whilst awaiting to be mated with O'Reilly. After some deliberation, the Tavistock colt was to be retained by the Goodin's and the O'Dea's and given the name Travimyfriend. I called into Silver's Bell Block residence to see Travimyfriend when he was just a yearling and found it hard to believe just how short-coupled he was for a horse that carried close-up 3x3 paternal linebreeding to Sadler's Wells. All physical indicators at that stage pointed towards a horse that was going to run early but to the full credit of his owners the Goodin's, Gavin O'Dea and another friend Cliff Erb he was not raced until a late three year old and rewarded them with three wins in a row as an early four year old. From 22 New Zealand starts, Travimyfriend recorded 4 wins ( one on each of our four categories of track conditions i.e. good, dead, slow and heavy ), 5 seconds and 5 thirds for earnings of $119,750. Testimony to his quality was that four of his thirds were at Group level, once at Group 1, once at Group 2 and twice at Group 3. He was knocking on the door of Group 1 victory in New Zealand as a five year old and it was only a succession of wide draws that had denied him. With trainer Rachael Frost's decision to move to Victoria so did Travimyfriend go with her amidst a rejuggling of ownership. To date Travimyfriend has become a dual Listed black type winner providing Pineau with her second Stakes winner. A gorgeous O Reilly filly was to follow but tragically she succumbed to cancer, detected very close to the eve of her sale at the 2015 NZB Yearling Sales where she was entered in Book 1 and anticipated to sell very well. The 2013 breeding season would also see Silver and Gavin canvas around a few people including ourselves for a suggested stallion mate for Pineau. Amongst our top selections was Makfi. I remember Gavin telling me that he had asked trainer Fraser Auret who he thought would be a suitable stallion for Pineau and Fraser had said "to leave it with him" eventually also coming up with Makfi. So it was an easy breeding decision that season for the partners and what a masterstroke it proved to be for one of them in particular as it was not uncommon for one partner to buy out the other's share in a foal if they wanted to race it instead of prepping it for the Yearling Sales. Pineau obliged with a Makfi colt which was to be owned solely by Gavin O'Dea and trained by Fraser Auret. Narrowly defeated on debut at Woodville on a Heavy 10 track, Matchbreaker was tobreak maiden status at his very next start at Otaki and went back there for his third start this time in the Group 3 Lucia Valentina Wellington Stakes which he won narrowly but well in the masterful hands of Chris Johnson. So now Pineau had produced her third black type Stakes winner all within a relatively short period of time. Naturally after black type success offers rolled in for the three year old Matchbreaker and he was sold to Hong Kong interests for a large six figure sum where under his new name Monster Kaka to date he has shown hints of his ability without winning. With "Peanuts" producing the goods it was off back to Westbury Stud and another date with Makfi in 2014 resulting in late 2015 in a filly to be retained by the partners and be named Not Santa. She was to be retained by the partners to race as at the time she was the only living female they had as a future replacement breeder for Pineau and to retain this wonderful "Haunui Farm family". Although yet to strike any black type for various reasons, Not Santa has acquitted herself well on the racetrack to date with 3 wins, a second and two thirds for $27,720 in earnings from just the 10 starts in little over two seasons of racing. There are plenty of good times eagerly anticipated with Pineau's 2017 foal by Ocean Park being an impressive debut winner at New Plymouth in 2020 racing in the name of Puke Park for the partners. He is one to keep a close eye on as he has clearly inherited the family talent and is held in high regard by trainer Fraser Auret. Pineau's 2018 foal by Iffraaj is a striking looker and already labelled by Silver as "potential stallion material", having recently rejoined the Auret barn for the next stage in his preparation whilst a 2019 yearling filly by Sacred Falls, also un-named at this stage, currentlt resides at Silver and Helena Goodin's Bell Block property under their watchful eye. She will also be retained as a future breeding replacement for "Peanuts" further down the track. According to Silver she has a very impressive temperament and a great brain ( very intelligent ) so is another to keep a watch out for. Very recently Pineau has foaled a colt by U S Navy Flag at Haunui Farm in late November 2020 where she is going to be served by Ribchester, a mating largely stamped by the looks and type of the Iffraaj two year old colt. Interestingly, being a member of the "Haunui Farm family", staff there are amazed that the U S Navy Flag colt was born with four white feet as the "Foxona family" predominantly straight plain bays with little in the way of white feet. So this must have come though U S Navy Flag and whilst Silver thinks it could be the influence of damsire Galileo we believe it it may have come via granddam sire Storm Cat and in particular Storm Cat's damsire Secretariat who possessed a star, a snip and three white feet. "Peanuts" has give the Goodin/O'Dea partnership one helluva rideto date and there is promise of even better to come. One thing is for sure,Pineau has played her part in keeping the "Haunui Farm family" current and Commercial and she has a couple of well bred daughters to continue this amazing legacy. Footnote: Geoff and Peg Chitty's desire to own a mare by the all-conquering sire of the time in Foxbridge led to their 1958 purchase of Foxona from the Estate of Peg's late parents Ernest and Winifred Schofield. Little were they to know that Foxona was to lay the platform for a future racing and breeding dynasty that continues ever so strongly today with many of it's members carrying vintage "vino" names such as Riesling, Moselle, Vavasour etc although perhaps some over-indulgence may have occured when it came to the registration of "Peanuts" name as Pineau rather than the more traditional Pinot. With Haunui Farm currently breeding from close to a dozen of the descendants of Foxona and other well-recognised racetrack mares yet to hit the breeding barn such as Rondinella and Shezzacatch just to name a couple there is ample evidence that this Commercial dynasty is going to be around for a long time to come.
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AuthorPremier Pedigrees was born out of Ken Mackay's passion for horse pedigrees to offer a very affordable pedigree matching service and valuable recommendations to new and existing Australian and New Zealand clients for both thoroughbred and standardbred mares. Archives
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