Breeding Snippets for May 18, 2026

By Rob Courtney (NZ Standardbred Breeders Association) 

Prebbleton owner/trainer/breeder John McDermott has a soft spot for his 7YO American Ideal mare Topaz and with good reason. Sensing the occasion last week at Addington honouring her 100th race start, the daughter of Supreme Gem duly obliged to record her 11th win and take her stakes earnings past $134k.

She is one of several of the McDermott team who has passed the $100k benchmark over the seasons and no doubt will have a second career as a broodmare when the time is right.

And she has plenty of breeding to recommend her future progeny.

Her dam Supreme Gem won eight races and her four live foals have all got to the races with Ruby’s Delight setting ‘the bar’ with 13 wins and $153k in the bank.

The latter has already entered the McDermott broodmare band and has a weanling filly, her first foal, by Downbytheseaside on the ground and has been served by Sweet Lou in the most recent breeding season.

Supreme Gem was by Christian Cullen from the very good mare Flying Sands who won 11 races herself and also got to the $100k+ benchmark.

This is the immediate family of top pacers Trident (14 wins + $235k) and Lento (15 wins + $272k) along with other quality types who can be found in this pedigree.

Topaz remains a shining stone for her owner with the promise of much more to come albeit away from the racetrack potentially.

*****************************

There must be a story behind a horse that is called He’s Not That Into U but after an infamous debut at Auckland (3/10/25) where he looked an easy winner before shying badly near the winning post and getting nosed out then going to Manawatu and finishing 25L from the winner in 10th after a torrid trip, it looks as though the Herlihy pacer has had the last laugh by coming from a three-deep sit to finish best at Cambridge last week to score his maiden win at start No 5.

His breeding suggests that it might not be his last!

Dam Settle Petal (by Art Major) won three races in a short career with a best MR of 1:55.5 and he is her first foal. The stable must think a bit of him because they went back to buy the second foal Lucky Luka, the full brother, who recently qualified in a 2:00MR.

Settle Petal is a daughter of Holly Madison (Christian Cullen – Tarena Jay), one of 5 good winners from her dam from only six foals.

The latter was very handy winning five from only 17 starts including a race as a 2YO. 

Her dam Tarena Jay (Soky’s Atom – Jayvee) won 5 races and left 7 winners including the very smart Jays Debut (6 NZ wins + $239k) before going to America.

If one goes back far enough in this pedigree, one finds broodmare ‘royalty’ in Aberfeldy and Black Watch, highly commercial in the 70s and 80s.

Don’t be surprised if ‘that name’ becomes more familiar in the coming weeks and for good reasons.

************************************

Dr Luk Chin is a living legend in our sport. He is a true ‘marvel’ doing what he does, now well into his 80s.

At Cambridge last week in a $25k trot graduation final, his bonny mare Jasinova (Love You – Jasinsky), at start No 201, stepped to the front and kept going strongly with ‘handle bars down’ to take the lion’s share of the stake, her 23rd win.

She started racing as a 2YO and now aged 8, she has earnings of well over $320k.

This writer has had the privilege of interviewing Dr Chin and he tells a story of how, when his father stepped away from ownership, that his brother inherited the pacers and he got the trotters.

His father had been a loyal and prolific client of legendary Templeton trainer Derek Jones through the 60s and 70s, enjoying much success with the Disband (14 wins) family. Older readers might remember horses like Dispense (8 wins), Beat The Gun (6 wins) & Disciple (7 wins)

The trotting arm of this family has been so carefully manicured over several decades by the good doctor. But he did have trouble with registering names with HRNZ back in the day. He related that his original choices were often ‘rejected’ and just by chance, in the 80s, some 40 years ago, across his radio came news of the Chernobyl disaster in the then Soviet Union.

And that ‘Russian’ theme has continued on ever since. Chernobyl (Game Pride – Beat The Gun) won 7 races. Half brother Kasparov won 4. Gorbachev (9 wins) & Spassky (7 wins) made notable contributions to the stable statistics.

Lovina, (Plat du Jour – Dispride), 5 wins, left Lovinsky, dam of Jasinsky (6 wins) who is the dam of Luk’s Cambridge winner. She also left the smart Djokovic (13 NZ wins + $193k).

After Jasinova, Dr Chin has qualified a Southwind Frank, now a 4YO mare called Ukranova and after a couple of years off, the mare has a weanling filly on the ground by Carlton as yet unnamed.

The feats of Dr Luk Chin and the contributions he and his family have made to harness racing in this country deserve greater recognition.

***********************************

Timing can be very important in the world of horse racing and with a National Weanling Sale on-going currently, any relatives of those young weanlings doing well would be well received by their connections.

Alabar NZ principal Graeme Henley could be the beneficiary of such ‘good news’ after Iron Brigade (by Art Major) won his eighth race at Addington on Friday night in the 4YO Pacing Uncut Gems when he got the better of the pace-making favourite Sideshow Bruce inside the final 100m.

Alabar are offering a full sister to Iron Brigade (Lot 16) and at the time of writing the online auction had her sitting at $12,500 with the likelihood that her eventual purchase price would climb even higher.

Their dam Trigirl Brigade won 7 races herself and was race placed at Group 1 level, earning $143k in the process.

Lot 16 is her 11th foal and to date eight of her progeny have been good enough to get to the races for six winners. Top of that pile was the grand performer Classie Brigade (by Bettor’s Delight) who won 21 races including three Kaikoura Cups.

Full brother Triroyal Brigade won 16 races and $200k, mostly in Australia while another full relation to the weanling filly Bruntwood Brigade has won 10 races in total with 8 this season alone. He was a very brave fourth behind Iron Brigade on Friday after sitting parked throughout and looms as a major player in the $100k Country Cups final being run next weekend.

Second dam Smithie’s Delight, by noted broodmare sire Smooth Fella, had seven to race for 7 winners and with the Art Major mares becoming ‘gold’ in the current racing climate, Lot 16 looks to have a great deal of residual value going forward, no matter what she does on the track.

Graeme Henley will be hoping that several others are thinking that very thing.

***********************************

There was no more popular winner at Addington over the weekend than that of Betterwithbling in the $40k Plains Final Pace. In the hands of top reinsman Johnny Dunn the 10g by Betterthancheddar trailed and got in the deciding strides over the pace-making Lasa. No doubt a career highlight for one of harness racings ‘really nice guys’ Jesse Wederell.

His record now stands at 8 wins and 27 placings from 110 starts with $131k in the bank after only starting his race career as a 5YO.

His dam Reincarnation (Holmes Hanover – Jessica McFaber) was an embryo transfer foal and after a very brief racing career went to stud where four of her 5 foals have made it to the races with the Wederell-trained gelding clearly the best of them.

Second dam Jessica McFaber produced cup class mare Kliklite (12 wins), also by Holmes Hanover, who went on to leave top filly Top Tempo (11 wins and $225k) with the latter going on to be a broodmare ‘gem’ in Australia. Arguably now one of the most commercial families in their stud book, the 10 progeny of Top Tempo have won 105 races between them headed up by the very smart Speak No Evil (16 wins from 29 starts and $354k and 1:50). Several of her daughters have produced the next wave of top Australian pacers.

Also of note, Jessica McFaber left Philosophy (by Bo Scot Blue Chip) who in turn left the top NZ 3YO of his year in The Court Owl (15 wins and $477k) when trained by none other than Mark Purdon.

While not in that class, Betterwithbling is clearly no ‘flash in the pan’. The Wederells can hold their heads up high after this great result.

*************************************

That was some win by Seaside Croft (Downbytheseaside – Penscroft) at Rangiora when resuming at just his fifth start and recording his third win, suggesting that a very promising career beckons for the 3YO.

The performance again highlighted the grand job his dam Penscroft has done in the ‘breeding barn’. By In The Pocket, who was a game changing sire in NZ back in the 90s, Penscroft won four races on the track for very little money but that hasn’t stopped her leaving 12 foals of racing age with 10 of them winners. Six of those have recorded sub 1:54 winning MRs and that’s not including her two current stars in Seaside Bruce (6 wins to date) and Seaside Croft who look more than capable of also recording big miles at some point in their respective careers.

There are winners galore in this family tree. Second dam Stronechrubie won eight but again with relatively little money earnt. Third dam Gentility didn’t win in seven starts but went on to leave 12 winners. The 3rd dam Strathmea (by noted broodmare sire El Patron) was unraced and the only progeny of the very good mare Classiebawn (10 wins) not to win a race. Her other nine foals were all winners headed by the smart pacers Braedoon (6 wins) and My Glendower (12 wins).

This was a very commercial family developed by the Ireland/Stratford families and was particularly potent through the 70s and 80s.

The two ‘Seaside’ horses of Penscroft look like propelling the family firmly back into the limelight judging by their most recent efforts.