HRNZ's Owner and Breeder for April

Every month HRNZ picks at random an owner and breeder of the month. The only proviso is that their horse must have won a race during the month.

Doreen McNaught has been selected as owner of the month for April after Built For Glory won a heat and then the final of the Southern Supremacy at Winton (April 13) and Invercargill (April 21) and Dean Hunter has been selected as breeder of the month after Edward Longshanks' win at Rangiora on April 28

Owner of the month : Doreen McNaught

For Doreen McNaught, who lives at Winton, racing is very much family orientated.

"My husband Loxley and myself have been involved with Harness Racing for many years, about 45, and had many horses, including Tact Halsey in the NZ Trotting Cup in 1998.

"I am loving being involved with Built For Glory (pictured above) along with our son Deon, and I do get very excited when he wins!"

After his two wins in Southland in April, including the Group 2 Alabar Southern Supremacy Stakes Final, Built for Glory has fashioned a fine record of five wins from 10 starts.

"We do have high hopes for future success with him," says McNaught.

And their connection with trainer Steve and Amanda Telfer and the whole Stonewall operation doesn't end there.

"Loxley, Deon and our other son Hayden, have shares in Twista who is based at the Auckland stable with Steve Telfer. Fingers crossed for his future success too."

Twista has had one win and seven placings from 13 starts.

Breeder of the month : Dean Hunter

Canterbury-based Dean Hunter wasn't on course to see Edward Longshanks win on debut on April 28 though he had a decent reason not to be there.

"Unfortunately we missed seeing his win live as both my wife Sandie and I had Covid at the time, so trackside it was."

The Hunters bred the horse along with his brother and sister-in-law Alan and Judy Hahn.

"We have bred quite a few horses together, mainly straight out trotters. One of the first we bred was Avon Develd. She won five and ran second in a Sires' Stakes final. She also left a nice trotter called Mo Hahn which won six for us and probably could have won more but went in a back suspensory."

"Destiny Jones was definitely my best horse," says Hunter.

She won 10 from 92 starts and over $220,000.

"It was a pleasure to have a horse like her to race. We sold her first foal, a filly by What The Hill, at this year's sales to Kerryn Tomlinson and it has been syndicated out. We retained a 20% share. We have a weanling colt also by What The Hill which is a good size and looker and we will look to syndicate him sometime in the near future. Destiny is currently in foal to the Walner stallion King Of The North."

But the big question is how did Edward Longshanks get his distinctive name?

"My brother-in-law Alan Hahn and I have been breeding the odd horse for the last 30 years. Somewhere over that time we have called each other Ted which I think originated from the TV series Father Ted. Hence when Dolly Jones' first foal came along we had to have another Ted so he was nicknamed Big Ted because of his size. When it came to registering him I came up with the name Edward Longshanks (King Edward 1st) being the extended name for Ted and his size."

We sold Dolly Jones on Gavelhouse after we bred Edward Longshanks and Snazzy Doll," says Hunter, "but Sandie and I will continue to breed from Destiny Jones."

Congratulations to both the owner and breeder of the month and your winning plaques have been sent out.