Laura Smith – High rise stock

Cust harness racing yearling sale preparer Laura Smith was one of the stars at last February’s NZB Standardbred National Yearling Sale in Christchurch.

She put up nine pacing yearlings, ultimately selling them for a total of $723,500, with three lots selling for over $100,000. (Captaintreacherous – Spanish Armada colt $120,000), (Art Major – Gotta Go Harmony filly $125,000) and (Captaintreacherous – Imaginary Bet colt $200,000).

She also presented and sold six trotters for an average of just over $31,000 with her top lot (Tactical Landing-Petite One) selling for $110,000. The final tally of $911,500.00 a pretty satisfying total for Laura, especially compared to the 2021 sale where she presented four trotting yearlings and six pacing yearlings for a total of $344,000.

Smith grew up on a sheep and dairy farm in Cust in Canterbury owned by her parents LesleLaura Smith – High Rise Stocky and Alister Smith.

“They started with a sheep farm, and then getting 60 milking cows on the side, they slowly went more into dairying.” Close to retirement nowdays they milk 600 cows.

Laura went to Cust Primary School before attending Rangiora High School. A Vet Nurses course at CPIT followed.

“I’ve loved horses for as long as I can remember but I wasn’t allowed much to do with them growing up.”

“The course was short and intense over 12 months. They put you in placements all around Canterbury, and I soon realised that the large animal side was what I enjoyed more than cats and dogs. Once I started to work with horses for the first time I began to soak in everything.”

She worked at Wai Eyre Farm for several years. She also helped prep yearlings for the sales with David Shadbolt.

“I wanted to do more hands on work with yearlings which I hadn’t done before. You never stop learning. The more people you talk to and the more information you can gather the better.”

Laura enjoyed a stint in Ireland, working for a thoroughbred stud.

“David had connections over there because he used to head there every off season. He was kind and gave me the names of a few people to call. I was at the stud for about six months. I came back home but got job offers from overseas for the following season. That’s when I decided to go out on my own.”

She’s had her Cust property for fifteen years, starting out with a fifty acre block which has grown to just over a hundred acres.

“It’s been challenging trying to buy property. I’m at the smaller end of the market because I don’t have the funds that the big studs have but I’ve been growing slowly. The initial fifty acre property was an old deer farm, so it was well fenced and all the infrastructure was there which I needed to make a start.”

She says the deer shed has been converted into covered yards and a stable’s been built with seventeen boxes.

Initially Laura looked after spelling racehorses but that soon changed.

“I started to get enquires from owners saying they were retiring their racing fillies and would like to breed from them. Now I can cater for everything from getting the mares in foal, foaling, weaning through to yearling prep.”

Although she handles most of her yearlings well before their final sales preparation, all those entered are brought in for preparation in November.

“They’ll do a bit of work, get covers and then go out into the paddock, so they get used to things again. Then they’ll all come back in mid December.”

Although she’s prepared outside yearlings in the past, Laura prefers to start with foals that have been born on the property.

“It makes things a lot easier. They get the right start with feeding and handling. They become more relaxed and get into a routine.”

Laura has two experienced part time staff members in Sarah Wilson and Phillipa Saxon and she brings in one to two more prior to the yearling sales. She doesn’t try to match yearlings with particular staff members however.

“They need to adapt to different people. Generally I like to make sure I do all the basic hands on work with all the horses so I can assess what they’re like.

Laura’s partner Dave lends a helping hand when he can. He works in town during the week so he enjoys getting outside when he can.

“I wouldn’t be able to do what I do without him, but he works fulltime so it’s more of a part time thing for him.”

Their children Molly and Luke love to help after school.

Once yearling prep begins, Smith runs the colts in separate paddocks while some of the fillies are paired up.

“I don’t mind running fillies in pairs. They quite enjoy having a friend with them. Colts would get into trouble.

Although the young horses are kept naturally fit by their daily paddock activities some of the better doing yearlings are given additional exercising.

“They are worked in the round yard. I find it’s a bit safer and they can also get their own exercise program to suit the horse.

She uses blacksmiths Andy Faulks and Sam Gillman. Yearlings that start their life as foals on the farm have their feet closely monitored from a young age.

“They can go through a growth spurt and look pretty open kneed or perhaps a little bit turned in or out. Then things settle down. You want to do what’s required but you don’t want to rush in. They say little and often is better than making drastic changes.”

The numbers in the trotting section of the sales are starting to increase with commercial breeders seeing the gait as a growth area in the sport.

Smith presented six trotting yearlings at both the 2021 and 2022 sales and she says preparing trotting yearlings can be tricky.

“Sometimes the trotters can be a little bit ‘hotter’. Not in a bad way, just a bit more fidgety and excitable.”

Closer to sale time trainers and potential owners visit the farm and inspect the bloodstock, all with their different preferences which she gets to know.

She says the addition of the Canterbury Yearling Sale Bus Tour has helped and a lot of effort goes into having the yearlings looking their best on the day.

“Its’s about first Impressions so if you can get them looking good at that time it does make a difference.”

There’s no doubt the presence of Todd and Fleur Anderson’s top end quality yearlings has lifted the profile of Smith’s draft, a relationship that came about through bloodstock agent Peter Lagan.

“Inquiries were made about a potential new owner coming on the scene with some lovely broodmares and (as to) whether I’d be interested in grazing, doing the breeding and looking after young stock. Initially I was full, but I’ve managed to buy a bit more land so we got them on board.

They are lovely owners and I consider myself very lucky.”

Does the addition of high end bloodstock add pressure?

“It probably should but it comes back to wanting to be thorough with all horses whether they’re a $5,000 or $150,000 horse. They all get treated the same. If you can get one foal up and racing it makes it better for the next foal that comes along. That gives you work further down the line.”

On Sales Day Laura likes to lead in and parade all her yearlings and she says the team has to work like clockwork.

At last year’s Sale some of her lots were quite close together. There was no time to celebrate when the Gotta Go Harmony filly (lot 312) sold for $125,000 because the Imaginary Bet colt (318) was getting in line to enter the arena.

Two yearlings that stand out over the years are B D Joe and Delightful Memphis.

“It’s great following the horses that have been born or prepped here. Joe was a lovely yearling, as was Memphis. All her siblings generally come here for weaning. Other horses that have been bred on the property for my owners, and that I am enjoying following at the moment are Amore Vita who is currently racing in Australia, and Merlin and Millwood Nike in New Zealand.”

This year Laura’s preparing a full draft for the Sale. She highlights two Bettor’s Delight colts, one out of Safedra and the other out of Supersonic Miss as early standouts.

“I think this year I’m going to be spoilt again with some lovely horses.”

by Bruce Stewart, for Harnesslink