Young Rufus helps secure maiden Reefton win 17 years later

35+ years of breeding horses came full circle for Canterbury breeder Kevin Hislop when Wriggles Rufus (Mr. Feelgood) cleared maidens at yesterday’s (Dec. 30) harness racing meeting at the Reefton Trotting Club.

The five-year-old was given an inch-perfect drive by young Canterbury junior Wilson House to get the chocolates in the third on the card to claim victory by the barest of margins.

“It’s been a long road, 39 starts,” laughed Hislop.

“He’s run second, third, and fourth a fair few times, so finally getting his nose in front was great. But with the angle at Reefton, everyone I was watching with thought he had run second,” he said.

The win of Wriggles Rufus was extra sweet for Hislop, having stuck by the son of trainer, Michael House, entrusting the regular driving duties to the talented Wilson even when others were putting their hand up for the drive.

“We stuck with Wilson since we moved to the Michael House stable even though we have had the chance to utilise more senior drivers.

“Nothing against them, but Martin and I are both older guys, and we wanted to give a young guy a chance in his field of endeavour,” he said.

Wriggles Rufus was the fourth siring credit in New Zealand for the 3.3 million dollar earner, Mr. Feelgood.

For the dam sire, Young Rufus, it was his first of any kind in New Zealand for the former Auckland Cup winner and, remarkably, was a horse bred and raced by Hislop through the early 2000s.

The seven-time Group One winner took Hislop on an incredible journey winning feature races on both sides of the Tasman, including the New Zealand FFA, South Australia Cup, and Victoria Cup in a career that saw the son of Soky’s Atom winning 22 races and over a million in stakes.

Unfortunately for Hislop, his vocation never allowed him to enjoy the success as much as he would have liked, but it never detracted from the thrill of reaching the pinnacles of the sport.

“Being brought up in Canterbury, my father used to go to the races and had an interest. I am picking there are plenty of people like myself who grew up in the region and got the bug the same way.

“I worked in information technology for an American multi-national company called Unisys which saw me work in four continents and sixteen countries which is why I wasn’t around for a lot of Young Rufus’ career, which was sad in a way, but you have to do what you have to do.

“For an ordinary guy to end up racing a horse like him was just out of this world. You don’t expect it to happen, but when you go to a top trainer like Mark Purdon, those things can eventuate. You treasure those moments because we had been through many mediocre horses before that, and every race becomes memorable.

“There were so many highlights. Getting into the Interdominion finals was unbelievable. Captain Rufus got into two finals in Hobart and Melbourne, and Young Rufus made the final at Auckland. That was the peak, but when you win an Auckland Cup by eight lengths over a horse like Yulestar, that was the biggest moment of his career and was a real highlight for me,” he said.

Young Rufus was the second horse produced by Hislop out of the Mark Lobell mare, Hurricane Mark.

The first horse produced was pretty good, too, being a full brother in Captain Rufus, the winner of 17 races, including a Bendigo Cup and Interdominion heat.

“I bought the dam for $500, and she left the progeny of 2 million dollars, and the legacy lives on,” he laughed.

“She was pretty much my first breeding endeavour. Me and a few other guys in Wellington raced her, and she wasn’t up to much, but she did have speed. She just had a tendency to switch off in her races, but I liked how she had speed, and you can see clearly she passed it on to her progeny,” he said.

While Wriggles Rufus might lack some of the x-factor of the superstar Young Rufus, it was fitting after plenty of perseverance that the millionaire earner would play a part in helping Hislop and fellow co-owner Martin Wrigley with another race day win some 17 years later.

“I had a free service to Young Rufus when he stood his only season at stud in New Zealand, ironically with Michael House as the studmaster and was looking for a broodmare to breed him too.

“That’s how we came about breeding Wriggles Rufus dam, Romance Rufus, and while she hasn’t been the greatest producer in the world, it is still satisfying,” he said.

For the trainer, Michael House, satisfying was the word used when describing the breakthrough success after more than ten months of trial and error with the slow learner.

“I thought I would give him some tough love and motivation because when he arrived, he wouldn’t turn on the track and wanted to run out the gate,” said House.

“One day, when I was on my own with him, I spent a bit of time with him on the track, and it became very clear to me that he was very timid and almost scared. It got to the point where I was trying to get him past the gate, and he wouldn’t do it. He all but pissed his pants while he was standing there. I took the cart off and patted him for an hour or so.

“As the weeks went on, he just got better and better, and when he started on race night, we led him around with a pony. Wilson, who has driven him most of the time, has always looked after him, and his confidence has improved. He trains a lot better now than he ever has.

“We went into yesterday a bit blind because I really felt he should have won at Palmerston North. He has had a few starts, but he had never raced on grass, and as it turned out, we found the right race.

“It was a great drive to let the favourite go round him and have the last say. The horse’s apprehension and timidness are potentially still high, but it’s much better than ever. People say he’s maturing and getting better, but I feel that he’s becoming more accepting, and it wouldn’t surprise me if he won a few more races,” he said.

WRIGGLES RUFUS REPLAY

Hislop has just the one other foal from Romance Rufus, a yearling filly by Ultimate Machete who is currently being educated in the Hawkes Bay.

“She is with a trainer in the North Island called Tracey Cadwallader, and she is going to work it up before we move her on to a commercial trainer and possibly Michael House again. We tried breeding Romance Rufus again in the Spring, but she didn’t get her in foal, and at my age, I do not want to do much more, so it could be the end of the road unless one of these two does something amazing.

“The only horse I have other than these two is Captain Rufus, who has just turned 30, and I like to look after him in his declining years. He is on a farm in Rangiora having a great time,” he said.

For complete Reefton race results, click here.

by Brad Reid, for Harnesslink