Grice, Griffins and Williamson

It sounds like a legal firm but it’s actually one of New Zealand harness racing’s most successful partnerships, especially in the trotting gait.

Bevan and the late Keith Grice have bred horses for seventy seven years on their farms near Ashburton.

“When we started it wasn’t an economic unit, so we ended up buying land and then we farmed 1000 acres each,” Bevan said.

Outside of their own band of broodmares the farms have had plenty of high profile paying guests over the years, both standardbreds and thoroughbreds.

“One day Peter Williams (galloping trainer) came up to me and asked if we could graze a mare for him. He brought her down and I put her on a forty five acre paddock. When Peter came to pick her up two months later he said he only wanted to win one race with the horse that year, the Auckland Cup. I looked at him and thought that was the richest race in the country for gallopers. She went on to win the Cup and break the world record.”

The horse was Sea Swift and she won the 1988 Auckland Cup.

Another famous boarder was Atomic Lass (Soky’s Atom) owned by Aucklander Tony Parker.

“Patrick O’Reilly told me eighteen months ago that when Atomic Lass was grazing here, she was carrying Auckland Reactor (Mach Three).”

He won the Auckland Trotting Cup in 2009.

Bevan and Keith have had outstanding success in both gaits for a long time but in the last two decades their trotting breed has been to the forefront. They have an outstanding record in the New Zealand Trotting Derby breeding Dependable (Sundon) to win in 2001, Shirley Temple (Sundon) 2007, Doctor Mickey (Dr Ronerail) 2008 and Ima Gold Digger (Sundon) in 2009.

For the Grices, the family tree goes all the way back to Lady Earnscleugh (Court Martial). 

“She was the second foal we ever bred.” 

Her only filly was Queenstown (Armbro Del) which left three fillies including Zola (Game Pride). She qualified but never raced and at stud left Kiwi Battler (Sundon) which won eight races and Janetta’s Pride (Gee Whiz II) which won three for Patrick O’Reilly senior.

Janetta’s Pride has proved to be an excellent broodmare leaving eight winners all by Sundon, including Dependable (14), Jo Anne (12) and Ima Gold Digger (15). 

“Dependable – I’ll never forget him. He turned a foot in. We sent him away to Alan Georgeson and said if he didn’t like him to put him back on the float. He never came home (laughter), and he finished up in America.”

Dependable won a further six races in America while Ima Gold Digger was also exported to the States where he won another twenty four. 

Janetta’s Pride left eleven fillies, most winning races and going on to leave winners of their own.

One of those fillies Juliana (Sundon) has proved to be Janetta’s Pride’s best producer leaving Sarah Palin (Pegasus Spur) 10 wins, Monty Python (Pegasus Spur) 15 wins, Father Christmas (Love You) 23 wins, Dark Horse (Bacardi Lindy) 14 wins, Arc De Triomphe (Quaker Jet) 1 win and Hidden Talent (Bacardi Lindy) 4 wins. 

Not a bad record for a couple of self confessed hobby breeders. 

“We only bred from her (Juliana) every second year. She’s got a colt foal, and we’ve called him Jaguar.”

Juliana’s third foal Sarah Palin was the first to put her mother in the spotlight and Bevan says trainer Margo Nyhan did a great job getting ten wins from a horse who had some major injuries. 

“When she was nine months old she was sent away to be broken in. They put her in a pen and bugger me days she decided to jump out and she cut all the sinews in front of her hock. If that happened today, you wouldn’t bother to fix her up.”

Bevan says he’s only breeding from three mares this season – Dark Horse, Sarah Palin and Pres The Belle (The Pres). 

Like a lot of New Zealand trotting families the Grice’s breed went to another level with the infusion of Sundon blood. And crossing their mares with Bacardi Lindy has also been a success, producing the likes of Dark Horse and Hidden Talent.

“The reason we went to him was because his mother (Rum Boogie) won $900,000. She must have been pretty bloody good. Nathan Williamson reckons that would have been two million dollars in today’s money.”

So let’s link the Grices great partnership into the highly successful Griffins Syndicate.

In 2008 David Beckingsale and Greg Crawford who worked at the BNZ and Neil Bennett, went to see Bevan Grice about leasing a pacer. 

“Bevan told the group they had a trotter for lease called Mellow Puff (Monarchy) and that he could ‘run faster than the truck,” said Griffins Syndicate Manager Mark Noonan.

Mellow Puff was out of the Sundon mare Melting Moments.

“They decided to lease the trotter. The spelling is slightly different (Griffins’ biscuit spelling is Mallow Puff) but that’s where the Griffins name came from. The horse was a lovely looking trotter but he never made the grade.”

From slow beginnings the Syndicate grew and Noonan says the majority of the original members are still with the group fifteen years on.

“We don’t tend to lose any members because it’s so successful.”

He says there are forty shares in the Griffins Syndicate, but the interest goes wider than the share numbers.

“A lot of members only have a half or quarter share so in terms of how many people are involved you could easily double it.”

Noonan also manages the newly formed Griffins Number Three Syndicate and says the majority of the members are in both Syndicates.

“Griffins Syndicate pay $120 per month while the Griffins Number Three pay $100 per month.” 

The Syndicates have members from Auckland right down to Stewart Island and also in Australia.

“People who are in the Syndicates are there for the racing and not the money. With the Griffins Syndicate we’ve had three or four payouts but they just want to keep the money in and keep racing.”

The original Syndicate currently has sixteen horses leased or owned. Two with Michael House, four with Phil Williamson, three with Brad Williamson, two with Nathan Williamson, two with Matty Williamson, two with Margo Nyhan and one with Kirstin Green. Ten of the horses are leased from the Grices.

“They’re a great Syndicate, Mark Noonan and Greg Crawford are the two guys I deal with. They’re easy to train for and always want the best for the horse. They never put pressure on you as a trainer to rush the horse,” trainer Nathan Williamson said.

Members of the Griffins Syndicate have been or still are part of other Syndicates – the Seafield Trotting Syndicate, the Griffins Number Two Syndicate, the BPL Syndicate and the Griffins Number Three Syndicate. Many of the horses these groups have raced are also from the Grice breed.

“They’ve got such a great breed and we’ve just had a fantastic run and they’re such great people to deal with. You just fill in the lease forms because they’re needed for HRNZ. That’s the last time you look at the paperwork because the leases are on gentlemen’s agreements, and you also get the choice of whether you want the progeny out of any of the mares you race. They’re old school and your word is your bond.”

Seventy three of the Syndicates’ total of 120 wins have been with Grice horses.

The Griffins Syndicate’s first winner was Rugged Cross (Sundon) at Ascot Park Invercargill in April 2011. Trained by Phil Williamson she was the beginning of the third part of this great partnership story. 

“You do build up great relationships with the trainers. When you deal with them all the time they become more like friends.”

Undoubtedly the Syndicates most talented horse was Dark Horse. She won fourteen of her thirty three starts and that was after spending nearly two years away from the racetrack.

“She was a horse that broke our hearts. We never found out how good she could have been. She had three suspensory issues in three different legs. It cost us a bit with the treatment, but Nathan said he’d never sat behind a quicker trotter.”

Williamson added that most owners would have given up on her.

“They gave me every opportunity to get her back. She did a great job when she did come back and they reaped the benefits of their patience.” 

The group’s rising star is Dark Horse’s full sister Hidden Talent and once again the Syndicate have shown a good deal of patience.

“She didn’t do anything until she was a late three year old. They had faith in me, and she ended up doing good things,” Nathan said. 

After winning her first four starts including the Group Three Sires Stakes Classique beating Majestic Love, (Majestic Son) (also raced by the Griffins Syndicate) Hidden Talent finished a game second in the New Zealand Trotting Oaks won by Con Grazia Love (Love You). Her next start was in the Group One New Zealand Trotting Derby, a race the Grices horses have such a great record in. But it wasn’t to be this time.

“Nathan was pretty gutted that she didn’t win the Derby. He was quite sure she would have won if she hadn’t galloped. He just reached across to pull the plugs and that movement was enough to put her out of her gait. He was thinking ‘what if – did I need to pull the plugs?’ We were gutted for him because he’d put so much work into her,” Noonan said.

Another promising trotter raced by the Griffins Syndicate is Missile (Trixton). He’s out of a full sister to Juliana (Triple A) the last foal of Janetta’s Pride. Missile has won his only start.

“He’s got ability, but his top two inches aren’t there. He’ll roar around his paddock at a hundred miles an hour and just short of the fence he’ll work it out, start sliding, hit the fence and cut his legs. He’s done that twice. Phil says most horses would do it once and then work it out,” Noonan said.

The Syndicate had high hopes for Arc De Triomphe, a son of Quaker Jet out of Juliana.

“Phil still talks about him. He thought he was going to be a really nice horse. One day at home as he was jogging, his leg went bang, and the horse just stopped. He couldn’t believe how tough the horse was. He just stood there and wasn’t making a big drama of it.”

The injury was so bad the horse had to be humanely put down.

Another they have high hopes for is a two year old filly named Hail Mary who’s a full sister to Hidden Talent and Dark Horse.

“She’s due back into training this week. She trots along nicely and shows a bit of the family ability. She’s a lot like the others and will take a bit of time,” Nathan said.

We haven’t yet mentioned Majestic Man, the Syndicate’s best horse. 

Out of Love Hate Revenge (Holdonmyheart), Majestic Man has won twenty four races and banked $771,118. He’s currently campaigning in Australia with trainer Phil Williamson.

Some of the original Syndicate members raced Love Hate Revenge. She was out of Gees Pride (Penrod Eden) which won nine races. Gees Pride’s dam Gee du Jour (Plat du Jour) won seventeen including the Group One 1991 Rowe Cup so there’s plenty of breeding there.

“We put her to Majestic Son who was the new kid on the block and were lucky enough to get a lovely horse like Majestic Man. You don’t get many that win three quarters of a million. He’s such an honest horse, that’s what we like about him,” Noonan said.

Although he’s won three Group One races in Australia he hasn’t managed to win one here.

“He just picked a tough time with horses like Sundees Son, Muscle Mountain and Bolt For Brilliance. If he didn’t have those horses to race against he would have won lots of Group Ones in New Zealand.”

He said Majestic Man typifies the Syndicate’s trust in Phil Williamson who recommended to pay a late entry fee for the 2017 Sires Stakes Two Year Old Trotting Championship after the horse had won two of his first three starts.

“It cost us $6,000 which is a lot of money for a small Syndicate. He won the race. You do value that opinion,” said Noonan, adding that that respect extends to the whole Williamson family. 

We’re lucky enough with having Bev there so that Phil can go and campaign horses in Auckland and Australia. The whole Williamson family is as honest as the day is long. Phil will give you his honest opinion and we always value that. He’s never put us wrong.”

Although the Griffins horses were initially trained by Phil and still are, his sons Nathan, Matty and Brad are getting an increase in their numbers.

“Phil is getting to the stage where he’s wanting to cut back. Nathan started with Dark Horse and we’ve tended to keep the Juliana progeny with him. We talk to Phil about it, and as he’s winding down we’re just giving more to the boys.”

Brad Williamson has driven the most winners for the Syndicate at 35, with Nathan on 17 and Matty on 6. 

The Griffins Syndicate’s biggest winners have been Majestic Man (24), Monty Python (15) and Dark Horse (14).

Looking after their horses well when they finish racing or are spelling is a high priority for the Syndicate.

Monty Python lives out his retirement on a farm south of Oamaru and Noonan says there’s a spot there for Majestic Man when he finishes racing.

“When the farrier is out there we pay for Monty Python and the other horses on the farm and we drop off boxes of beer, oysters and wine for the farmer.”

Noonan says the individual trainers make the decision regarding when the horses should go out for a spell.

“When Majestic Man spells he’s in the back paddock at Phil’s. I think he’d have him in the spare bedroom if Bev would let him.”

The Syndicate doesn’t skimp on the spelling of horses, particularly young ones.

“You’ve got to put the money into them particularly with the hard feed. You’ve really got to look after them and that’s one thing we’ve learnt over the years.” 

Noonan added that the Williamsons don’t race horses early unless they’re mature enough.

“Even at three they’re selective. That’s why a lot of our horses race until they’re eight and nine, because they’ve been looked after as younger horses. They weren’t raced every week and they’ve had a spell when they’ve needed to. The Williamsons are stockmen, and you can tell the horses just love them.”  

And Noonan says “We’ve been lucky over the years because he Grice breed doesn’t have a lot of duds.”

Clearly the Grices, Griffins Syndicates and Williamsons have based their partnerships on trusting relationships. They’ve stood the test of time and given many people a great deal of pleasure over many years. 

Hopefully a Group One win in New Zealand is just round the corner.

by Bruce Stewart, for Harnesslink