A beer with Forbesy

Not many horses frequent public houses, but harness racing stallion Lord Forbes (Live Or Die) has been to the pub twice. Both times he was underage,  but no-one checked his ID and in fact he’s only just turned eighteen this year.

The running of the Kindergarten Stakes on Thursday (6th April) at Wyndham will be a special moment for Lord Forbes and his trainer Gavin Forbes.

Gavin will start the only filly in the race – Louies Girl, who is just one of four foals sired by Lord Forbes. He raced in the Kindergarten sixteen years ago, finishing seventh.

“He got knocked down at the start, got up and had a broken hopple and it was flinging around his leg. But the bugger wanted to keep going and he paced all the way. If I’d gone down on the inside I would have run in the first four,” Forbes said recalling the race. 

Lord Forbes was bred by Gavin after he borrowed Soky’s Atom mare Lasalle from Graeme Hunt.

“I’d bought a foal out of her from Graeme. I sent the foal to Mark Smolenski and he said he was in his top three (yearlings being broken in). I said ‘you’d better geld him’ which he did but his guts dropped out and he died. Graeme said because that happened, I could borrow the mare. I sent her to Live Or Die.”

Lord Forbes was the result, and the diminutive stallion (just under fifteen hands) had a very good race career from the age of two through to his nine year old season, winning eleven races and $148,707.

Forbes trained him for eight of those wins and Ray Faithful for the balance. In his career he raced in some illustrious company. 

He ran second to Highview Tommy (Bettor’s Delight) at Cup Week in 2009, breaking the New Zealand record for 2600 metres and running the trip in 3-08.5.  

Lord Forbes was also the first horse to break two minutes at the Young Quinn Raceway when he took out the 2010 Wyndham Cup, running the 3200 metres in 3-58.6. In the hands of Matty Williamson he won by five lengths.

He fronted up in the 2010 New Zealand Cup won by Monkey King, (Sands A Flyin) but finished eleventh.

“He was four back on the inside. I had a stranglehold on him the whole race until the last 400 metres. He couldn’t get a run. Ken Barron came up to me after the race and said my horse went unreal.”

Other meritorious placings were a third in the 2010 Invercargill Cup, won by Vi Et Animo (Pacific Rocket) and a fourth behind Auckland Reactor (Mach Three) in the 2008 Southern Supremacy Stakes. 

It was after one of his wins in the province (no one can quite remember which one) that Lord Forbes made one of his pub visits. Drivers Ricky May and Dexter Dunn were in the house when the little guy was walked into the Sportsmans Bar at the Ascot Park Hotel in Invercargill. 

“The place was packed and Ricky said you wouldn’t believe it if you didn’t see it with your own eyes. Dexter took a video and sent it through to the Yaldie (Yaldhurst Hotel in Christchurch). You couldn’t do that sort of thing today (laughter).”

Lord Forbes’ second visit to a drinking establishment occurred a few years later in celebration of his ‘manhood’. He’d served his first mare so of course he was taken to the Woodlands Tavern to celebrate! In those days the publican was rugby legend Gus Dermody. 

“When Gus retired he had an article in the paper and it said he (Lord Forbes) could come in any time because he had three stubbies and was a complete gentleman, unlike some other patrons.”

A little horse with a big reputation!

He’s stood at stud for four seasons serving one mare per season, and has four foals on the ground. 

His youngest is a foal out of Dream Angel, (Dream Away) a full sister to One Dream, the winner of eighteen and $804,944. Forbes purchased the mare from local breeder Murray Little.

The stallion has a yearling out of Livy Franco (Lis Mara) the winner of six races and a three year old Huki Fella which is out of Deceitndesire, (Bettor’s Delight) the winner of two races.

Huki Fella qualified at Ascot Park at the end of October when running second behind Rakadan (He’s Watching). He had three starts in races won by quality types in Amass (Terror To Love), Rakamurph (Captaintreacherous) and Captain Tom (Captaintreacherous).

“I just chucked him out (Huki Fella) because he was a bit frail. Since he’s been on the hill in the Chaslands he’s really developed like his father. He went 1-56 when they broke that record and he was last at the half.”

Lord Forbes’ only other foal is his Kindergarten Stakes runner Louis Girl who’s out of One Bad Dream (Badlands Hanover) a daughter of Dream Angel. One Bad Dream is the dam of Mach’s Back (Mach Three) the winner of eight races.

“Murray had a Sportswriter filly out of the mare and both Kirstin Green and Chelsea Faithful said she had no speed. This little filly’s got heaps of speed. She’s a lot like him.”

Forbes is proud of the fact that from the four foals Lord Forbes has left, two, two year olds that have qualified and have run a mile in under two minutes.

Gavin Forbes knows he’s up against it on Thursday. Not too many fillies have started in the Kindergarten Stakes over the sixty two years the race has been run, and the last filly to win was Bionic Chance in (Majestic Chance) in 1986.

If Louis Girl causes the upset of the season, maybe there’ll be a stop or two on the way home – perhaps the Woodlands and the Ascot better be on standby – for old times sake.

by Bruce Stewart, for Harnesslink