A horse called Sheep

On Friday night at Addington a harness racing horse named Sheep, (Pastor Stephen) yes sheep, will line up in the SENZ-New Zealand Two Year Old Trotting Stakes.

Sheep was bred, and is owned and trained by Dunsandel horseman Sam Payne and he’s the first of the progeny of his sire Pastor Stephen (Cantab Hall) to race in this country.

How on earth did Sheep come by his name?

“We were weaning him, and my partner Anika Lang came down to the barn to have a look at him. He was just a little horse, had hair on him that was thick, and he just looked like a sheep. She said we’ll have to name him Sheep. I rolled my eyes and said’ nah you can’t name him that.’ It got to the time to name him, and she said ‘you’re going to have to name him that because he’s been called that his whole life.’ I said ‘rightyoh we’ll stick with that (laughter),” Sam said.

And he’s paid for it ever since.

“Everyone has put in their five cents worth. A few people have said I hope he runs a lot faster than a sheep.”

Pastor Stephen won a little over $1 million from just twenty two starts and was the Dan Patch Two Year Old Trotting Colt Of The Year. He’s a full brother to Father Patrick. Pastor Stephen stands at Llowalong Farms in Australia.

“We were actually going to Bold Eagle. It got to late December and they told us he wasn’t coming. It was a last minute decision. Trevor Casey put me on to going to him (Pastor Stephen).”

Sheep is out of Last Sequence (Majestic Son) which Payne bought as a two year old from Ken Barron.

“She’d had a couple of trials as a two year old. I ended up racing her as a three year old and she only had three starts for two wins and a third. But unfortunately she broke down. She was a pretty nice horse.”

Payne said, ‘rounding up’ Sheep hasn’t been easy.

“He was a bit of a handful early on and he wasn’t that easy to deal with. We ended up gelding him to try and settle him down. It improved him out of sight and he’s come a long way this time in.”

The two year old gelding has been to two trials, the most recent being at Ashburton two weeks ago.

“They probably don’t look that flash but he’s quite a good doing fella, so it’s taken a bit to get his fitness up. The good thing about him is that he does everything right and he just trots. Half the problem with young trotters is to get them trotting. My horse never misses a beat and he’s a lot fitter after that last trial. I think the draw will suit him because he does have a bit of gate speed. I think his fitness is just on point for Friday.”  

Never before has a racehorse been called Sheep, but for those that have a long memory, Greyhound was the name of a famous grey world champion trotter which won seventy one of his eighty two starts.

So sheep is off the race on Friday and no doubt we’ll all be looking for those one liners if he wins.

As for Last Sequence, her latest foal is by Royal Aspirations.

“We’ve just weaned him and I said to Anika ‘I’m naming this one. You’ve got nothing to do with it.”

by Bruce Stewart, for Harnesslink