Artatac off to North America

The much travelled hardy pacer Artatac (Art Major) will continue his harness career in America, the sale being confirmed today by the horse’s Burnham trainer Mark Jones.

“He’s been great for the stable and great for the industry. He got races off the ground and turns up each week and carries support. So he’s been good for everybody,” Jones said.

His new American owners include Norman Rae Racing of Ohio.

“He’ll (Artatac) do a pretty good job over there. He’ll get round any size track, he can stay a bit and he’s got speed, so he’ll be the perfect horse for mile racing.”

Artatac was bred in Australia by Lance Cobban and was bought by Jones sight unseen out of the Melbourne Sales for $25,000. 

“He was passed in and The Bus (Art Major) had just won on Miracle Mile night so his owner Grant Hatten had a bit of money to spend.”

In his ninety nine race career he won sixteen and was placed a further twenty four times, earning his owners Grant and Kathy Hatten $171,458. 

Jones says there was a period when he contemplated whether the horse should be sold, because he wasn’t going well at the races.

“But we found the key to him. We just backed off his workload. He’d always work like Tarzan and not race as good on race day, so we just didn’t do a lot with him between races and it seemed to work.”  

His biggest win was in the Cheviot Cup, raced at Addington in April. He was a cups specialist – winning the Caltex Cup at Westport, the Mount Hutt TC Cup at Methven and twice winning the Timaru Winter Cup.

He won races right across the South Island, at Ascot Park, Winton, Wingatui, Timaru, Ashburton Addington, Banks Peninsula, Kaikoura and Nelson.

“He’s had a couple of weeks off here and there. He’s never had an injury or a joint injection so he’s raced natural all his life. That’s a credit to him. He’s won races every way, so he had no chinks in his armour.”

Samantha Ottley drove Artatac to win eleven times, Gemma Thornley four and Mark Jones and Ricky May once each.  

He won his first race at Winton in December 2020 and his last New Zealand win was at Addington earlier this month.

by Bruce Stewart, for Harnesslink