Breckon Farms eagerly awaiting King Of Swing progeny

For everything Ken and Karen Breckon have achieved in the two decades they have been involved in the great sport of harness racing, it’s fair to say the accomplishments of the great King Of Swing (Rocknroll Hanover) would be somewhere near the top of the mantle.

I say somewhere near the top because the ride that I Can Doosit took the Ohaupo breeding partnership on would be hard to top, particularly when you consider the champion son of Muscles Yankee won ten Group One races in their colours.

Throw in the likes of Partyon, Luby Lou, High Gait and King Of Swing’s half-sister Bettor Twist to name but a recent few, and it’s an impressive and ever-growing list.

This was further evidenced on Friday night at Shepparton when High Energy made a wonderful start to her Australian campaign by winning the Shepparton Trotting Oaks.

Breeding a triple millionaire is pretty damn cool though, whether you own him or not.

While there is undeniably no thrill greater experienced in our sport than being a race-winning owner, ask any commercial breeder worth their salt and they will tell you the same thing. It’s equally rewarding seeing progeny you bred doing well for their new connections.

“Karen and I get just as much of a thrill out of seeing something that we have bred perform well as we do racing them in our own colours or ownership. We followed the horse closely and I couldn’t get enough of watching him,” said Breckon.

The three time NSW Horse of the Year, King Of Swing won Group One races from the age of two when he won the Breeders Crown final, to the age of seven winning his third Miracle Mile. He won the Group One Breeders Crown 2YO Colts and Geldings for his former NZ trainer Ray Green. He continued to be a dominant juvenile winning the Group One WA Derby for Gary Hall Sr before adding another nine Group One victories in the care of Craig Cross, Belinda and Luke McCarthy.

The crowned 2020, 2021 and 2022 Australian Grand Circuit Champion King Of Swing’s career stats certainly put him up with the all-time Down Under greats. His prize money of $A3,390,546 put him fifth on the all-time earners’ list for Down Under pacers behind: Blacks A Fake ($A4,575,438), Im Themightyquinn ($A4,567,456), Lazarus ($A4,125,988) and Smoken Up ($A3,607,985).

While breeding the fifth richest Australasian pacer of all time is not to be scoffed at, perhaps succeeding this stat for a breeding buff like Breckon is the fact he and Karen managed to produce the richest son of Rocknroll Hanover anywhere in the world.

“I didn’t realise until you told me that, but it is fantastic. He was an outstanding-looking yearling. Obviously having done some research, I had seen how the cross had worked over in America with Rocknroll Hanover over the Artsplace mares, and what a golden cross it was,” he said.

“Unfortunately, when you’re breeding for the sales, you can’t always breed with those factors in mind. But his dam Twist And Twirl had won two group ones, had been an outstanding racehorse and had a heck of a maternal family so it didn’t stop him from garnering a lot of interest,” he said.

That interest followed King Of Swing throughout the majority of his glittering career, peaking in the final start of his career when he attempted to become the first horse in the fifty-six-year history of the Miracle Mile to three-peat the sprint feature. Eight horses had done the double, but no horse had won three, let alone in succession!

KING OF SWING | MIRACLE MILE REPLAY

“Winning three Miracle Mile’s for his ownership group, it’s just hard to believe,” said Breckon.

“I know he was unbeaten over a mile at Menangle and held track records there as well, but he also won two Hunter Cups. He was obviously a beautifully gaited horse but he was big and strong, he had size, speed and stamina and was one of those great horses who was able to go over all distances,” he said.

Having bowed out from racing like the champion he is, King Of Swing was always destined for a career as one of the most decorated Australasian stallion prospects the down-under breeding market had ever produced.

He stood his first season of stud duties at the familiar surroundings of Cobbitty Equine Farm on the outskirts of Sydney in 2022 and was met with a warm welcome by the down under breeding community.

It would be easy to assume Breckon and his wife Karen would simply send a couple of mares to a stallion they had a hand in producing as a mere gesture of support, but when you are producing over 40 yearlings annually for the National Yearling Sales at Karaka, there is very little room for sentiment in the auction ring.

“The buying market can be pretty hard on breeders who go outside the square with stallion selection, particularly with the local stallions. But I think he has the full package with both pedigree and performance. I think the other aspect he brings which can’t be understated is the fact he is a wonderful outcross for the pool of broodmares we have in Australasia.

“We have two mares this year (Lydia’s Delight & Rozelski) that are ready to drop. Our farm manager, Nigel Fahy sorted out a couple of mares who he thinks are best suited to him based on the crosses and we are sending a couple more this season.

“It’s going to be pretty surreal and rewarding to see a couple of foals running around here shortly by a sire we raised on the farm, and we think he has the bloodlines to make a very serious stallion in the future.

“We can’t wait,” exclaimed Breckon.

by Brad Reid, for Harnesslink