Fahy in charge of the class of 2023

Forty year old Southlander Nigel Fahy has the task of overseeing the preparation of the biggest draft of yearlings at the NZB Standardbred National Yearling Sales at Karaka next month.

The son of Brendon and the late Barbara Fahy of Rakauhauka, Nigel was brought up around horses and this will be the fourth time he’s been in charge of the Breckon Farms babies.

When Fahy finished school he completed a Sports Management course at Otago Polytechnic but afterwards decided to change tack.

“Growing up I always liked being out with Dad, seeing the mares in foal and at weaning time, so I thought I’d give the horses a crack,” he said.

He headed to Canada to expand his knowledge and spent two years working at Seelster Farms.

“I loved it there and got to handle a lot of their stallions. Camluck was their marquee stallion, and he was one of North America’s greats. They also had Big Jim and Sunshine Beach. A lot of what I know came from the two years I was there.”

When he returned he took up a role at Alabar, staying for ten seasons before he was offered a role at Breckon Farms. 

“It was the next logical step for me to be moving up the ladder.”

But before starting at Breckon Farms Fahy took a three month break and worked at Diamond Creek Farm in Pennsylvania working with stallions Always B Miki, Sweet Lou, Father Patrick and A Rocknroll Dance.

“That was a different insight. Diamond Creek is more high end yearling sale orientated which is what Ken and Karen (Breckon) are trying to do. Knowing that I was coming here I tried to pick the brains of Adam Bowden, his vets and some of the long term workers to see what they do and how it could be implemented here.”

In August 2019 he started his new role at Breckon Farms, a purpose built horse farm spread over two hundred acres situated at Ohaupo near Te Awamutu in New Zealand.

“Right smack bang in the middle is some native bush called Yarnley’s Bush named after Sandy and Jan Yardley who previously owned the property. It’s rolling country and plenty of hills which help the horses develop a good strong muscle tone from when they’re a young age.”

Fahy says Breckon Farms had forty four mares foal this season, thirty six of which belong to the Breckons and that number is about to increase.

“We’ve got five to six mares that are first time off the track like Bettor Twist (Bettor’s Delight). The mares are leased out to the syndicates to race until the end of their four year old season.”

Fahy said plans are well in hand for the farm to up it’s stable capacity with a new barn set to be built this year and demolishing the old stable.

“It’ll be state of the art, a horse barn with 2 x 24 stalls and with a function room on the end. So we’ll have room to prep forty eight yearlings. This year we’re prepping thirty six and that’s right on the maximum we can do.”

Fahy says Ken and Karen Breckon are the biggest independent breeders outside of the studs. 

“Our point of difference is by being independent we can pick and choose what stallions we go to. The studs tend to support the stallions they stand. Half of our pacing mares are by Bettor’s Delight so we have to work out what is the best fit. Ken and I do that. It’s hard because there’s a diverse range of options like Captaintreacherous or Downbytheseaside. You have to pick and figure out what’s going to be in vogue when the yearling sales come round.”

He says Downbytheseaside (Somebeachsomewhere) is a stallion with a future and Breckon have supported him with three to four mares this year. 

“It’s to an eye to the future. He’s doing a really good job in North America. We’ve got a couple of nice Captain Crunch’s (Captaintreacherous) in this year’s sale. They’re both late foals and fillies but they’re nice types from nice families.”

Father Patrick (Cantab Hall) is a trotting stallion the farm has supported with great success.

“I’ve always been a big fan of Father Patrick. He was one of the stallions I looked after at Diamond Creek. He was a neat horse to work with. We’ve got six of the fourteen that are in both sales so we’re quite excited.”

At this time of year Breckon Farm have six yearling preparers and three full-time staff as well as a yearling Manager. 

“All bar one is returning from last season. It works in well with the University holidays. They all seem to get on really well and they have a bit of fun on the way. I just oversee things and make sure everything is ticking along. I’m also looking after foaling from mid November to early December.” 

The Yearling Manager is Phillipa Higgins-Drysdale.

“She’s been here for a while and organises what needs to be done. She looks after some of the tougher yearlings. She’s a big asset to the farm.”

Breckon Farms sold thirty three yearlings on Sales day in 2021 for $1,83600.00 – an average of $55,636.00 while in 2022 thirty one yearlings sold for a total of $2,06400.00 at an average of $66,580.64.

“Last year was probably one of the best sales we’ve ever had so that’s going to be hard to top. We’ve got eight to ten lots that are either first foals out of mares or first foals that have been offered for sale so that’s exciting. We’ve got nice grown yearlings by the in vogue sires and seven out of the eight by Captaintreacherous at the Auckland sale.”

Their highest selling yearling in 2021 was OK Boomer (Bettor’s Delight) which sold for $130,000 while the highest selling 2022 yearling was Twista (Bettor’s Delight) which sold for $260,000.

When asked to pick some of the yearlings that stand out in his eyes Fahy was quick to highlight two nicely bred trotters. 

The first was a Father Patrick colt out of High Gait (Muscle Yankee) who’s a full brother to the unbeaten High Energy. High Gait won sixteen of her thirty six starts including the Group Three New Zealand Trotting Stakes and the Group Two Sires Stakes Two Year Old Trotters Championship. She also won four Group One races in Australia.

“He’s a neat wee fella who’s not overly big but he covers the ground really well and has got a lovely stride.”

The second trotter also by Father Patrick is out of Luby Lou (Muscle Hill).

“He’s got a lot of presence about him. He’s a big strong fella from a lovely family. She (Luby Lou) only had five starts and managed to beat the boys in the Trotting Derby. She got injured when she was up here for the Jewels and never came back from that.”

On the pacing side of the draft, he’s picking a Captaintreacherous colt out of Elle Mac (Bettor’s Delight) as one of Breckon Farms best sellers. Elle Mac won twelve races including six Group Ones. 

“He’s a big upstanding powerful fella. I think over the next few weeks he’ll fill into his body a bit more.”

And the Captaintreacherous filly out of Onlyforyou (Art Major) also got a mention.

“She’s a December foal but you wouldn’t pick it. She’s really a big strong lovely looking type.”

Fahy says it’s after the yearlings have a short break from their formal preparation that it’s noticeable some of the late foals start to catch up.

“We turn them out for a couple of weeks over Christmas and they just lie around and grow. And it’s quite amazing how much they can change in that time when they’re just eating and sleeping.”

On a personal breeding front Fahy owns broodmare Close Escape (Christian Cullen) which is out of Delightful Paula.

He bred Escape The Pace (A Rocknroll Dance) from her. Despite being bred to pace she’s a trotter and has won six of her nineteen starts for Barry Purdon and Scott Phelan.

He also part owns another of the mare’s progeny – Mandown (Vincent) a three year old which has qualified for Bunty and Gareth Hughes.

In addition he races Rakamurph (Captaintreacherous) which has won three races in it’s first season with his father and other family members.

As the Sales fast approach and the excitement builds, Breckon Farms’ Nigel Fahy is hoping for another super sale with any figure over two million deemed very successful. 

by Bruce Stewart, for Harnesslink