First foal feels for young Canterbury horseman

With a lot of uncertainty at present in the breeding sector, it was timely and refreshing to see some youthful exuberance show up on my social media feed over the long weekend, with a young Cantabrian proudly sharing the excitement of having produced his first foal.

It took me back to my own experience in my mid-twenties, racing out to Dancingonmoonlight Farm to visit who we now know as Bolt For Brilliance the morning after Cup Day back in 2016.

It’s a hard feeling to describe, especially as a young person who has yet to experience becoming a parent in a real sense.

You’ve had a handle on bringing something into the world in an area of your life you are deeply passionate about in a way that is a quantum leap from just being involved as an owner.

In modern society, where instant gratification knows zero bounds, the long slog of waiting 11+ months for something is a foreign concept but one that is very rewarding. After all, as the saying goes, good things take time.

While breeding horses certainly isn’t for the faint-hearted, nor is it the most affordable of interests, talking to Jayden Walker about his experience and aspirations for the future in the sport is surely enough to put a spring in the step of even the most pessimistic of participants.

Jayden is a breath of fresh air, and in discussing his journey, it was hard not to come away with a renewed sense of optimism. Hopefully, his story will touch several other young people and inspire them to take the leap, and even with us older heads, remind us why we got involved breeding horses in the first place.

Like most of us, Jayden’s started with a passion and love for horses.

“I have ridden horses my entire life and always had a background around them,” said Waker.

“My Mother, Kirstyn Graham, was a driver at the workouts and worked up in the North Island in the harness racing community for people like Mike Berger before moving down south and working for the Hope family.

“Growing up on a farm, I was always around livestock, and horses were a natural part of my upbringing. I did a lot of riding at horse shows through things like Pony Club as a kid, and we even re-homed a few right off the track, so being around them has always been like second nature to me, I guess,” he said.

As Walker entered his High School and teenage years, he developed a natural passion for the harness racing sector, having attended plenty of local meetings with his family and friends and from there, he began to set his sights on becoming more actively involved.

“When I got to University, I picked up a couple of micro shares in some syndicates just out of interest, having enjoyed going to see the races from time to time.

“The first one was with Andrew Fitzgerald’s Off N Racing with a horse who is spelling while he grows into his frame. He is a three-year-old trotter called Aldebaran Lobell (Muscle Mass), and I believe he is at Bob Butt’s place.

“After that, around 18 months ago, I picked up a 5%  share with Amber Lethaby in a horse called The Highlander (Highview Tommy). I really liked the look of him, and I had seen some of his previous starts and thought, well, this is affordable, it was $80 a month for a 5% share. Initially, Mum and I went halves in that share, and from there, another 5% share became available, so I ended up with 7.5%.

“He raced at Motukarara back in April and was showing signs he might be ready for the paddock, and his owners, Ray and Joan Harneiss, decided he should go for a bit of a spell. He had been stringing together fifth placings consecutively but was running on tired legs, so we decided to give him a bit of a break.

“After that, I really developed a bit of a passion and was getting quite envious of the drivers and decided I wanted to learn to drive myself. Mum did some investigating and got in touch with Bruce Negus out in Burnham. He said he was more than happy for me to come out. I did a bit of volunteering initially and learned the ropes, and now I am a stable hand for him, which is helping towards training The Highlander at his stables. I now have a 50% stake in The Highlander, and me paying for the stake in him corresponds to the share that I have in him today,” he said.

So, in the space of a few short years, a wee spark had developed into a burning flame, and the young Cantabrian was now juggling the commitment of his pursuit of a Bachelor of Sport and Recreation Management degree at Lincoln University with his love of Standardbred’s which was now a five day a week commitment at the Negus barn.

Walker credits his early education of riding show horses and ponies with his natural progression and admits the time spent riding horses around the roads of South Canterbury as a young fella put him in great stead for what was on the horizon.

“They say if you can ride, you can drive. I think that very much corresponds to me.

“I would say things like gearing up came pretty naturally. I reckon it took me about four weeks until I was fully competent in gearing them up myself, and I would say as a stable hand now that is one of my main goes, being able to gear up horses between workouts and at home,” he said.

As far as educations go, there would be few people better than Bruce and Coleen Negus to learn the ropes from. Bruce knows a thing or two about training horses, having developed the likes of the pocket rocket Courage Under Fire. And despite being in the twilight of his career, like a fine red wine, the man continues to get better with age, having trained 120 of his 496 winners in the last four seasons alone.

“Bruce is full of wisdom and is really eager and keen to encourage getting me involved in the industry. He has just been nothing but motivating for me, which is really great to see,” said Walker.

Having completed his stable hand license back in July, Walker has now set his sights on taking the reins on race day.

“I am currently with the Canterbury Cadets, and I am keen to get my Junior ticket. I got my stable hand license back in July, so another six or seven months and I will be able to go for my trials. Hopefully, I am already pretty competent with a watch going around the track, so fingers crossed I can follow the progression and go on to being a junior driver in the future,” he said.

Thanks to the foresight of his Mum and the help of a couple of industry participants, with a bit of luck, Walker might not have to look too far when it comes to finding a drive on race day, having recently produced his first foal.

The filly by Sky Major, out of the well-related Christian Cullen mare, Poised N Perfect, was born on the 26^th of October and was the culmination of some good old-fashioned research and serendipitous timing.

“I think Mum had initially seen something about a broodmare for sale on Facebook and jokingly said to me this would be quite good. I looked at the breeding of the mare and thought well, actually, that looks like quite a good deal, Trevor had her well-priced.

“While I may have been a University student, it was too good to pass up. Poised N Perfect was the full sister to the dam of Lazarus and was in foal to Sky Major, who has been having pretty good success lately, and I thought, why not? I am pretty passionate about the industry, and ultimately, I want to continue in the industry, so why not breed one?”

While most breeders typically wait until they are at an age when disposable income is at a premium, Walker threw caution to the wind and went all in and secured the mare in utero package with aspirations of producing a racehorse of the future.

The bloodlines are such that he has given himself every opportunity to do so. The Tabella Beth family, developed by the likes of David Phillips, has produced some of the best tail lines of pacers in the New Zealand studbook, with one needing a few days to get through the litany of black-type performers descending from the daughter of Able Bye Bye.

Poised N Perfect is, as aforementioned, a full sister to Bethany, the dam of the dual New Zealand Cup winner and dual hemisphere stallion Lazarus. At stud, she has had a chequered history to date, having spent her first six breeding seasons in Australia before being acquired by Trevor Casey, a part owner of Lazarus, with obvious intentions of trying to produce another of his calibre.

From six live foals, Poised N Perfect has produced two winners, including the well above-average Lucifer (Bettor’s Delight), who won once and placed on two occasions from just four starts before succumbing to a tendon injury.

Despite getting on in her years, as I explained to Walker, Toomuch To Do was nineteen and had left six foals herself before producing Bolt For Brilliance, and given the engine room in the maternal family of his mare, there is no reason why the daughter of Sky Major can’t be the future star we all dream of procuring.

Failing that, Walker now has a filly that will no doubt serve as his broodmare of the future and Perfectly Poised (Art Major), the second foal from Poised N Perfect, has already shown what the daughters of this family are capable of producing. Her first foal, Poisedtopounce (Bettor’s Delight), was a Listed winning juvenile at Gloucester Park and was G1 placed as a 3YO. He has since gone on to North America, where he won over $350,000 and saluted the judge 31 times with 41 placings to his credit.

One of the hardest parts about breeding is playing the waiting game and crossing your fingers and toes for a safe arrival. Walker admits that as the due date crept closer, his patience was wearing thin as the anticipation continued to rise.

“I was starting to lose a bit of patience towards the end; it was all quite exciting. Even purchasing the mare in the first place was quite a significant thing for me on limited finances, so that was quite exciting in its own respect, especially when the ownership papers were signed across. To then go out and visit a young foal who was happy and eager to come up to me on arrival was a very exciting prospect and something I will never forget.

“They are both out at Anj Mungford’s property at Somerset Racing Stables out in Leeston, and she has done a great job with them both. The mare’s condition is really good, and for her age, she is just incredible as a mare, and I couldn’t fault her nature.

“I have only been out to see her three or four times since I dropped her off eight or nine weeks ago due to my University schedule, even though she is just 15 minutes up the road. I am confident and know that Anj takes good care of her horses, and she has made it really accessible and affordable to become a first-time breeder as well,” he said.

When speaking to Walker, it’s hard to believe he is just 21 years of age. The ‘kid’ is incredibly well articulated and wise beyond his years, evident in his response when asked if he had any designs on putting the mare back in foal this season.

“Trevor had already messaged me after I had obtained the foal, asking me if I was keen for my next service. I told him I was keen to see how I get on with this one. I certainly do follow it, and it’s great to see a sire line like Sky Major progress. Bruce has got a couple of nice Sky Major’s out at his place who are doing well at the races, and I’m excited for the future ahead.

“At the moment, I would love to see how the mare goes with this one. I have had the process explained to me about serving on foaling heat, but at her age, I would really like her to fully focus on this filly, and I may even look to retire her as a riding hack and give her a nice retirement because quite frankly I am just stoked to have this wee filly.

“I will keep her out at Anj’s place at least until she is a yearling, and hopefully, by that time, I will have learnt a bit more and can have a lot of input into the development of her and getting it ready to go to the races. It’s one thing to aspire to be a junior driver, but I am passionate enough about the industry that by the same token, I ultimately want to become a trainer one day as well,” he said.

It’s fair to say Jayden Walker is a young man with a bright future, and with just one more University exam left next month before hopefully being awarded his Bachelor’s Degree, the world is his oyster whatever he chooses to pursue.

The harness racing industry is certainly blessed to have young people with his pedigree, background and education entering the fray as the future of the sport, which is something he is already thinking about beyond his graduation.

“There are correlations there (between his study and application to harness racing), and I have had conversations with Brad, the new CEO, a couple of times about opportunities in the future.

“There are crossovers, particularly in management and marketing. It’s a management degree, but it’s anything from event management to facilities management. If I am going to be working in the industry anyway, it helps to have those skills from the degree,” he said.

Who knows where Walker and the yet-to-be-named foal will be in a few years, but with any luck, we will be seeing them both out on the race track doing what they were no doubt born to do. Take the world of harness racing by storm.

by Brad Reid, for Harnesslink