Good things come in three for progeny of Supreme Gem

The 2023 harness racing season might still be in its infancy, but Prebbleton horseman John McDermott and his bonny mare Supreme Gem (Christian Cullen) have made every post a winning one thus far.

In the span of eight days, three daughters of Supreme Gem have chalked up race wins at South Island meetings, giving McDermott and his wife Christine plenty of cause for celebration.

While McDermott would dearly love to be breeding from Supreme Gem this season, he is getting plenty of satisfaction from seeing her progeny doing the job on the track.

“Supreme Gem died of Colic, unfortunately, not long after we weaned the last foal off her mother. That was a real blow, we were lucky to have gotten the fillies out of her, but we would have loved to have bred a couple of nice colts before she passed away,” said McDermott.

Before getting on to the three individual winners, it’s worth discussing the serendipitous circumstances in which led to McDermott securing Supreme Gem as a yearling.

“Peter and Vicky Cowan were great friends of ours, and when Peter was alive, he had a good mare called Flying Sands (Sands A Flyin). When Christian Cullen was in demand, he couldn’t get a service to breed to him to her. I had a couple of services to Cullen and ended up giving him one of mine, with the subsequent foal being Supreme Gem.

“By the time she was in the sales, Peter had passed away, and Vicky who is no longer with us was selling her. Mark Jones bought her for $60,000, which everyone believed was well under her value. Mark commented to us afterward that he bought her for the same reason, that being she was good value.

“When it came time to syndicate her, he didn’t have any owners for her. I became aware of this and ourselves and some friends bought a half share in it, and another one of Mark’s clients bought the other half. Over a period of time, we bought the other owner out and owned her outright,” he said.

It proved to be a good decision as Supreme Gem inherited a lot of her mums’ ability. Flying Sands never won or placed in group company but spent much of her career taking on the best in a golden era of Open Class racing running many creditable races at the elite level. The winner of 11 races claimed a Listed victory over Angela Jane and Elect To Live in the Northern Breeders Stakes at just her tenth start which gives some insight into what was under the bonnet.

Supreme Gem didnt waste much time in making a few statements of her own.

“When she qualified, I think it was Easter Monday at Ashburton, she won by a considerable margin. I think I’m right but when she won her maiden at Nelson, she set a track record for a three-year-old filly. She showed a bit early, but she was a big rangy filly and time was always going to be her friend. She was always going to get better as she got older,” he said.

While never quite up to the best in her crop, Supreme Gem won eight races and raced in elite mare company before injury curtailed her career somewhat.

Fortunately for McDermott and the other owners, Supreme Gem produced a wonderful parting shot pacing a 1:53.7 mile when winning in her final start at Ashburton as the rank outsider of the 12-horse field.

SUPREME GEM REPLAY

“That was a big thrill but unfortunately she suffered another broken pastern two or three days after that run and never raced again, but she was already in foal to Bettor’s Delight. We were going to race her in a few of the bigger mares’ races but never got the opportunity,” he said.

McDermott bred the mare to Bettor’s Delight and never had the opportunity to unearth the talent the colt possessed: “He showed above average ability but broke his leg on the training track a week before going to a qualifying trial which broke my heart.”

McDermott bred a couple of full sisters however and they proved the makings of a very nice beginning to 2023.

The second foal from Supreme Gem, Ruby’s A Delight (Bettor’s Delight), won the sixth race of her career on New Years Day at Rangiora, giving McDermott his first training win for the new season in the process.

RUBYS A DELIGHT REPLAY

“She has just got better with age. She keeps surprising me and is tough as teak and three of her six wins have been on the back up. I don’t think she is finished yet.

“I wasn’t surprised she won at Rangiora, she never goes a bad race and is very genuine. Even though she got beaten yesterday, she never got the rub of the green and wasn’t far away.

“We have no plans to breed from her yet, but we will be definitely keeping her for the broodmare band. I am getting on a bit, but that’s the plan at this stage,” he said.

Three days after the win of Ruby’s A Delight, third foal and full sister Sophie won her maiden at the Roxburgh meeting for new trainer, Tyler Dewe.

The 17 start maiden had been a bit of a problem child for her former breeder and trainer, which led to her repatriation in the deep South with Dewe. The way she accounted for her opposition winning rather arrogantly by three lengths with ears pricked suggests it won’t be the last we see of her in the winner’s circle.

SOPHIE REPLAY

“I always rated her better than her sister Ruby, but she had plenty of issues and likely suffers from ADHD. She is perfect on the track, but a pain around the stables so when Tyler (Dewe) called me looking for a horse that was ready to race, he caught me on the right day, and I had no problems selling her.

“Tyler thinks he has got her in the right zone, she has a real motor and I wish him luck. She is a lovely gaited horse, but as I said, she has a few tricks. If you want to go left, she wants to go right. Twice she got away being leaving the races in the car park. She just takes off and you have to hang on for grim death, ” he laughed.

They say good things come in threes, and that’s exactly what happened at yesterday’s Banks Peninsula meeting with Topaz (American Ideal) clearing maidens in style to bring up win number three for progeny of Supreme Gem in 2023.

Given a gorgeous trip in transit by Gerard O’Reilly, Topaz (Bettor’s Delight) unwound stylishly from the one-one to win easily by a length on the lush grass surface at Motukarara.

Topaz was having her first start in three months under the care of new trainers, Geoff and James Dunn having been formerly under the care of McDermott for her four prior race day starts.

“I’ve had serious issues with her tying up and it was just doing my head in really. I have a lot of grass too given the season we have had and of course my horses are paddock trained, so we had to make a decision to give the horse to Geoff and James. Geoff has been a big help to me right through my training career, he has a wealth of experience and plenty of knowledge. He actually had Ruby’s A Delight early on in her career.

“I’ve always rated her, but the disaster which was the Cup Day maiden was a trainer error. She was on the ballot and got in, and I had raced her at Rangiora on the Friday before. Of course, it was a bad move to back up, especially when they went a 1:53 mile rate,” he laughed.

“We have always had time for her, but her career was delayed by a hairline fracture of her pelvis, and she had to have a good spell in the paddock for that to come right,” he said.

McDermott is not far away from unearthing the last of the Supreme Gem progeny in a He’s Watching three-year-old filly by the name of I Spy Diamonds.

“She has shown the family ability and she just had a couple of runs off the property for the experience before we threw her in the paddock for a spell. Time will be her friend because she is the only one who is built like her mother being tall and finely boned and reminds me of Supreme Gem in so many ways,” he said.

The great day at Motukarara was just about a perfect one with half-sisters Better Fly (Bettor’s Delight) and Flyaway (Art Major) both putting up big runs for second and fifth respectively on the second and fourth races on the card.

Both are out of the former 10-win McDermott bred and trained racemare, Flyover (Live Or Die).

TOPAZ REPLAY

“Better Fly is racing well and Flyaway went super yesterday, that was a terrific run to be parked the whole journey and unfortunately hitting a wheel just short of the post and galloping cost her a dividend

“We are only working six here, but we have got a good team and Jordie will trial next week, and I am very pleased with how he is coming up.

“Weve bred three mares this year when I was trying to cut down, we have Flyover back in foal to Lazarus, we have a mare called Curve who’s a half-sister to Refine in foal to American Ideal and Duchess the mother of Doff Your Cap is in foal to What The Hill.

“She has a lovely Propulsion colt at foot, and I said to my wife if there is one we are going to keep, I think he is the one. We have a half-brother in the sales called King Charles and we named him that before King Charles became a reality.

“His half-sister who we sold by Creatine is called Camilla, Benny Hill has got her, and we were talking to him yesterday and he likes her. She will be at the trials in the next six weeks or so. Of course, we told him about King Charles, and my wife told Benny that he has to buy the colt because King Charles and Camilla are an item,” he laughed.

For complete Motukarara race results, click here.

by Brad Reid, for Harnesslink