Stablemates set to fight out Waikato Breeders stakes

Regally bred four-year-old mare, Artisan (Art Major), has a royal chance of inching ever closer to six figures in stake money when she contests the Waikato Breeders stakes at tonight’s (Jan. 19) feature harness racing pace at Cambridge.

The Purdon/Phelan trainee has been ever consistent in her career to date, regularly taking on the best fillies in her crop in age group classics and appears to be aging like a fine wine for her co breeder/owner, Neville Tilsley of Auckland.

Artisan comes into this evening’s $20,000 assignment against her own sex racing in career-best form, with only her stablemate, Miki Montana boasting better credentials as the only stakes-placed mare in the contest.

Despite being drawn the widest of the wight runners and Miki Montana having a tactical advantage being drawn four, the full sister to Western Australian Derby winner, Major Trojan has shown she is well and truly capable of making her own luck in the running.

“The last three starts, she has been tremendous, really,” said Tilsley.

“She’s had tough runs and has moved from the back of the field on her own each time. Her win on New Year’s Eve, she was three wide and got her head in front on the showgrounds bend and just kept digging in. She was beaten a nose three starts back and was just bombed on the line, and she came from the back and was beaten a head in her last run from the same draw she finds tomorrow night.

“She has her stablemate drawn insider her which will have her better placed in the running most probably, but who knows, she beat Miki Montana on New Year’s Eve,” he said.

The New Years Eve race Tilsley refers to is a great pointer to there being little separating the Purdon/Phelan pair with Artisan dragging Miki Montana up three wide from the rear of the field with 800m left to run. Despite racing without cover and doing most of the donkey work, she simply out toughed her opposition on that occasion, claiming victory over her stablemate by a half neck margin.

Artisan will once again be paired with regular pilot, Zachary Butcher whom she partnered with for a luckless Southern campaign contesting the rich three-year-old fillies features in the spring.

“She had three starts down in Christchurch with a fifth and a six, just below the top ones like True Fantasy.

“In the Oaks she was at the rear of the field when they were all chasing No Matter Wot and was beaten for a gap in the run home. She wouldn’t have beaten the first three, but she would have finished a lot closer than 11th like she did. We’ve turned the page on that trip and it’s great seeing her racing like she is now,” he said.

Artisan is out of a tremendous fillies family with her dam Under The Odds a Bettor’s Delight daughter of the champion race mare, Under Cover Lover.

Tilsley who breeds in partnership with his good friend Brian West of Studholme Park made the decision to retain the daughter of Art Major rather than put her through the sales ring as he has done with many well-bred pacing yearlings over the last 30+ years.

He races the mare in partnership with good friends, Barry & Katrina Purdon having had a wonderful experience racing former Open Class pacer, On The Town.

“It’s wonderful and I had a great experience racing On The Town with them and the whole stable are just great always. I bought Brian West’s share of Artisan and gave Barry and Katrina a 50% racing lease and she will come back to me for breeding when she finishes racing. She has got the pedigree, and now she has a CV herself with a 1:57 mile rate and has won nearly $75,000 from her four wins, so it’s been great fun.

“I’ve actually just taken the stable out to lunch today to a cafe in Clevedon to thank them all, they are the ones who make the magic happen,” he said.

ARTISAN REPLAY

Tilsley and West will offer a full sister to Artisan at the upcoming 2023 NZB Standardbred Yearling sales with the Art Major yearling by the name of Underscore likely to attract serious attention from anyone wanting to purchase a filly with serious residual value as a future broodmare.

“Brian certainly likes her. The first foal out of the mare, The Odd Lover sort of got under the radar being purchased by Kim Prentice and Robert Watson in Perth and they really rated him, but he had suspensory trouble. He was considered an interdominion horse but went a miss when coming back from that injury.

“Most people will know about Major Trojan and what he was capable of. There is also a Somebeachsomehwere out of the mare called Underthesouthernsun who was purchased by Tony Herlihy. He is over in North America and has gone 1:47.4. It’s a great family,” he said.

While there is nothing like winning a race with a horse you own, the same can be said for the experience of selling a horse at auction and even after decades of putting yearlings through the ring, the novelty is not lost on Tilsley as he readies himself for another tilt at the Canterbury A&P Showgrounds.

“It’s all the mixed emotions, you go through it all. A couple of years comes down to those two or three minutes in the ring and it all happens quickly, and some time sits not very clear what’s happening and all of a sudden its done and dusted, but when it works out for you, it’s pretty magic,” he said.

For complete Cambridge fields, click here.

by Brad Reid, for Harnesslink