The Queen of Group Ones

Queen Elida’s (Love You) latest Group One win in the Sumthingaboutmaori at Melton on Saturday night again highlights the fabulous job the ‘Kenny’ breed is doing on both sides of the Tasman and the rewards the mare’s owners are receiving after deciding to send the New Zealand bred trotter to Australia and placing her with trainer Brent Lilley.

From a breeding perspective there are plenty of colonial parts on Queen Elida’s pedigree page and this fused with the blood of Sundon and Love You, has resulted in the perfect match.

Let’s take Queen Elida’s heritage back to Lady Afton, (Lordship) the last foal out of Meadow Chief mare Lida Lisa. Lida Lisa only had moderate success at stud and from twelve foals Dunback Lad (Tactile) was her best on the track, winning four races. He was a mixed gaited horse with all of his successes coming in the trotting gait for three different Otago based trainers – Jim Bungard (won two), Letty Ferguson and Alex Hastie (one with each).

The unraced Lady Afton was sent to colonial stallion Pointer Hanover (Batchelor Hanover) which won fourteen races for George Shand including two DG Jones Memorial/Banks Peninsula Trotting Cups and a Canterbury Park Trotting Cup. He also ran third in the New Zealand Trotting Derby. 

The resulting foal Frances Jay Bee, won six races for Oamaru trainer Phil Williamson. However it’s as a broodmare she’s proved to be a real gem.

Seven of her nine foals have collectively won sixty races with the main contributors being One Over Kenny (Sundon) 32 wins, One Kenny (Gee Whiz II) 19 and One Under Kenny (Sundon) 11 wins. This proved to be the beginning of the ‘Kenny’ legacy.

Another of Frances Jay Bee’s foals, Nice One Kenny, (Sundon) bred by Phil and Bev Williamson is the granddam of Queen Elida. She won two races in nine starts for the Williamsons before going to stud. 

Her second foal was Queen Kenny (Monarchy). She had one start at Wyndham in February 2014 running second to Jocy Jaccka (Majestic Son) before being purchased by trainer Tony Barron on behalf of Southland dairy farmer Gordon McKenzie.

Although Gordon was keen to buy a young pacer Barron convinced him the mare would be a great investment.

“Tony said you only get one chance to buy into this family and it’s turned out pretty good,” McKenzie told me last year. 

As a racehorse Queen Kenny won nine races for Barron and McKenzie. Her biggest was the 2016 Group Three Greenlane Cup at Alexandra Park. 

“We decided to retire her then because we didn’t want to be chasing around those top horses and she was a valuable broodmare,” McKenzie said.

She was sent to Love You, and Queen Elida was the resulting foal.

Barron broke her in and in preparing her for racing he liked what he saw. It took just a handful of starts for him to start making plans to send her to good mate Brent Lilley in Victoria.

“He (Barron) said he was sending us over a V8, and he was dead right,” Lilley said.

Named after McKenzie’s two eldest granddaughters Ida and Elsie, Queen Elida has now won five Group Ones, two Group Twos and five Group Three races.

The previous Group Ones were The Need For Speed Princess at Melton, Victoria Trotters Oaks, Breeder Crown for Three Year Old Fillies and the La Coocaracha. 

McKenzie and Barron have a full-sister to Queen Elida (Queen Bea) that’s been to three workouts and one trial but remains unraced and has been served by Tactical Landing. The partnership also has a What The Hill yearling filly out of Queen Kenny.

Gordon McKenzie along with his sons Graeme, Blair and Brad, and Tony and Cheryl Barron race Queen Elida.

The Williamson are not missing out either. Outside of Queen Kenny they’ve sold a couple of Nice One Kenny’s progeny to Australia – Princess Kenny (Monarchy) the winner of thirteen races and Here Comes Kyvalley (Muscle Mass) the winner of seven. 

They’re breeding from another of Nice One Kenny’s foals, Royal Kenny (Majestic Son). She’s left the promising Aroha Kenny (Love You) which has won once and has been placed three times from six starts. And Our Golden Kenny (Love You) which has won three races in her limited career. The Williamsons have a Father Patrick colt and a What The Hill filly out of the mare to go on with.

There are lots of other strands of the Kenny family that continue to sell and race well, but we look forward to Queen Elida continuing to headline in the big league in Australia. Hopefully she’ll add to her twenty wins and $400,000 in stake money.

For complete race results, click here.

by Bruce Stewart, for Harnesslink