Washington’s last stand

Stallion Washington VC has been a great servant to many Southern harness racing breeders as well as a few further afield.

Gore trainer Brian Norman has certainly been a fan.

Of his 201 career winners, 91 have been in the pacing gait and 32 of those have been provided by the stock of Washington VC.

“They’ve paid for my house,” he said.

Brian’s first Washington winner was Flying Class at Forbury Park in September 2005. Whata Razzle Dazzle has been his biggest Washington winner to date, with ten wins.

Washington VC progeny have been a sought after commodity in Australia through the deeds of horses like I’m Themightyquinn. Norman has on-sold many of his Washingtons to Australian buyers, one of which was Freyberg. He won once for Norman, twice for Wyndham trainer Brendon McLellan and then he won another twenty two races in Australia.

The Presidential Ball stallion has now retired and is enjoying a quieter life at Bryleigh Stud under the watchful eye of his owners Keith and Tracey Norman.

On Sunday at the Wyndham trials Norman tried Foxing Easton, the latest of his long line of Washington VC qualifiers and he looked smart, qualifying solo as a two year old over 1609 metres in 1-59.8.

“Keith broke him in and I turned him out. On my property at Gore I’ve got quite a steep hill and he (Foxing Easton) stood on a rock. They operated and took three splinters off a bone in his front foot so he had a long time off. This is his first prep so he’s gone from starting ‘til today in fourteen weeks,” Brian said.

Norman is excited about his future.

“I think he’s got a lot of potential and perhaps one of the best I’ve had. He’s just got a nice way of going and he’s got speed. I think I’ll probably turn him out now for two or three months and then give him another preparation and see where we go from there.”

He added that Foxing Easton is likely to be well served by time.

“He’s in great nick but all the way through he’s had a bit of ‘rankness’ about him and I always think it’s a sign that they’re going to come right when they’re four. I’m really surprised at how well he’s done with just the one prep.

How does he describe rankness?

“When you look at him he’s got no meat on his ribs. It’s usually a sign that a horse is slow maturing.”

Foxing Easton is out of Easton Foxy Lady (In The Pocket) which won two races, one as a two year old for Mark Purdon.

She was out of Welfare Woman (Equitable II) which did a good job at stud leaving Our Mabel (OK Bye) 5 wins, His Honour (Caprock) 10 and Raglan (Sands Aflyin) 13.

All of Easton Foxy Lady’s foals have been by Washington VC. She’s left Essence Of Easton (7 wins), Easton Foxglove (5) and Firefox Easton (2).

Norman looks to have another nice one by Washington VC in Close. The four year old mare won impressively at the Tuapeka HRC meeting earlier this month. She was bred and is owned by Keith and Tracey.

“She got threaded by her owner (Keith) about a month ago and I said I thought she was better than he thought she was, but I couldn’t work her out. I was just taking her to Gore and doing six rounds on the bit and all of a sudden she’s turned a corner just out of the blue. She went from lazy to good as gold and I think she’ll go on with it.”

Close is out of Miss Pembrooke (Grinfromeartoear) who’s out of Wanaka Bay, a mare bred by Ben and Karen Calder. Wanaka Bay’s progeny include Mr Mojito (Real Desire) 13 wins and Mr Kiwi (American Ideal) 10 wins.

Wanaka Bay’s sister Lucy’s Way is the dam of Old Town Road (Bettor’s Delight) so there’s a good depth of pedigree there.

Norman sells a lot of horses to Australian Merv Butterworth, but he hasn’t received a call from Merv about Foxing Easton yet. It may be still to come.

by Bruce Stewart, for Harnesslink