This is the third in a series of four articles. It will continue a review of Middleton’s Golden Years – 1990’s and look at his leading horses of 21st century.
Lilly The Pink
Middleton’s star second string trotter in the early/mid 1990’s was Lilly the Pink, an all American bred trotter (Jazz Cosmos/Working Girl). She had proven a rather reluctant trotter to begin with as a youngster which prompted her purchase as a prospective broodmare. National Bloodstock‘s many trainers had not been able to get on with her.
In time, Lilly the Pink proved a very worthwhile buy on the race track being a particularly speedy trotting mare even allowing for her tendency to gallop at inconsiderate moments in her races. Her initial win came during the 1990 Cup Week when winning a maiden mobile trot at Ashburton. This was one of three wins as a five year old during the 1990/91 season. She however did find herself on the unruly list due to her at times erratic racing tendencies.
The following season as a six year old, Lilly the Pink completed a further four race wins including a first at Alexandra Park during the Rowe Cup carnival when a travelling companion for Fraggle Rock.
Now racing against the big boys as a seven year old in 1992/93, she began this campaign splendidly with a win against open class trotters such as Game Paul;, Sundon and Diamond Trail at the early season (mid August) NZMTC national meeting. Set for her first Interdominions at Alexandra Park in March 1993, her second night performance in finishing fourth was insufficient to qualify for her first Trotters Grand Final after she had failed to perform in her opening night heat. Instead she took her place in the Consolation but only managed to beat one home.
As an eight year old in the 1993/94 season, her best early season form came at Addington on Show Day when placing fourth to Diamond Field in the Gp2 Trotting FFA. Winning on both nights of the 1994 Wellington Trotting Cup meeting at Hutt Park paved the way for a successful trip with Fraggle Rock to Sydney for the 1994 Interdominions. Placing third in her first night heat to Breton Abbe and Idle Scott, Lilly the Pink followed this up with an excellent win on the second night. She beat home ex Kiwis Lord Whizz Bang and Game Paul to join her stablemate as winners of second night heats at Harold Park.
Middleton opted to drive Lilly the Pink in preference to Fraggle Rock in the Grand Final where she performed superably to finish third after being left in front when Idle Scott broke. She was only 6m from winner Diamond Field and 2.5m from stable mate Fraggle Rock who ran second. This completed her winning sequence for 1993/94 which contained four victories plus thirds in both an ID Final and heat.
For good measure, Middleton time trialled the speedy daughter of Jazz Cosmos at Ashburton where she stopped the clock at T1:57.9. This time was only.1 second outside Thriller Dee’s then NZ record of T1:57.8TT set in 1983. Of the mares, only Pride of Petite (T1:57.4 set in 1999) went faster in New Zealand before the turn of the century. It is significant to note that Middleton has this season time trialled his Dream Vacation mare Savona in T1:57.5.
In what was to be her final season on the track, 1994/95 saw Lilly The Pink compete in her third Interdominion, this time closer to home at Addington. Prior to this she had won the 1993 Boxing Day trot at Ashburton. Her Interdominion heat performances were such that she contested the Trotters Consolation as her final race start, finishing sixth to Breton Abbe. At the time she was in foal to Gee Whizz.
All told, Lilly the Pink’s overall record stood at 100 starts : 13 wins, 5 seconds, 10 thirds, $93,635, T1:57.9TT (Ashburton 1993). An exceptionally speedy mare as evidenced by her time trial record but with some erratic tendencies, as a broodmare proposition she had certainly proved herself on the racetrack. For sheer brilliance, she possibly eclipsed Fraggle Rock but he was the ultimate professional racehorse.
Outer Reach
A fine young trotter who compiled an impressive and consistent record for Middleton was Outer Reach. Besides his seven victories, he was placed 20 times in 40 starts. Owned by Burbeck Harness Bloodstock Ltd principals Ron Burrell and Don Raisbeck, Outer Reach was pacing bred being by Andrel from their 4 win mare Outer Tan. Tragically, Outer Reach contacted a twisted bowel and died before his full potential had been seen on the track.
Racing as a two year old in the 1993/4 season, his best performance came at Alexandra Park when running third in the PGG Yearling Sales Series Trot to Shine on Me. His initial victory was on the grass at Rangiora in January 1995. Second in Ashburton’s Hambletonian 3yo Classic, Outer Reach (nickname Tank), recorded his major win in the 1995 PGG Yearling Sales 3yo trot, this time beating Shine on Me in a career best T2:05.0 mile rate. Taken to Auckland by Middleton, Outer Reach finished second in the Rosso Antico Stakes (forerunner to GN Trotters Derby) to Above the Stars.
Outer Reach’s four year old career, started brilliantly with back to back wins at Forbury and Addington, before his second on NZ Cup Day was followed by victory on Addington’s Show Day. Further back to back victories followed at Addington in early February before his tragic loss in mid 1996.
Scottish Hostess
As far as pacers are concerned, Middleton’s top performer would have to be Cup class mare Scottish Hostess. The daughter of Butler BG was from the Purple Patch branch of the Papilla family; her second dam having left top juvenile pacer Belmers Image; her third dam being Ingle Belmer who left 1958 Easter Cup winner and ID 1961 4th placed Lady Belmer. Owned by the writer (Scottie), kicked off her winning ways with victory on the opening night of the 1991 Interdominions. This was a week before Middleton’s success in the Trotters Grand Final with Fraggle Rock.
Included amongst Scottie’s other eight victories was further success at the 1993 Trotters ID in Auckland where she defeated top mares Tigerish and Smooth Gretna in what was a Butler BG trifecta; a win on 1993 NZ Cup Day and victory on 1994 Dominion Hcp night in her final race start when in foal to Holmes Hanover. However, her finest performance was when Middleton drove her into third in the 1994 Premiers Mares C/S at Addington behind Lento and Tigerish. The time recorded for this race was the then second fastest 2000mM ever – 2:24.8/1:56.4 (Armalight’s world record time of 2:23.5/1:55.0 was recorded on Show Day in the 1981 NZFFA at Addington).
In the breeding barn, Scottish Hostess left nine foals for five winners, 2 qualifiers : her first foal was Scottish Bella (1 win, 1:58.2TT, $5,301; dam of 5 winners from 5 to race : Belle Mystique, 1 win, 2:01.1, $4,587, dam of Typhoon Tan, 11 WA wins, 1:54.4AUS, $96,592; Em Eye Five, 4 wins, 2:00.0, $17,023; Mister Skye Rocket, 1 NZ win, 42 NSW/QLD wins, 1:56.1, $263,675; Exotic Girl, 1 win, 2:12.4, $14,689; Kerry Orelly, 7 QLD wins, 1:56.3, $35,423); Scottish Falcon, 1NZ, 9 NSW/QLD wins, 2:00.0, $34,233); Scottish Naias, 2 VIC wins, 2:02.8, $18,800; Scottish Operative, 1 NZ win, 2:01.0, $10,588, 1:58.4US; Scotty McDuff, 1NZ/3 NSW wins, 2:02.4, $18,923.
Little Rock
In the later years of the 1990’s, Little Rock emerged as a trotter of fine quality for Middleton. He amassed nine victories before sale to the United States. An Armbro Invasion gelding from Perilly, this half brother to Fraggle Rock won as a 2yo at Addington before proceeding to run second in the 1996 PGG Yearling Sales 2yo trot at Alexandra Park. He came out the following week to win closing out his 2yo career the winner of two races. Continuing his good juvenile form and after winning at Addington, Little Rock again placed second in a PGG Yearling Sales series event, this time the three year old edition.
Little Rock’s four year old career contained three wins at Addington prior to Christmas 1997, with another to follow at New Year. Beginning the 1998/99 season as a five year old. Little Rock trotted a very competitive third in T1:57.9 in the Ashburton Trotters Mile behind Sundon’s Way. A win on New Year’s Day 1999 at Addington plus good placed form meant a foray to the 1999 Interdominions in Auckland was earmarked for Little Rock. Finishing seventh in the opening two heats, he ran a fine second to Pride of Petite recording T1:58.2 for the mile and so qualified for the Trotters Final. In this he finished an unlucky sixth to Special Force. A further win followed at Addington in May to close out the season.
Little Rock’s six and seven year old careers contained few placings before his sale to the United States where his best time was recorded of T1:55.3US.
Interesting features of Middleton’s successes during the 1990’s included : same night victories with Scottish Hostess and Fraggle Rock at Addington on Thursday 10 December 1992; identical times recorded by Fraggle Rock and Lilly the Pink when winning second night heats at the Harold Park ID’s on Friday 1 March 1994 – they both ran the 2700mM in 3:30.6, with identical mile rates of T2:05.6. Isn’t that simply amazing. Finally, the piece de resistance would have to be the hat trick of wins in consecutive races at the Wellington club’s Hutt Park meeting on Thursday 25 February 1993. These being maiden winners Winter Gem raced by Heather Middleton; Fraggle Rock raced by Carl Middleton and Scottish Hostess who completed a double for the meeting.
NZ Cup Week success in the 1990’s did not overlook Middleton either but this came only in the training and driving ranks. Scottish Hostess won on NZ Cup day 1993 whilst Outer Reach succeeded on Show Day 1995.
Other note worthy winners for Middleton during this golden period in the 1990’s included Farm Kiss, Winter Gem, Butler Billy, Malmo, Four Whizzs and future good broodmare Tender is the Knight [Clear Atomic Day $145,219, 1:54.1US, Atomic Knight 5wins]. He also prepared Tamra Nightingale during the early stages of her trotting career (17 wins, 16 in Australia, T2:02.5).
21st Century
As will be seen when looking at the main winners over the past decade, trotters have taken initially a larger and then a total focus for the Middleton stable.
Amongst the more significant trotters he has been associated with this century, two in particular stand out. Both were sired by the premier trotting stallion of this century in Sundon and both were owned by outside interests. These two trotters developed by Middleton before sale to the United States are among the quickest ever NZ bred trotters. Both were particularly head strong customers that required a good deal of straightening out before they progressed successfully to the racetrack.
Mighty Dragon – the fastest ever NZ bred trotter to date who established a record time of T1:52.0US in 2003. Bred and raced in NZ by breeder Murray Platt before his sale to the United States in 2003, the gelded 1997 son of Sundon/Puffinstuff is now 13 years of old and until recently was still racing in the US. Produced on 25 occasions by Middleton, Mighty Dragon recorded 5 wins and 4 placings ($15,938, T2:04.7). Three of his wins were recorded on grass tracks at Waimate, Waikouaiti and Methven. Mighty Dragon has gone on to amass earnings in excess of $125,000 (on a dollar for dollar basis).
Westland Sun – the fourth fastest ever NZ bred trotter to date with a time of T1:52.3US (only Lyell Creek and recently Lets Get Serious with times of T1:52.2US are quicker. Delft T1:53.0US ranks next). Middleton was asked by Graham Nish to train Westland Sun who was considered dangerous, otherwise he would be “going south”. From the first time in the cart, Middleton knew he had something special. Raced in the Middleton stable before his sale to the United States in late 2003, the 1997 gelded son of Sundon/Easelander was raced by Chris Ryder for a good part of his US career. Also produced on 25 occasions by Middleton, likewise Westland Sun also recorded 5 victories and 7 placings for stakes of $34,158 (T2:03.9). Whilst he won at Geraldine on the grass, he had a greater liking for Addington where four of wins were recorded. He showed an early glimpse of his speed when placed second to Take A Moment (beaten half length) in the 2003 Ashburton Trotters Mile in T1:57.3.
He however showed a particular dislike to the Motukarara grass track, twice being disqualified when producing winning performances – the first time from what would have been his maiden win. The second time was on 29 December 2002 when starting from 10m he lost conservatively 200m at the start, was still last turning for home and yet finishing right down the outside running rail got up in the shadows of the post. Unfortunately, the stipendiary stewards (and the Rules of Harness Racing New Zealand) intervened, took an adverse view and overturned the result.
In the United States, Westland Sun has been a stand out performer, amassing stakes close to $700,000 and recording 28 winning times of T1:55.0 or better.
Whilst having no absolute stand out performer (s) since the turn of the century, Middleton continued to be represented by many winners on the track. This included horses developed by and subsequently sold by Middleton. A number progressed to be good intermediate grade trotters or better. In addition to those mentioned above, notable amongst these were : Jazz Legend, Saybia, Millburn Michael, Damian Carlos, Savona, Uppsala, Gammel Dansk, Bergen, Pink Diamond, Olivia of Kew, Trips On Me, Purple Passion, Lady Segil, Westwood Sioux, Miss Adelade, Yes Indeed, Aruba, Another Love, Cutie Patootie.
Targeting Harness Plus races since they commenced with his trotters was a very successful strategy for Middleton. He was a big fan of them and HRNZ should be congratulated for instigating such a scheme. These events pay a bonus on top of the winning stake for horses nominated and sustained . Bonuses are payable to both the nominator and owner where in most cases Middleton met both criteria. These bonuses are available on an age group, regional, gait and gender basis making them particularly attractive.
While Methven was Middleton’s local track, success on the mile grass track proved reasonably elusive until straight line track training commenced when he was at Winchmore. Successes came at more regular intervals at Methven after that.
Part Four : will look at his administrative contribution to harness racing and review Middleton’s breeding successes/theories.
Peter Craig
9 June 2016
Approved By Dean Baring www.harnessbred.com
Driving The Future Of Harness Racing
