NZ HARNESS NEWS
Invercargill breeders Mark and Pauline O’Connor were overjoyed to own a pair of winners at Addington in Christchurch on Thursday night.
The couple were victorious with the Ken and Tony Barron-trained pair Rockaball and For The Corz, who are both also owned by their good friend, Owen Shaw.
“It was real thrill to win two races at headquarters,” said Mark O’Connor.
“It’s just a shame we couldn’t get up there to watch them live.”
O’Connor is the CEO of South Port in Bluff and had work obligations to attend to.
“The trainers were pretty confident with both horses and said they should both go pretty well.
“Tony actually said what are you doing? You should come up here for the night.
“But I had a board meeting for our end-of-year results and had to brief a major shareholder.
“That meeting was at 3.30 and the last flight out of Invercargill was 4.30, so it just wasn’t going to happen.”
Rockaball, a three-year-old son of Rock N Roll Heaven, made a winning debut in the hands of Ricky May.
The O’Connors and Shaw co-bred Rockaball (along with Invercargill’s Stu and Bron Perkins) out of the former good mare Shezaball.
The group purchased Shezaball, a half-sister to Averil’s Quest (9 wins) and Fizzi Lizzi (8 wins), as a yearling in 2010 and she went on to win eight herself from the local stable of Wayne Adams.
“Stu is an account down here and Tony Barron is one of his clients.
“We’d always indicated to Tony that the first foal out of Shezaball would be steered his way to train and the fact he moved to Canterbury didn’t change that.
“We made the decision to race the first foal from her (Rockaball) and sell every second one after that.
“But that plan hasn’t quite gone as we expected because the next foal, an Art Major colt, didn’t sell at this year’s yearling sales.
“He’s a massive horse and has just been gelded and turned out for six months.”
Rockaball was a natural, however, and a very quick learner for the Barrons, making swift progress as a two-year-old after being a late break in.
“Tony thinks he’s definitely on the way up and has a good future.”
Ricky May, just off the plane from a holiday in Canada, was in the unfamiliar role of Barron stable driver as their usual reinsman, Blair Orange, had opted to drive plunge horse Karmic Way.
But he galloped off the arm and was ultimately pulled up, giving punters who backed him off the map a headache.
“It was mentioned on tv that it was a tough decision for Blair, but we were delighted to get Ricky as a replacement.”
Orange donned the Barron silks later in the card when reining home For The Corz to her second win.
She is a half-sister to brilliant Victorian pacer Im Corzin Terror ($513,219), but O’Connor managed to pick her up fairly cheaply as a weanling at the Christchurch mixed sale in 2014.
“I was up there to sell a broodmare and she just caught my eye.
“There was obviously quite a bit of depth there on the page and Im Corzin Terror was starting to do a fantastic job.”
The downside was she is by Lis Mara, who even the most optimistic observer would say has been a disappointment at stud in New Zealand.
But, O’Connor had a soft spot for the sire.
“We’d had a Lis Mara called Lis Tureen who we thought a bit of and she’s gone on to win 20 races in Australia.
“So I put my hand up and paid seven thousand for her.”
Shaw, an Insurance man from Southland who now lives in Auckland, came along for the ride.
“His kids and our kids went through school together and that’s how we got to know him.
“He wasn’t a racing man – he’s been in the insurance game all his life – but he’s pretty keen on the game now.”
For The Corz was actually supposed to be sold to a leading Victorian trainer after he trialled her recently.
But a minor vetting issue delayed the sale and the flow-on effect of that was a few more starts and another win.
“Tony found a very small cut in the base of her foot, but she’s never missed a beat in training.”
The O’Connors, perhaps best known as the breeders behind the Denario moniker, are going to breed Shezaball on their own this season, as well as a further four mares.
As for Mark O’Connor, he is “deliberately” ending his 25-year tenure at South Port on the Friday before New Zealand Cup week
“I haven’t got any specific plans.
“I’m just going to take my foot off the pedal a wee bit and get in to some governance-type directorship work.
“I signed up for one last month and I have a few other community-based roles, too.
“We’ve still got the land and horses to manage and it will be nice to be able to give a bit more time to that,” says the 54-year-old.
It was a great night at the office for the Barrons, who also produced Amazon Lily to win for a training treble.
Approved By Dean Baring www.harnessbred.com
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