Colonial Family 23

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Family C-23: Winnie

This New Zealand family was largely quiescent in terms of major stakes winners, with the exception of the superior all-around horse Record Reign (1894) and his steeplechasing half-siblings out of Winnie. It flared briefly with a few good horses in the 1920s-'30s and again in the 1950s, but has gone from strength to strength in the latter half of the twentieth century, with many stakes winners in the past twenty years, notably the great champion gelding Super Impose (1984) and several classic winners -- Dungarvan (1983), Proud Chief (1964), both winners of the Great Northern St. Leger, and Hexagonal (1986), a Great Northern Oaks winner.

Winnie (1878, by Kingston), the nominal taproot mare, was born in 1878, and was the result of three generations of breeding in the stud of Major Daniel H. Lusk. Lusk was a surveyor who had helped lay out Christchurch in 1851 and an early settler (1849) in the Mauku district, who had formed the Forest Rifle Volunteers in the Mauku/Waiuku and Pukekohe districts during the Maori campaigns of the 1860s. Winnie's dam, Dolly Varden (c.186-) by Pacific, and her dam, Brunette, by Von Tromp, had been bred by Lusk, from a purportedly pure Arabian mare of unknown provenance.

Winnie passed into the hands of James Roulston, who had settled at nearby Pukekohe and was a founding member of the Franklin Racing Club (Counties Racing Club at Pukekohe), and for him bred nine winners, almost all of them jumpers. Of these, her gelded son Record Reign (1894) was the best -- a weight-carrying winner of sprints, staying races, and important steeplechases. Her sons Belmont (1885, by Auckland Cup winner King Quail), St. Simon (1892, by St. Leger) (both winners of the Great Northern Hurdles), and Up To Date (1898 by St. Hippo), were all good steeplechasers, all initially raced by Roulston.

Winnie's daughters Ladybird (1890, by Carbineer), Winsome (1896, by Musket son Cuirassier, who stood at Glenora Park), Pretoria (1897, by Cuirassier), and Lady Winnie (1902, by Castor) continued the family line. Ladybird's 1909 daughter Gazalie (by Gazeley) bred mostly jumpers for Matamata trainer John Gillies. Winsome, whose progeny were all bred by bookmaker Dan McLeod (owner of Record Reign, see below), produced seven foals, most by the small St. Simon son, Soult, who was owned by J.O. Hayward and, leased to William Walters, and stood at Walters' Glenora Park stud at Papakura (leading NZ sire five times). Four of her daughters bred on, including Kakama (1906, by Soult) -- a sprinter-miler winner of the Great Northern Champagne Stakes as a juvenile and of the ARC Easter Handicap Stakes (8 furlongs) and the Cornwall Handicap (10 furlongs) -- and her sister Miss Winsome (1908), another good juvenile winner of the Welcome Stakes and Avondale Stakes and at age three the Avondale Guineas. Pretoria and Lady Winnie were retained in Roulston's stud; Pretoria produced eight live foals, with five daughters that bred on, and Lady Winnie bred two foals before dying in 1910, including Colonel Soult (1909, by Soult), a good northern runner whose wins included the ARC Cornwall Handicap (10 furlongs), the Avondale Cup (11 furlongs) and the Wanganui Cup (14 furlongs), and a second in the Auckland Summer Cup.

Notable Descendants

Cheval de Volee

Cyron

Neenah

Our Egyptian Raine

Super Impose

Cheval de Volee br.c. 1933
(Vaals - Freesia)
Good, typically front-running stayer that won the Taranaki Stakes, the Taranaki Cup (10 furlongs) and the 16 furlong Auckland Cup twice, in 1938 and 1939. His first Auckland Cup win was an an outsider, where he forced a slow pace for most of the race, and then kicked in a sprint for home. He was bred and raced by A. Rowan, who put him up for auction before his first Auckland Cup victory; passed in at 1,000 guineas, he remained in Rowan's ownership. His sire, Vaals, was a successful stallion at Mardella Stud, near Otahuhu, operated by the sisters Nancy and Marjorie Edwards.

Coleridge br.c. 1952
(Khorassan - Namakia)
When he was a foal he was purchased from the estate of Dr. C. Blundell by Te Awamutu trainer Jack McDonald, who had trained other offspring of Namakia for Blundell. He was New Zealand's leading juvenile money winner, which helped propel his owner-trainer McDonald to top of the leading trainer's list for 1954-55. His wins included the Taranaki Stakes, the ARC Great Northern Foal Stakes, in which he beat the leading juvenile filly Estimate, and a few days later the Royal Stakes (6 furlongs). At age three he was good, but not good enough to beat his generational rival Syntax (champion 1955-56) at longer distances, showing himself best in races up to a mile. His wins included the Great Northern Guineas (8 furlongs), the Wellington Guineas, the WRC North Island Challenge Stakes (7 furlongs), and the Auckland Easter Handicap (8 furlongs in record time), in the latter three beating Syntax, and also the Auckland Admiralty Handicap, the Waikato Guineas, the Franklin Plate, and the 8 furlongs Wellington Stakes. He could not stay the distance in the Great Northern Derby, running second by two lengths to Syntax; Syntax also beat him into third in the Gloaming Stakes, and he was second by four lengths to Syntax in the New Zealand St. Leger. In the middle of his three year old season American interests reputedly offered £20,000 for him, but negotiations failed when it was determined he would not be eligible for the American Stud Book. The next season, 1956-57, he won the North Island Challenge Stakes again, beating the great runner Somerset Fair, but the latter easliy bested him by two lengths in Auckland's Clifford Plate. His dam's half-brother, Neenah (1938, by champion sire Foxbridge), was also a sprinter, schooled by Te Rapa trainer Archie McGregor, that won the ARC Railway Handicap (6 furlongs).

Cyron br/blk.c. 1964
(Cyrus - Able Susan)
Good New Zealand-bred colt taken to Australia to race, where he won 20 of his 90 starts in six seasons. He was best at a mile, running in both handicaps and weight-for-age races, winning the VRC George Adams Handicap, the MVRC Alister Clark Stakes, the VRC Blamey Stakes, and the VATC St. George Stakes at that distance, but won at 7 furlongs in the VATC Memsie Stakes, and stretched out to dead-heat in the VRC Australian Cup (1-1/4 miles) and to win the STC Christmas Cup (1-1/2 miles); in other seasons he was also runner-up in the Australian Cup and the Blamey Stakes. Best runner of his imported sire, Cyrus, who had won some stakes at age two and the Epsom Blue Riband Trial Stakes at age three in England, and who, with poor fertility, got very few runners at Dee Lodge Stud near Auckland. Cyron's dam, Able Susan, won five races to 7 furlongs, including the Avondale Spring Handicap and the President's Handicap; she also produced Markable, a sprinter-miler winner of 11 races in New Zealand, including the ARC Islington Handicap and Members' Handicap. Cyron was at stud at Waiprita Stud in Gisborne, but was not a success.

Our Egyptian Reign b.f. 1998
(Desert Sun - Egyptian Queen)
Small, gritty sprinting mare bred in New Zealand, she won the Avondale New Zealand Bloodstock Fillies Stakes and the LevRC Ryder Stakes, among others, as a juvenile, and at age three won the Railway Stakes at Ellerslie, and was a close second in the other big summer sprint in New Zealand, the Telegraph Handicap. Taken to Australia, she won the Swettenham Stud Stakes, after which she was sold to Australian interests and placed with trainer Graham Begg. She then won the VRC Emirates Classic, the MRC Tristarc Stakes, and other races. She won ten races total, and Au$1,134,474. Her dam, Egyptian Queen, won six races. Desert Sun stood in New Zealand for five years, and after a season in Australia, was a shuttle stallion between there and the National Stud in Ireland; he is best known as the sire of the multiple Australasian champion filly Sunline. Another member of this branch of the Winnie family was the sprinter Mississippi Red (1992), winner of the 1997 CJC Flying Stakes.

Record Reign g. 1894
(Castor - Winnie)
Bred by James Roulston, whose family was instrumental in setting up the Franklin Racing Club at Pukekhoe, south of Auckland, after the first world war. Record Reign won sprints, staying races and races over fences carrying heavy weights in most of them. At age five he won the Avondale Cup under crushing weights, and the following year, carrying the record weight of 12 st.-12 lbs., won the Great Northern Hurdles. He went on to run in Victoria and India, and then France, where, running at Auteuil, he was killed while contesting the Grand Steeplechase. His half-brother, Belmont, bred and owned by Roulston, was the first winner of the Great Northern Hurdles in 1892, and another half-brother, St. Simon won that race in 1897, carrying 12 st. 12 lbs.

Stylish Dude br.g. 1977
(Lonesome Dude - Taraleah)
Good stayer won thirteen races to 2 miles, including the WRC Summer Handicap and the Hawke's Bay Cup in the 1982-3 season, and, as an outsider at odds of 30:1 the 1984 Auckland Cup by 1-3/4 lengths. His placings included the ARC Mitchelson Cup, the HR Chalmers Handicap, and he was third in the New Zealand Cup to Samasaan, and the ARC Queen Elizabeth Handicap (a few days before his Auckland Cup win). He was owned by Dave Taylor, J.S. Sheffield and two others, and trained by then "country trainer" Roger McGlade, who is based at Taupo. His half-sister Dungarvan (1983, by imported Icelandic) won to six races to 2500 meters, including the New Zealand St. Leger and the Avondale General's Cup, and was later dam of Maythehorsebewithu (1996,by Zabeel), winner of the VRC Saab Quality Handicap and five other handicaps and cups to 2500 meters. His dam Taraleah (1964, by Lord Sasanof), won the Avondale Gold Cup and six other races. Her other foals included Tessaleah (1976), a winner, who, through two daughters was second dam of four stakes winners; one of these Fickle Fanny (1996, by Claramount) was a sturdy winner of 8 races in 44 starts, with ten placings, in the U.S., including Aqueduct's Correction Handicap, and her sister, Misstress, winner of the Manatee Stakes and four other races in Florida.

Super Impose ch.g. 1984
(Imposing - Pheroz Fancy)
The big, handsome chestnut 1999 New Zealand Horse of the Year was bred at Meadowland Stud, NZ, by John Grant, who also bred most of his near relatives. Super Impose became an Australian idol with his run-from-behind closing style, for a while holding the Ausralian record for stakes earnings (Au$5,659,538, until surpassed by Octagonal), and famously winning the Epsom Handicap-Doncaster Handicap double in two successive years (1990, 1991), and the MVRC Cox Plate -- the premier weight-for-age race in Australia -- at age eight. He was purchased as a yearling by Australian trainer Lee Freedman (of the former Canberra-based training family) and taken to Melbourne, Victoria, where, trained by Freedman, he ran for a syndicate of racing enthusiasts. Trouble with his tendons at age two delayed his career, which began when he was age three, when he debuted by winning a race at Seymour wire-to-wire by three lengths. He went on to win 20 of his 74 starts, second 24 times and third eight times, in six seasons of racing, at distances from 1200 to 2400 meters frequently carrying the heaviest weight. He did all this despite being sidelined for bleeding for three months, missing two big races, after running second in the 1990 Caulfield Cup to Sydeston by a neck. Some of his other wins included the G1 STC Ranvet Stakes and AJC Chipping Norton Stakes (twice), the AJC Warwick Stakes (G2 three times), the STC Hill Stakes (G2), the AJC Summer Cup (G3), the VATC Eclipse Stakes and the Canberra Cup. Among his second placings was runner-up in the 1989 Melbourne Cup to his stablemate, Tawriffic, and to Stargazer in the Chelmsford Stakes. With arthritis settling in his joints, he was retired in 1993, occasionally brought out to lead the field in featured races at Sydney and Canberra. His unraced dam, also bred at Meadowland, Pheroz Fancy (1978, by Taipan), produced one other winner, Prince Gauntlet handicap winner Pheroz Queen. The second dam, Pheroz Jewel (1970, by Pakisan II), was a good miler, winner of eight races, including the ARC George Adams and the Avondale Pegasus Stakes (beating Grey Way), and second in the ARC Easter Handicap to Turfcutter. The third dam, Pheroz Pride (1962, by Alcimedes) won the the ARC Ladies Mile and the Lady Norrie Stakes, among other races. Her dam Pheroz Girl (1947), whose grey coat was inherited from her sire, Pharos son imported Pherozshah, revitalized this branch of the Winne Family. Others in this line include the "bridesmaid" Furama Nights (1992), winner of the SAJC Dermody Stakes (1200 meters) and the Whangarei RC Ford Thoroughbred Breeders Handicap Stakes, and second in the New Zealand One Thousand Guineas, the ARC Great Northern Guineas, and several other good races; Super Impressive (1995, by Zabeel, also trained by Lee Freedman), twice winner of the VRC Standish Handicap and nine other races in 50 starts, and his half-sister Unrocel Saint (1998, by Last Tycoon), a sprinting handicap winner of the SAJC New Years Gift Handicap and two other races.

Descent Chart