NZ Breeder/Owner of the Year
NZ Breeder/Owner of the Year
The Breeder of the Year award is presented by the New Zealand Standardbred Breeders Association at the national harness racing awards each year, and it is the one this association puts its own name to. It recognises the breeder whose horses made the strongest case across a single racing season, and it sits alongside the Owner of the Year award, presented by Addington Raceway, on the same night.
The two are worth reading side by side, because they are so rarely won by the same people. Over twenty two seasons, only Charles Roberts and Trevor Casey have appeared on both lists, and only Roberts has held both in the same year, in 2013/2014. Most of the time the person who bred the horse and the person who owned it while it was winning are two different people entirely, which is the plainest evidence there is of what breeders actually contribute to this sport and how seldom they are the ones collecting on race day.
Charles Roberts leads the breeders with four titles, including three consecutive seasons from 2013/2014. Sandy and Jan Yarndley have two, five seasons apart. The rest of the roll is remarkable for how little it repeats. Eighteen different breeders across twenty two seasons, from established operations like Woodlands Stud, Spreydon Lodge, Roydon Lodge, Breckon Farms and Studholme Bloodstock, through to small private breeders who bred one exceptional horse and made everyone take notice.
The most recent winner makes the point better than any of them. John and Katrina Price of Winton took the 2025 award, and Katrina's response was to note how humbling it felt given the size of their operation next to the established big hitters. They bred Republican Party, who won four Group One races in the season and went on to be named Horse of the Year, along with Duchess Maria, unbeaten through four Group Three wins, and Ruby Roe, a three time winner including the Group Three Wyndham Champagne Stakes. Katrina rated Republican Party's Auckland Cup as the highlight, completing the Invercargill and Auckland Cup double for a second straight year.
The season before, the award went to Taffy Ltd, Todd and Fleur Anderson of Central Southland, whose mare Imaginary Bet produced both Merlin and Captains Mistress, winners of Group One races on the same afternoon at Addington on Show Day, a feat achieved only once before. Two consecutive years, two Southland breeding operations, neither of them large.
That is the pattern this roll keeps returning. The Breeder of the Year award has gone to studs and to syndicates and to companies, but just as often it has gone to a couple with a handful of mares who got the mating right. It is the most democratic award in the sport, and the honour roll below is the proof of it.
NZ Breeder & Owner of the Year | Honour Roll
New Zealand Breeder & Owner of the Year
| Season | Breeder of the Year | Owner of the Year |
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