Broodmare Excellence Award has its roots in Hawera club fundraiser

Ever since her first foal Cyclone Prince won the $100,000 Young Guns in 2013, Eyre To The Throne has been a constant source of success for the same group of novice breeder-owners.

Her second foal Cyclone Kate was even better for the group, Mark Lyon, Ant Strachan, Kyle and Heath Mills and former trainer Gareth Dixon, winning 21 races and $360,000.

She was beaten into second by Democrat Party in the Delightful Lady as a two-year-old, but went on to become a multiple Group race winner in Australia.

The remaining six foals from Eyre To The Throne were all fillies and were all sold one way or another, including a yearling at the Karaka sales for $120,000 towards the end.

Seven of Eyre To The Throne’s eight foals were winners with six in 2.00 and four in 1.55.

Eyre To The Throne’s standing has gone ‘next level’ in the past two years however.

Cyclone Jordy, the third foal and first colt from Cyclone Kate, and only the second colt from either Eyre To The Throne or Cyclone Kate since Cyclone Prince 11 years prior, would win the Young Guns in 2024 which prompted a huge sale to the Gary Hall stable.

Cyclone Jordy won his first 11 races in WA, including the Group 1 Golden Slipper for two-year-olds and last year the G3 Caduceus Classic and Listed Battle of Bunbury before being forced off the scene by a tendon injury on the eve of the WA Derby.

Cyclone Jordy resumed with a win in the G3 Chandon Classic in September, and while beaten into ninth in his last two races in the 4YO Championship and 4YO Classic, where he’s raced parked in windy conditions and fast times, a better draw would have Cyclone Jordy right in contention for the upcoming Golden Nugget.

Cyclone Kate has presently produced five foals of racing age for five winners, with two colts since Cyclone Jordy being Derby prospect Cyclone Rebel and Cyclone Miki, a two-year-old winner in Auckland recently at $1.30.

Then there’s the small matter of Don Hugo, the first foal from Eyre To The Throne’s daughter Cinco Amigos, a unraced Bettor’s Delight mare who was sold to Adam Cahill in Queensland as a broodmare.

Don Hugo won his debut as a two-year-old and in the last two years the son of Art Major has gone on to win The Rising Sun at Albion Park, an Inter Dominion final at Menangle and a Miracle Mile beating Leap To Fame in 1.48.4.

Don Hugo has to date won 25 races and close to $2.7 million.

All this has led to Eyre To The Throne being voted the pacing Broodmare Excellence Award winner in 2026.

While Eyre To The Throne certainly had a pedigree of some note, she came from a somewhat disappointing background, so the production record of the Presidential Ball mare and her daughters has been a bit of a revelation and a very pleasant surprise for her connections.

Her dam Erin Brocovich was an In The Pocket sister to Courage Under Fire and another top two-year-old in Advance Attack, who won his first seven starts including the Young Guns and the Sapling and Welcome Stakes.

Erin Brocovich went through the yearling sales in Christchurch in 2001 and not long after Courage Under Fire had won his first 24 races, including seven Group 1s.

He won Sires Stakes Finals at two and three and then five Derbys, the GN, NZ, Vic, NSW and Australian, becoming the first and only horse to achieve that feat.

Erin Brocovich was a huge yearling and was bought for $170,000 by Americans Gordon Banks and Marc Hanover, but she was pretty much hopeless.

She managed a third at the Gold Coast and wound up racing in South Australia where she was retired after just five starts.

Banks and Hanover bred a couple of fillies from her by their stallion Presidential Ball in Eyre To The Throne and Julia R and then sold Erin Brockovich to Dennis Thompson’s ill-fated Platinum Breeding Ltd.

Ian Dobson bought Eyre ToThe Throne for $50,000 at the Melbourne yearling sales and she was trained by Craig Demmler.

She only raced five times for three wins in the country, although she had a lot of foot issues and was never really sound, and was probably better than her record indicated.

She was in foal to Mach Three when she showed up in Dobson’s dispersal sale in the new stables at Addington Raceway.

So after Erin Brockovich had been a disappointing investment all things considered, and daughter Eyre To The Throne didn’t seem up to much either, the latter has proved a wee goldmine.

This story has its origins with Christian Cullen and the Wellington Hurricanes and can be traced back to when Mark Lyon was at school at Auckland Grammar with All Black Ant Strachan.

“We were always reading the Best Bets and going to the trots,” said Lyon.

“That led to trips away to Hawera at Easter for weekends of rugby, racing and beer.”

On one occasion they wound up at a club fundraiser where a donated service fee to Christian Cullen was being auctioned.

“Like most at the time we thought (the horse) Christian Cullen was the best thing since sliced bread and we were keen to breed to him, but there was quite a bit of beer involved in all of this.

“We paid $4500 for the service at a time when he was still unproven.

“Then the club president Colin Jones offered to lend us a mare called Andra’s Night and we wound up breeding a colt called Cyclone Cully.

“Christian Cullen (the rugby player) had played for the Hurricanes of course and while tossing a few names around, that sort of morphed into Cyclone.

“Some other people were also using Cyclone as a prefix (trotters from Cyclone Vance and going back to Bola), but we were a bit superstitious after the first two foals from Eyre ToThe Throne did so well.”

The Cyclone theme was deviated away from for a few years, but when a run of fillies from Eyre To The Throne proved just average performers at best, a return came into affect with the first foal from Cyclone Kate and the results have been a lot better.

When most people getting into horses look to acquire a racehorse first and sometimes wind up breeding by default as a result, Lyon and Strachan had gone the other way.

“We reasoned that it was a longer but cheaper route into racing horses rather than trying to buy a good one or yearlings.

“But it soon became apparent to us that we needed to rope in some more people to help with the costs and Ant knew Heath Mills from his work in sports player development.

“He got Kyle involved as well and (our trainer) Gareth Dixon joined the syndicate a bit later.”

They all remain very enthusiastic owners and rarely miss a race.

Cyclone Cully was sold at the yearling sales to Gerald Shand and Maurice McKendry and won four races before a sale to America, where he went 1.51.2 and won $414,000.

Lyon and Strachan also bred a filly by Il Vicolo from Andra’s Night which was no good and then they bred her back to Christian Cullen, getting Cyclone Night.

Later they bred a colt by Mach Three in Cyclone Mach, who won his second start at Alexandra Park and was soon sold to Australia.

Cyclone Night was raced by the quartet of novice owners along with Colin Jones and trainer Robbie Hughes.

Dixon trained Cyclone Night to win her debut as a late three-year-old in Auckland and she won seven of her 30 starts before being sold to America.

She was fifth at the Jewels behind Kiwi Ingenuity timed in 1.53.6 and went 1.51 while earning $320,000 in the States.

“When we sold Cyclone Night (for $60,000), we realised we had some money in the kitty but no horses left.

“Ian Dobson’s dispersal sale was coming up so we all had a look through that and came up with 4-5 prospects each.

“Eyre To The Throne was picked by everyone so we settled on her with a budget of 30k.

“Gareth rang from the sale and said he had good news and he had bad news.

“The good news was we’d bought her and the bad news was she cost more (about $35,000 all up) than we’d hoped.”

Like Eyre To The Throne, Cyclone Prince also developed foot issues due to small feet and only raced 24 times as a two and three-year-old for his four wins and $131,000 in stakes.

Cyclone Prince was passed in at the sales and later sold to a group which included Dixon, Brendan McCullum and Strachan’s cousin Cam.

But his sister Cyclone Kate was retained by her breeders and soon put that disappointment behind them.

After splitting Democrat Party and Linda Lovegrace in the Delightful Lady, Dixon later took her to Victoria for the Breeders Crown, where she finished third to Katy Perry and Joanne’s A Delight.

After winning three times in Auckland as a late three-year-old, it was decided to send Cyclone Kate to Menangle to be trained by John McCarthy.

She won her first five races in NSW including the $50,000 Carnival Stakes at Menangle in 1.52, while soon after she was third in the G1 Queen of the Pacific at Melton, which was another trip to Australia for the owners.

Cyclone Kate would win another nine races at Menangle including the Group 2 Sibelia Stakes in 1.50.3 along with the Group 3 Frith, Adore Me and Teeny Teeny Stakes.

Eyre To The Throne’s other fillies in Cyclone Charlie (Aus1.57.1), Artemis (Aus1.51.3), Senora Rapido (Aus1.53.7), Holyrood, Cyclone Milly (Aus1.53.9) and Cyclone Charlie (Aus1.57.1 at Bathurst) would all be sold, while the first two filly foals from Cyclone Kate were also sold.

The first of those in Cyclone Charlotte, by Bettor’s Delight, won a race at Cambridge for Tony Herlihy before a sale to Perth where she won nine times and earned $178,000.

She was second in the Group 3 Kerry Clarke and Laurie Kennedy, to Wonderful To Fly and Steno respectively, and won a FFA at Gloucester Park in the last of her 32 starts, taking a new record of 1.55.5 over 2130m.

The second filly Cyclone Bella, by Art Major, was sold at the yearling sales for $32,000 to Stu Valentine and won four races in Australia, one at Menangle in 1.54.7, before also going to stud.

A run of five colts since from Cyclone Kate had left her owners rather anxious for another filly, so a couple of years ago they reacquired Holyrood after selling her for $120,000 as a yearling at Karaka to Graeme Rogerson.

She was seen as a form of insurance policy, in case something happened to Cyclone Kate, and she has obliged with two filly foals since.

Holyrood had eventually won a race at Cambridge towards the end of a 19-start career, but her first foal bred by Rogerson in Roger That sold for $150,000 at Karaka last year to Cran Dalgety and was one of the better two-year-olds going around earlier this season.

He won his first three starts in the autumn, including the Group 1 Diamond Creek Farm Classic at Ascot Park, while being out of luck from a second row draw in the recent Harness Million won by stablemate, Tour Party.

Holyrood showed up on Gavelhouse in foal to Sweet Lou and was bought for $37,000.

The resulting foal in the filly Princess Black was sold as a weanling to Mick Boots and is now making nice progress for Bob Butt.

A weanling filly by Downbytheseaside will be retained, while Holyrood has delivered another filly by Art Major and is going back to Sweet Lou.

Cyclone Kate was carrying twins last season which had to be aborted, and has been served by Bettor’s Delight.

Lyon and his partners haven’t much deviated from the family outside of a couple of wee flirts.

“We had a dog until it broke a leg and we had a small share in a galloper.”

That was Fernandez, a mare who eventually won two races for Byerley Park trainer Jenna Mahoney, the partner of Gareth Dixon.

In recent years, Dixon has been helping Mahoney train thoroughbreds while also doing a bit of work for IRT.

They recently won an Open at Ellerslie with Sweet Smile and the same day they also produced the three-year-old Withallmystrength to win a maiden on debut.

Their best horse has been Real Class, who raced only four times for two wins, including the Group 2 Sir Patrick Hogan Stakes at Ellerslie last year.

Dixon and Mahoney look after Cyclone Kate and now Holyrood at their farm in Waiuku, while during the breeding season they head to Tim and Ellie Montgomery’s Endsleigh Stud in South Auckland.

Tate Hopkins entered the picture after Cyclone Jordy was bought for $70,000 at Karaka by Frank Cooney, who subsequently suffered a debilitating stroke.

“Frank had an owner lined up and later also bought a Bettor’s Delight colt from Kamwood Elsie for $100,000,” said Lyon.

“The owner then decided to take the Bettor’s Delight colt and left Frank stranded with Cyclone Jordy, although we were happy enough to keep a 25% share.”

The Kamwood Elsie colt was called Blackjack and won a race at Addington last winter for Matt Purvis before being sold to Australia recently after 38 starts here.

Cooney’s former training partner Hopkins returned to the fray a few years ago following a stint at Woodlands and Cyclone Jordy was the first winner in his name only while still racing in Cooney’s colours.

Hopkins is now training a yearling colt by Bulldog Hanover from Cyclone Kate called Cyclone Bulldog, who is now doing another prep.

The breeders sold a 50% share in him to a group which includes Cooney and Lyon’s father David.

“Dad’s 87 and Cyclone Bulldog is his first pacer after having small shares in gallopers over the years.”

A weanling colt by Bettor’s Delight is heading for next year’s sales, while Cyclone Rebel will probably be sold for good money at some later date.

All of which is a rather enviable current position to be in after a journey which began with that “piss up” in Hawera and an auction for a Christian Cullen stud fee.

And it is a journey which is clearly a long way from finished.