Great Families — Both Horse & Human — Still Doing the Busines

On a crisp winter evening at Addington (June 9th), two winners in quick succession served as a timely reminder of the deep and enduring influence of great families — both equine and human — on New Zealand’s harness racing legacy.

First came the maiden victory of Christies Art (3f Art Major – Christanna), continuing Stonewall Stud’s red-hot run of form. The well-bred filly got the job done at her ninth start and looks to have more to offer yet.

A $62,500 purchase at the 2023 Auckland Yearling Sale, she was consigned by the Yarndleys — then prepared by Hollis & Robertson at Pukekohe. Christies Art was one of the last horses offered by the Yarndley family as they wound down operations and entered retirement. Their Te Awamutu nursery was later sold to Ken Breckon and transformed into Breckon Farms, now a showpiece of the northern breeding landscape.

For more than 30 years, Yarndley Farm reigned as the north’s leading yearling vendor, with Sandy Yarndley long recognised as a benchmark in yearling preparation.

At the heart of their success was the grand matriarch Black Watch — one of New Zealand’s greatest mares. Unbeaten at two under Roy Purdon and Peter Wolfenden, she won 11 of her 14 starts as a 2- and 3-year-old. After 75 career starts, her legacy as a broodmare elevated her status even further.

Her first two foals — Tay Bridge and Remarkable — won 20 races between them in New Zealand. But it was her daughters — Aberfeldy (unraced), Significant (unraced), Espirit Noir (3 wins), and Corbie (2 wins) — who laid the foundations for several of the most commercial families of the 1980s and '90s.

Sandy Yarndley might well have coined the adage: "Breed the best to the best and hope for the best." And that’s exactly what he did — time and again — sending his mares to the leading sires of each era.

Aberfeldy produced Reba Lord (17 NZ wins) and Megaera (8 wins from just 16 starts), the latter being the horse that first captured Ken Breckon’s imagination and passion for the sport.

Significant left The Unicorn (10 NZ wins) and the brilliant filly Pacific Flight (47 wins across NZ and North America). Espirit Noir produced a successful run of “Fleet” horses, while Corbie left performers like Agios Nikolaos (8 NZ wins) and Black Maire (4 wins).

The latter became dam of seven winners including the outstanding Group 1-winning filly Lauraella (10 wins, $650,000+) and 1:49 pacer Express Stride.

Lauraella is the dam of Christanna (by Rocknroll Hanover), who has gone on to produce Christies Art. Meanwhile, her half-sister Whatz My Choice (3f Bettor’s Delight – Lauraella) also claimed her maiden win at Addington at the end of May for the Dalgety stable — the fifth winner from five foals to race from the mare.

Just one race after Christies Art, another blueblood arrived — the debut-winning One Eyed Bandit, representing the Cummings family of Lawrence, Otago.

If the Yarndleys were the north’s commercial giants, then the Cummings family are surely their southern counterparts — long-time vendors of high-priced yearlings and breeders of Group performers, anchored by their mares Sakuntala and Maureen’s Dream.

One Eyed Bandit (Always B Miki – Break Dance) is the third foal — and third winner — from his five-race winning dam. His half-brother Matt Major clocked 1:50.4 in the U.S. after winning three locally.

While Break Dance hasn’t foaled since One Eyed Bandit, she is hopefully back in foal to Downbytheseaside. The mare is a half-sister to the classy Bonnie Joan (10 wins, $201,000) and Sand Wave (10 wins, $176,000), all tracing back to the prolific Wave Runner, herself a daughter of Cummings-bred matron Seamoon (Smooth Fella – Maureen’s Dream).

The family’s impact is hard to overstate. Maureen’s Dream left Reality Check, who produced the formidable full brothers Ultimate Machete (13 wins, $850,000) and Ultimate Sniper (14 wins from just 20 starts, $843,000), as well as Major Reality (23 wins, $461,000).

Of course, both Sniper and Machete are now standing at stud and beginning their own legacies across Australasia.

Maureen’s Dream was by the colonial champion Lordship and out of Tuapeka Dream, making her a half-sister to the brilliant juvenile Tuapeka Knight, who won 12 of 14 starts before injury cut short his career and sent him to stud.

Like the Yarndleys, the Cummings family have never hesitated to match their mares with the best commercial sires of their time.

Two breeding dynasties — North and South — with an enduring passion for the sport and a remarkable contribution to the New Zealand harness racing story.

And based on their latest winners, it’s a story that’s far from finished.