Hooray for Henry

The rising 8yo Auckland Reactor – Outback Girl gelding is doing his owner/breeders the Corrigans & trainer/driver David Butcher proud this season and last Friday night he won his 11th race (from 65 starts) and got ever so closer to the $200k mark in stake money.

Yes, he only had four rivals to beat, but he ran 2:39 for the 2200m and came home in under 56 seconds. This was his fourth win of this campaign and he seems to be a happy horse in career-best form.

‘Henry’ has solid breeding credentials to be a successful racehorse.
His dam Outback Girl (Elsu – Cold Front) qualified but after just one run was retired to the broodmare paddock. Of her four other live foals, Big Mach (by Mach Three) also won 11 races and took a best time of 1:53.4 in America.

Cold Front was a smart mare for the Hadleys and trainer the late Jeff Crouth, winning seven races including two as a two-year-old and earning $63,000.
At stud she left only three foals, and a full brother to Outback Girl, Diablo Storm, won seven races with a best time of 1:54.6.

Cold Front was by top broodmare sire Soky’s Atom from Cyclone Bola, and although unraced, the latter did a fine job as a matron, leaving the likes of Anakim (7 wins), Wacko Jacko (10 wins) and Thunder Storm (6 NZ wins + 1:51.8 in America).

In the breeding barn, Anakim left Jewels winner Running On Faith (8 wins + $327,000), who in turn has left six winners to date, headed up by Cup-class pacer Jolimont (10 wins to date) and The Faithful (8 NZ wins).

For good measure, the only non-winner from Cyclone Bola was her first foal Cyclone Betsi (by Vance Hanover), but she did qualify, and then her first foal Cyclone Vance (by Safely Kept) left an impressive nine winners when bred to trotting stallions, headed up by another Jewels winner in Cyclone U Bolt (12 wins + $240,000) and Cyclone Jeter (10 wins).

Cyclone Bola was by Lordship from Lotto and was a full sister to Casino Lord (7 wins + $191,000), another fine Crouth-trained performer of the late 1980s.

Hooray Henry is by the much-maligned Auckland Reactor.
There was a time, especially in the 2008/09 season, when the son of Mach Three was the hottest property on the NZ racing scene.
Not raced as a two-year-old, he won all 11 starts as a three-year-old and became a superstar.
This writer vividly remembers trainer/driver Mark Purdon taking him to Cambridge and bringing him down the outside fence of the home straight so the public could touch him — he was that popular.

He became a millionaire early in his four-year-old season and eventually won 32 of 53 starts, earning $1.8 million with a best mile rate of 1:51.4.

At stud, he left over 120 winners including Chase Auckland, Revolver, Willie Go West, and Jazzy Star, all of whom got close to breaking the 1:50 mark and were known as tough, durable types.

However, in some circles they gained a reputation for being rough-gaited and difficult to handle, and in time, Auckland Reactor’s superstar glow faded. He was eventually retired to obscurity, largely unwanted by NZ breeders.

Ironically, during this time, sons of Mach Three such as Somebeachsomewhere became the preferred stallion line.
While the star of Auckland Reactor may be largely forgotten, his gelded son Hooray Henry marches on.
$200,000 in stakes looks an achievable goal, and one could easily see him racing on for another couple of seasons yet.