Jaccka breeding regime Evan better!

A few years ago prominent Northern Southland breeders Charlie and Ailsa Smaill, who established the well known ‘Jaccka’ brand in the mid 1990s, decided to scale down and concentrate on their own breeding and racing stock.

“We are content to mainly race the horses that we’ve bred ourselves,” Charlie, a former member of the NZ Sires’ Stakes board and a former chairman of Southern Harness Racing, said.

Jaccka Justy, the winner of the Group 1 Dominion Handicap and Group 3 Banks Peninsula Trotting Cup, and his half-sister Jen Jaccka, who won nine trotting races, are prime examples of horses the Smaills bred and retained.

However, a five-year-old pacer named Jaccka Evan has bucked the trend in recent times.

Bred and originally raced by the Smaills, the Ultimate Machete gelding began his career with respected Ryal Bush horseman Brett Gray, winning a maiden at Winton as a three-year-old. He then chalked up a further three successes at four before being sold to prominent Victorian owners Eric and Heather Anderson at the outset of his five-year-old campaign.

From four starts in his adopted country Jaccka Evan has notched three wins and a placing to improve his lifetime stake tally to $71,277.

The versatile performer led throughout in a fresh lifetime mark of 1:52.4 at his Australian debut at Wagga in September, sat parked before winning at Kilmore a fortnight later and then came from last to beat a quality lineup on Victoria Cup night at Melton last Saturday.

“I regretted selling ‘Evan’ over there. He was a difficult horse to begin with but he became quite a nice horse,” Charlie said. “He had a bit of a joint problem soon after landing in Victoria and was sidelined for a few months.

“As long as he stays sound he’ll end up winning quite a few I would expect.”

Charlie and his wife Ailsa, a NZ Harness Racing Board member for 12 years, bred Jaccka Evan from the Tintin In America mare Elva Jaccka.

“She was a rough gaited mare but she managed to win five races,” Charlie said.

Elva Jaccka left three foals before her untimely death owing to a paddock accident last year. They are Jaccka Evan, Jaccka Elvis, a winner of four races to date, and the three-year-old filly Ena Jaccka (by Always B Miki), who qualified at Ascot Park in February and was turned out.

“She was a big filly and needed more time. She’ll be coming back into work next month,” he said.

The Smaills’ connection with this family dates back five generations to the race-winning Lordship mare Empresso. It has been a consistent source of winners down through the years, with horses the calibre of the Addington free-for-all winner Still Coughin, Haley Jaccka (Southern Belle Speed Series), the Moonee Valley winner Jaccka Bromac and Edie Jaccka (1:56.5) tracing back to her.

Charlie and Ailsa, who reside on a 200 acre property at Riversdale, have a long and distinguished record in breeding and exporting Group and feature race winning pacers and trotters, particularly to Australia.

The list includes the Victorian country cups ‘king’ Jaccka Clive, the Bathurst Gold Crown winner Jaccka Taurus, Jaccka Connor, the Melton winner Jaccka Cooper, Jaccka Lon and the Group 2 Queensland winning trotter Jaccka Watch.