Matt Saunders likes The High Life!

The Live Or Die mare The High Life, gifted to Otatara horseman Matt Saunders and his brother Greg seven years ago, proved to be a one-off blessing. She left them just a single foal – the talented NSW sprinter Bushy Beach – but what an impact that foal has made.

“I was living in Tapanui at the time and that’s where Ross and Bev Ludemann lived,” Matt said.

“They didn’t want to breed from The High Life that season. She was 17 at the time and we got one foal out of her.

“That was her last foal. I think Ross had her put down not long after that.

“We bred Bushy Beach to race but when Covid came we got out of the sport and sold everything. He finished up being sold to Daryl Trainor. We had him broken in, Daryl liked him and we sold him.”

After being placed in each of his four starts as a three-year-old in New Zealand, Bushy Beach was shipped to Sydney to be prepared by Trainor’s son, Jack.

The Sunshine Beach gelding subsequently won at his first two starts on Australian soil at Albion Park and Menangle.

Bushy Beach has since won a further nine races – including eight this season – and netted $73,737 in stakes. He put an exclamation mark on his career when he captured the $25,500 Waratah Final at Menangle on April 26 in a new lifetime mark of 1:52.5.

“We thought he was a horse that would go early, but he’s just got better with age,” Saunders said.

The High Life, a winner herself, has a 100 percent record as a broodmare. Besides Bushy Beach, she is also the dam of the Australian metropolitan winners Lively Hero ($177,655), The High Roller ($131,818) The High Achiever and The High Commander, and to The Highlight, dam of the NZ, Australian and American winner Bettor’s Highlight ($106,874).

Bushy Beach is not the best performer brought out by Saunders, however.

“The best one was the first one that we ever bred called Salty Robyn. We qualified him and then sold him to Shane Tritton in Sydney. He’s won 39 races, made the Miracle Mile field and is still racing in America,” Saunders said.

Salty Robyn, who has banked $527,151 and holds a mile mark of 1:49.2, numbered the $50,000 Hondo Grattan Sprint, the $51,000 Rod Fitzpatrick Memorial and the NSW Christmas Gift among his list of successes.

“The next one we bred was Spike Robyn, who was also sold to Tritton. He won 11 races in NSW,” he said.

“They were the first two we bred and they were both by pretty average stallions. It seems that the worst stallion we went to the better the progeny!”

After stepping down from the training side in 2020, Saunders, who owns a grocery business, was granted his licence back earlier this year.

“We bought the training facility operated by Murray Brown near Ascot Park Raceway for 40 years before he died,” Matt said. “We plan to move in at the end of the month. I’ve already got a couple a young ones being worked up.”