Petrie Would Be Proud

The cream rises to the top, as they say — and there were several prominent families starring at Addington and Auckland last Friday night.

Indulge Me (from the Scuse Me family), General Gen (from the Gold Ace family) and Sooner The Better (from the Christian Cullen family) were prime examples of breeding well-performed mares to good stallions, with their results on the track now consolidating the standing of those respective families.

And then there was Habibti Pat (by Father Patrick).

The second foal of Habibti Ivy (by Love You), who won nine races from only 21 starts and $186,000 in stakes, ‘Pat’ is well on her way to surpassing her dam — with six wins and $150,000 already banked from just 12 starts, and the promise of much more to come.

Her first foal and full sister, The Ivy League, won three races for John and Karina Price before going to stud and is currently in foal for the first time to Tactical Approach.

Since ‘Pat’, Ivy has produced two fillies by Propulsion and is currently back in foal to Father Patrick for breeder Julie Maghzal.

Habibti Ivy is by Sundon from Ten To One, who was bred by the late Dick (Richard) Petrie of North Canterbury.

This writer had the pleasure of meeting Petrie on several occasions — he was one of the truly good guys of the trotting world. He loved his horses and trained many of them himself with modest success.

Ten To One fell into that category. She didn’t begin racing until age five, went on to have 123 starts, and finally retired at 11 as the winner of six races with 26 placings — with little early indication that she would become the foundation of a great trotting family.

Petrie bred Ten To One from his four-win mare Ten Four (Yankee Reb – Three Tens).

Interestingly, Three Tens was pacing-bred, by Fallacy, and left 10 winners from 10 foals to race. Memphis won four in New Zealand for Petrie before heading to the United States, where he recorded a 1:54 mile in the early 1980s. Signor Gabrielli (owned by Gabby Maghzal) won eight races in total, including four of seven as a two-year-old, earning him the title of 2YO Trotter of the Year.

Another branch of the family through Gay Helen (dam of Three Tens) produced Fear Factor, who became the grand-dam of current trotting star Bet N Win. Renezmae (2YO Australasian Breeders Crown), Prince Fearless ($186,000) and Saratoga ($101,000) are other quality trotters to emerge from this remarkable family in recent seasons.

But back to Ten To One — Petrie bred her first foal, Ten Too (by Armbro Invasion), who showed real ability but was quite unsound. He finally made it to the races as a seven-year-old, winning seven of 15 starts for trainer Robert Dunn. Tried again as an eleven-year-old, he was again unable to stand up to the training required.

Enter immigrant, restaurant owner and trotting enthusiast Gabby Maghzal, who had already enjoyed success with this family and was keen to purchase Ten To One from Petrie.

And as they say — “the rest is history.”

Releven Dream (by Dream Vacation) was foal number three for Ten To One, winning four races as a four-year-old before being sold to Australia, where he won another 13 races and $119,000.

Then came Habibti (16 wins, Group 1 winner, $353,000), the champion filly who was both 2YO and 3YO Trotting Filly of the Year. The name Habibti is an Arabic term of endearment meaning “my love” or “my darling.”

Ten To One went to Love You three more times over the next four seasons for the Maghzals, producing Lothario (6 wins), Ivy (9 wins) and Habibi Inta (11 wins), the latter a Dominion Handicap winner now applying his talents in the stallion barn.

Habibti has gone on to produce Resolve (11 wins, $295,000) and Confessional (7 wins to date, $150,000) and was last served by Volstead for the Butt/Patterson partnership.

Habibti Sadie (by Pegasus Spur) didn’t race, but her first three foals have all been winners — including Magic Dash (7 wins, $120,000) and the very promising Tactical Bid (3 wins to date). She is currently in foal to Father Patrick.

The Habibti success story was enough to earn Ten To One the 2017/18 Trotting Broodmare of the Year Award, with six of her eight foals making it to the races — and all six winning.

Habibti Pat looks every bit the mare to carry that legacy forward.

Dick Petrie will be looking down from above with a smile on his face.

Good on ya, Dick.