Southland Breeders Enjoy Aussie Success

Gore breeders Terry and Dawn McPherson are finding Australia a happy hunting ground for horses they’ve bred.

The retired dairy farmers, who breed Standardbreds as a hobby, have sold a number of smart pacers across the ditch in the past five years, with several proving more than up to the task in Australian company.

Undoubtedly the best to date have been the half-brothers Miki Pins and Captain Pins—both $100,000 earners and Listed winners at Menangle and Melton respectively.

However, Terry believes a younger sibling might have eclipsed them all in terms of sheer raw talent.

“He worked a half in 54 seconds at home as a three-year-old. The phone rang off the hook that night and we ended up selling him to clients of Gary Hall in Perth,” he said.

The colt in question, Sweet Pins (Sweet Lou), made a spectacular debut at Pinjarra last July, scoring by 21 metres in a 1:56.4 mile rate over 1684m with a blistering last half in 55.7.

“Unfortunately he broke down and has not raced since,” Terry lamented.

Their latest success story in Australia is the Always B Miki gelding Meg’s Boy, a brilliant front-runner who has won four of his five starts to date—all at Albion Park—and twice stopped the clock in 1:52.9 over the sprint trip.

Meg’s Boy is from the well-performed Holmes Hanover mare Meglea, whom the McPhersons leased for two seasons from prominent Southland breeding nursery Macca Lodge. A five-race winner who placed nine times from 36 starts, Meglea earned $38,193 on the track.

“She had quite a few foals before we got her, but none of them were as good as what she was,” Terry said.

“The first foal we got out of her was Vanessa Marie. She only had six starts over three years. She had trouble with her hoof and we just couldn’t get her right. She did win one race. We’ll be breeding from her this year.”

Meg’s Boy is the second and final foal the couple bred from Meglea.

“He only had two workouts and we got a good offer for him, so we sold him to Australia,” Terry added.

The McPhersons are also breeding from the Shadow Play mare Bronte Lindenny, whose first foal, Hungry Bronnie, recently finished third at Wyndham, as well as from their blue hen Pretty Pins, dam of Miki Pins, Captain Pins, and Sweet Pins.

“We’ve got two fillies out of Pretty Pins. The first one is a Bettor’s Delight two-year-old who is three-quarters to the champion racemare Carabella, and a weanling filly by Bulldog Hanover,” Terry said.

“We will keep both of them. We’ve also got a yearling gelding by Captain Crunch. He may end up in Australia if he goes the way of his half-brothers.”