Speedy mare leaves WA Group winner

Retired Canterbury dairy farmer John McKenzie is a firm believer in the old adage "first impressions are the last impressions".

"When I came down from Auckland to the South Island to attend University the first horse that I had much to do with down here was Tempest Tiger. I used to give her breeder-owner George Beal a hand around the stables," McKenzie said.

Beal later sold Tempest Tiger to prominent trainer, driver and bloodstock agent Kevin Ryder and she went on to fame and fortune, winning seven races including the Messenger and Canterbury Park Flying Mile. She became the dam of nine individual winners headed up by the 1992 Miracle Mile winner and Grand Circuit Champion Franco Tiger and was subsequently named the NZ Broodmare of the Year in 1996.

"It was a breed that I always wanted to get into," McKenzie said.

"I saw a filly named Reklaw's Gem win a two-year-old workout at Rangiora one day. She was four lengths last turning into the straight and buried them.

"I never forgot how much speed she had.

"I said to a friend of mine that if that mare ever comes on the market I wouldn't mind knowing about it."

By Christian Cullen from the same family as Tempest Tiger, Reklaw's Gem was originally owned by the late Merv Walker and George Platt.

"I bought her off him after she finished racing. I was thrilled to bits when I got her," McKenzie stated.

Reklaw's Gem's first foal was named Tempting Tigress (by Bettor's Delight).

"She was bought by Kevin Pizzuto as a weanling. She had unbelievable speed," McKenzie said.

Tempting Tigress won six of her 10 starts for $130,458 in stakes including the Group 2 Tatlow Memorial and a heat and semi-final of the Breeders Crown at two.

The second foal, Reklaw's Dream (by Bettor's Delight), was sold to Merv Walker's daughter Julianne Davison as a weanling and won twice at Addington as a three-year-old. She is now being bred from.

Next, to the cover of Rock N Roll Heaven, Reklaw's Gem left Rena, a winner of three races to date.

"We have kept her and she'll be back racing in a few weeks with Greg and Ben Hope," McKenzie said.

However, it is Reklaw's Gem's fourth foal, Leopatra (by Bettor's Delight), who is keeping the family well and truly in the limelight.

A $65,000 purchase for Perth horseman the late Barry Howlett at the NZB National Yearling Sale at Christchurch in 2024, Leopatra has won six of her nine starts as a three-year-old this season and is proving one of the best her age and sex in Western Australia.

Following her success in the Group 3 $50,000 Diamond Classic in May, the filly was freshened up and at her second start back at Gloucester Park last Friday night she downed a top field in the Group 3 $50,000 Dainty's Daughter Classic.

Despite a difficult barrier draw and a torrid passage, Leopatra proved a class above her rivals rating 1:55.3 for 2130 metres on the rainsodden track.

"We put Reklaw's Gem back to Rock N Roll Heaven but unfortunately she had twins," John said. The mare lost both, one being squeezed and the other lost subsequently.

"She's now in foal to Bettor's Delight. A colt would be nice but fingers crossed a filly wouldn't be a bad result either.

"We are trying to cut back on the mares but with Delightful Lana, the Group 1 Sires' Stakes winner Our Shangri Lana, Reklaw's Gem, Long Live Lana and possibly Rena it ain't that easy. I am getting old!"