Tasman Empress Series delivers on promise as Gone Surfin lights up Nelson

The inaugural running of the Tasman Empress Series at Nelson last weekend delivered exactly what it set out to do, providing emerging mares with a genuine platform to step into the open ranks while allowing their natural speed to shine on one of the country’s most testing circuits.

Nelson has long been regarded as New Zealand’s premier mile track, and the mares ensured that reputation was upheld in emphatic fashion, with track records falling on both days of the carnival, spearheaded by the Robert and Jenna Dunn-trained Gone Surfin.

By Downbytheseaside, the four-year-old had already shown her quality as a juvenile when capturing a Group Three, but a frustrating period away from racing meant she entered the Tasman Empress Series still rebuilding momentum rather than carrying established open-class credentials.

Her absence from the classic path was not by design.

After her two-year-old season, Gone Surfin encountered a series of physical setbacks that required patience and careful management, rather than ambition.

“She wasn’t actually injured as such, but she got an infection in her hock which required surgery, and then she’s had another surgery for a bone cyst,” co-breeder and owner Dr Margaret Evans explained. “So she’s had two lots of surgery, and I think it’s fair to say she’s had some health challenges along the way.”

Those interruptions meant her three-year-old campaign was always going to be about confidence and fitness rather than chasing feature races. She reappeared in the spring to contest two heats of the Nevele R Fillies Series, but with race conditioning still being established, connections opted against pressing on into the classics.

That patience was rewarded as she gradually found her feet again.

In her third run back she defeated the highly regarded Tact Teva, before finishing fourth a week later behind two fillies who would go on to win at Group One level last season in Celestial Sea and Arafura. A wide draw over 1980 metres in her final attempt proved too much to overcome, but her closing efforts were enough to suggest she was again heading in the right direction.

The introduction of the Tasman Empress Series proved timely.

Designed by Harness Racing New Zealand as a springboard for fillies transitioning into open mares company, the series likely kept Gone Surfin ticking over when she may otherwise have been sent to the paddock.

“We do the breeding and the following, and we let the people who know what they’re doing make the decisions on the racing,” Evans said. “They’re nice horses, but we’re also pretty well aware of what can happen in racing. You don’t go into it thinking you’ve got anything for sure.”

On the opening day at Nelson, Gone Surfin was asked to earn her victory the hard way.

Setting a new track record of 1:52.0, she was forced to chase down another recent graduate from the fillies ranks in Nothing But You (Captaintreacherous), who had taken the race up from the front for trainer Steven Reid and owner John Curtin.

Despite her gallant effort, Nothing But You was only worn down in the shadows of the post, with a nose separating the pair at the finish, while a further 11 lengths back Misty Blue (Sweet Lou) filled third.

Two days later the same protagonists returned for an equally compelling rematch.

This time Gone Surfin enjoyed cover on the back of Nothing But You, while the recent six-figure purchase Debbie Lincoln (Lather Up) applied sustained pressure outside the leader. When the sprint went on, the Dunn-trained mare again showed her resolve, stopping the clock at 1:52.1, just two days removed from her record-breaking performance.

“To have that mile rate on her CV is really exciting, and to back it up the second day was pretty special,” Evans said. “She was probably lucky to beat that other really nice horse, but she did it anyway. I was thrilled for her and for everybody involved, including the trainers – and to be fair, the veterinary team that looked after her as well.”

For Evans, the Nelson meeting also carried a deeper personal resonance, tied to earlier success on the circuit with horses she and husband Bruce Taylor raced and bred alongside the Dunns.

“The Dunns and the Taylors raced Alta Orlando together, and he was an amazing horse for us,” Evans said. “He raced in Australia for a long time and he’s now back in our paddock with the dry mares and thinks he’s pretty cool — and we think he’re very cool.”

That association also produced some special memories at Nelson itself.

“We had a notable weekend there quite a few years ago where Alta Orlando was racing and a mare Bruce and I bred called Hope For Harriet was there as well,” Evans recalled. “They quinellaed the Nelson Cup one day and then went to Reefton and did it the other way around, so that was pretty exciting for us.”

“We’ve also got family in Nelson, so it’s always a great time to catch up with them and some friends. We really just went up for the weekend and enjoyed it.”

Having shared a significant matter of success racing Alta Orlando in partnership across the Tasman, it ultimately helped shape the next step. With a proven racing partnership already in place, the move into breeding was a natural progression rather than a leap of faith.

“It was decided to buy one or two broodmares, and I take no credit for that,” Evans said. “Robert — and presumably John and Jenna — were responsible for identifying Surfin Swift and a couple of others to buy. That’s how we came by her.”

The broodmare appeal wasn’t just theoretical either, because the Surfin Swift story already had runs on the board before this ownership group ever came into the equation.

The Douglas family bred the first three foals from Surfin Swift, all of whom went on to race, with Robert Dunn himself training each of them (having also trained the mother) and seeing enough along the way to reinforce what he already felt the mare could become at stud. That familiarity, coupled with tangible results on the track, helped underpin the confidence when the Dunn–Evans–Taylor group later acquired the mare.

From those early foals, she produced:

- Pro Surfer (Bettor’s Delight) – 2 wins, 7 placings, $23,389
- Wyatt Waller (Bettor’s Delight) – 9 starts, 2 wins, 4 placings, $12,380
- Surfers Delight (Bettor’s Delight) – Group Three Truer Memorial winner, 15 wins, 34 placings, $215,487, and a 1:52.1 mile rate

Gone Surfin is the next in line, while the first foal bred by the current ownership quartet, Surfinsweet, has been lightly tried to date.

Waiting in the wings are a three-year-old colt by Bettor’s Wish and a yearling filly by Sweet Lou, both of which have already completed early education.

“They’ve done one or two preps and they’re just back in the paddock at the moment,” Evans said. “There’s nothing out of her down there right now, but they’ve had a bit done.”

The weekend was made even sweeter for the breeding quartet when another of their homebred mares, Candy Cane, added further substance to an already memorable trip north. The four-year-old daughter of Sweet Lou saluted triumphantly on the opening day, completing a breeding and ownership quinella and reinforcing just how well the weekend was unfolding for the Dunn–Evans–Taylor connection.

Candy Cane then returned to the track in the second heat of the Tasman Empress Series, where she more than held her own despite finishing eighth behind her stablemate. The performance was far from disgracing in a deep field of progressive mares and capped off a Nelson carnival that showcased not just headline speed, but the depth now emerging from the group’s broader breeding programme.

Like many breeders, Evans and her husband Bruce Taylor have also experienced the harsh realities that sit alongside the highs.

Surfin Swift lost her most recent foal despite intensive veterinary intervention, a reminder of how quickly breeding plans can unravel.

“That’s one of the great levellers in this industry,” Evans said. “It wasn’t through lack of attention — it was just one of those things. Four vets still weren’t enough.”

Beyond Gone Surfin, the past season also delivered another milestone for the Evans–Taylor operation, breeding Frazzled to win the Group Three Northern Trotting Oaks.

Out of their well-tried mare Flashman (Continentalman), the victory reinforced the depth of their breeding programme across both gaits.

As the Tasman Empress Series now builds toward its $35,000 final, the two days of racing at Nelson have already achieved their purpose.

With the final not attracting a full field, it appears likely that many of the mares who lit up the circuit last weekend will again clash in the decider, before progressing into the major Addington mares features through summer.

For Evans, the appeal of the series is simple.

“You just enjoy watching them go if they go well,” she said. “Anything to do with horses, you can’t guarantee anything — that’s just the nature of it.”

Harness Racing New Zealand's head of Racing and Agering, Matthew Peden was equally delighted with the first iteration of his Nelson brainchild.

"I was absolutely stoked with the outcome of the two inaugural heats of the Tasman Empress Mares Series. To see mile rates of 1:52.0 recorded on both days was extremely rewarding and a real credit to the owners and breeders involved. Performances like that only enhance the profile and value of not only Gone Surfin, who continues to strengthen her credentials as a broodmare prospect off the back of those outstanding times, but the place getters of both heats as well.

What also stood out was just how versatile Standardbreds are. The quinella from Friday went on to run first and second again on Sunday. That sort of repeat performance across heats speaks volumes about the quality being produced and the strength of these bloodlines.

Overall, the quality of both fields was strong, and I’m confident the Tasman Empress Mares Series will quickly cement itself as a genuine feature on the calendar. It provides an ideal pathway as this class of mare begins its season, leading perfectly into the late-summer mares features at Addington. I’m very much looking forward to the $35,000 final to be run at Addington next Friday, January 23," he said.

If this inaugural edition is any indication, the Tasman Empress Series has found its place on the calendar — and Gone Surfin has well and truly announced herself as a mare ready to make her mark.