Where Are They Now: Habibti Ivy

For the better part of a decade Habibti Ivy was the elegant chestnut trotter who could glide like silk through her races, a mare with the frame of a stayer and the sprint of a good colt, capable of beating the best open-class horses in the land when the mood struck.

But the story of Ivy has never really been about what she did. It has always been about who she came from, and now, in the wake of her daughter Habibti Pat’s stunning G1 New Zealand Trotting Derby victory, it is also about what she has passed on.

On a night when the boys were expected to dominate, Pat changed the shape of the race in the hands of Blair Orange, becoming the eighth filly to win the Derby since it's renaming in 2002. She did it having bypassed the only fillies’ G1 trotting feature in the country and did it with a staying performance that felt, in many ways, like a throwback to her maternal line. If Ivy was the mare who carried the legacy forward, Pat is the filly declaring loudly that the family is nowhere near finished.

The Ten To One Foundation

The resurgence of interest in this family always begins at the same place: Ten To One. The 2018 NZ Trotting Broodmare of the Year and 2024 NZSBA Trotting Broodmare of Excellence winner did more than leave good horses — she left a blueprint for soundness, speed, and an attitude that only grows deeper with each generation.

She produced Habibti (Love You), one of the greatest trotting mares of the modern era, a mare who left the sport with an extraordinary list of titles: NZ 2YO Filly Trotter of the Year, Australian 3YO Filly Trotter of the Year, NZ 3YO Filly Trotter of the Year, and NZ 4YO Mare Trotter of the Year. She then produced her own Group performers, including Resolve (Majestic Son) — NZ 4YO Mare Trotter of the Year and NZ Aged Mare Trotter of the Year — and the talented Confessional (Muscle Mass).

Alongside Habibti came Habibi Inta (Love You), the entire who would go on to win the G1 New Zealand Trotting Stakes, the G1 NZ Harness Jewels (Ruby 4YO), and the G1 Dominion Handicap, as well as the title of NZ 4YO Horse & Gelding Trotter of the Year. His longevity and class stamped the family with a rare kind of credibility: they weren’t just fast, they were tough, repeat performers who thrived in open company.

And then there was Habibti Ivy. Same sire, same family, same attitude — but with her own distinct flavour of brilliance.

Julie Maghzal remembers the backstory of how her father, Bob Day, and family friend Dick Petrie stewarded the maternal line long before the public ever knew its name.

“My father bred from the family for years. They shared the mares year about — Dad had one foal, Dick had the next. When Dick put Ten To One up for sale, Gaby and I saw it and rang him straight away. Because I knew him all my life, he sold her to us.”

It proved to be one of the most consequential decisions in the contemporary trotting studbook. Four consecutive matings to Love You produced the sort of consistency breeders spend lifetimes chasing.

“They’ve never really faltered,” Julie says. “All the foals have done well.”

Ivy’s Time

Habibti Ivy emerged as the big, elegant daughter of Ten To One who wasted no time announcing herself.

“Her very first start was at Oamaru and she won brilliantly,” Julie recalls. “Blair Orange drove her — he’s always been very kind to drive for me whenever he could — and we went from there.”

The next stop was Westport, another win. Soon after came the NZ Trotting Oaks, where Ivy proved she was more than just a promising type — she was a filly of genuine class.

And then came the moment that still stands untouched in the modern era: her win in the G1 Anzac Cup, making her the last trotting mare in New Zealand to win an open-class Group One trot. No mare has done it since.

When Julie is reminded of that fact, she pauses.

“Oh really? My goodness.”

She was a striking mare, too — unmistakable in the paddock or on the track.

“She’s a gorgeous, great big mare — very light chestnut, long through the barrel. She’s the biggest mare we’ve ever had.”

Ivy was set for the Dominion Handicap that same year, but in a cruel twist the family has seen before, she broke down three days before the race.

“It was heartbreaking,” Julie says. “And the same thing happened with Habibi Inta — three days before the Dominion, he broke down too. You couldn’t believe it.”

The margins are fine at the top level — but the legacy they leave often depends on what they pass on rather than what they missed.

Passing the Torch

When Gabby passed away, Julie carried on with the trotters they had once managed together.

“Gabby really loved the pacers, and I’ve always loved the trotters,” she says. “So it was easier for me to carry on with the trotters.”

She sold Ivy’s first foal, The Ivy League (Father Patrick), as a weanling. She inherited lots of the family ability, so much so she was G1 placed at two, and was a feature in both the G1 Trotting Oaks and Derby before being retired to the powerful Price Bloodstock broodmare band.

Her next two foals, by Propulsion, are now with Greg Hope and tracking well. And this year Ivy delivered her first colt — a light chestnut by Father Patrick who looks more like his dam than any foal before him.

“I said if I get a colt I’ll sell him,” Julie laughs. “But now I look at him… oh, I’m not so sure.”

The family’s long-time friend and horsewoman, Gail Murray, has raised Ivy’s foals from the start.

“Her care for the young ones is tremendous,” Julie says. “She and Ivy are great mates, so we just keep them together.”

Ivy will return to Father Patrick again — a cross that now has a G1 New Zealand Trotting Derby winner to its name.

“It’d be silly not to,” she smiles.

And so the line moves on.

Habibti Pat’s Derby win was no surprise to the people closest to her. Greg Hope had been bullish.

“Greg absolutely said she’d beat the boys — no problem at all,” Julie says. “He said she’s never really been tested for speed. Once she gets to the front she doesn’t want to be beaten — that’s our breed.”

It’s a trait that has echoed through Ten To One, Habibti, Resolve, Habibti Ivy, and now Habibti Pat. Tough, competitive, professional — the kind of horses who want to win even before they know how to.

“So many people have been happy for me,” Julie says. “It means a lot.”

A New Branch at Stud

The influence of Ten To One now stretches into new territory. Her son Habibi Inta, a three-time Group One winner, now stands at stud with Grant Beckett at Phoebe Standardbreds. His first crop of juveniles will step onto racetrack surfaces next season — a moment Julie finds both surreal and thrilling.

“It’s terrific,” she says. “People are coming to me saying they’re breeding to him — who wouldn’t? He’s just magnificent.”

Breeders have begun sending Julie photos of their foals.

“They’re thrilled. Some of them are already in work. Now we just need them on the track to show what the breed can do.”

She laughs when asked whether she has any by him herself.

“My mare is his full sister — so no, I can’t. But it’s exciting watching them.”

And that’s the essence of this family: every season brings another reason to look forward.

Habibti Ivy may be retired to the broodmare paddocks now, but her story is anything but finished. Through Resolve, Confessional, Habibi Inta, and now the Derby-winning Habibti Pat, the family of Ten To One continues to carve out its place as one of the great maternal lines in New Zealand trotting history.

Ivy carried the legacy forward. Pat carries it into the future.

And the family — unmissable, unmistakable, unstoppable — goes on.