8 Jun 2018
New Zealand breeder Tim Harrison is looking for a red-letter week with the progeny of Tavistock.
Harrison enjoyed success with the breed on Thursday when the Tony Pike-trained 4YO homebred Tipical (ex Hidden Passion) registered back-to-back wins at Taranaki.
Today Harrison looks to Tavistock’s proven ability to throw elite classic winners via the Darren Weir-trained homebred Lucky For All (ex Clerio), who lines up in the Queensland Derby.
With over 20 years in the game as a breeder, Harrison openly dispels the myth that older mares are inferior to their younger counterparts.
“I’ve made a habit of buying older mares,” explained Harrison.
“The 12th foal out of Lucky For All’s dam was the stakes winner Alamer (Alamosa). I called Lucky For All, Lucky For Some in New Zealand because he was the 13th foal out of her.”
Beyond success had, Harrison's view is also backed by empirical research.
"We conducted a study of over 20,000 matings and it showed that the dam's age played no material difference on offspring performance. You just need to look at Secretariat's dam, Somethingroyal, for example, she was 18 when she had him."