By Gayleen MacKinnon

Well I couldn’t be more thrilled if I had won this myself, having known Nan for many years, I can say she is a well deserved winner of this months award.

Nan’s winning horse is Edesia the 5 year old Bay Mare (Muscle Mass - Aine by Armbro Invasion).

Edesia is trained by Michelle!Wallis & Bernie Hackett, in Waiuku. It was a family affair with Nan’s son Bernie Hackett in the bike for the winning drive. Nan has ownership in several of the Wallis Hackett trained horses, but that is to be expected when she is such an integral part in their Waiuku operation.

On a daily basis Nan will be at the stables at 6.30am, ready to start work for the day, not bad for an 80 something year old. Harness racing, particularly training has always been part of Nan’s life and she loves being involved and likes to be kept busy, whether its helping out at the stables or baking delicious morning teas for the team, Nan doesn’t plan on retiring anytime soon. Like all of us Nan always loves the thrill of winning, not only of the horses she owns, but any that win for Michelle and

Bernie are just as good, a good night at the races is a great morale booster for the stable.

Myself (Lisa Olsson) caught up with Andy in February, for a (late) catch up following win of Owner of the Month price. I congratulated him on the win of the Owner of the Month for October following Grenado’s win on 18th October, the price is a table for 4 which Andy has opted to have at Alexandra Park at the Tasman Room / Top of the Park.

“About 6 years, started out taking a share in the Breakout Syndicate a syndicate through Jay Abernethy.”

“It was a good time, kids had grown up and always been something I wanted to do. Found Jay through his website.”

“Through the Breakout syndicate.”

“Initially, it was pacers but it has just been a coincidence that it has turned out to be quite a few trotters.”

“Yes, it was.”

“I am also a part of a syndicate through Stonewall Stud that currently are running Step Up(at time of writing article 5 wins and $151 243) and have also taken a share in a full sister to Majestic One that is going to be trained by the Blanchard’s.”

During our conversation, it also came up that Andy has an ownership interest in greyhound racing as well. Particular success through open class sprinter Blitz’em Rene trained by J Udy & D Cottam.

“No, not as yet. But potentially planning to come down on the 8th March as Step Up is looking to race that day. As we live north me and my wife Kim primarily follow the horses on the tv, but try to get down every couple of months.”

“It would be when able to be on course when they win, it is such a thrill. Only been able to be on course when they win 3-4 times. Alexandra Park is fantastic the way they take care off you. ”

“Well, we just watch them from the Lyell Creek Lounge and the grandstand there.”

Myself (Lisa Olsson) and Gayleen from the committee tracked down Dave Marshall at Alexandra Park 26th October to congratulate him on the win of the Owner of the Month for September. We found him down by The Alex towards the end of the night. He had gone in the draw for the monthly price following Alta Leonie’s win on 21st September, price is a table for 4 which he had taken use of and invited some friends that night.

Above is Dave’s guest on the night, enjoying the festivities at the Top of The Park. From left to right: Dave Higgins, Kim and Vicki Hughes (they have a business Farrier Supplies: farriersupplies.co.nz ) and Kim is also farrier for the Marshall team, Gary Davies (Kyle’s grand dad), Sandra Davies (Kyle’s mum).

We wanted to find out about Dave’s journey with this horse so far, challenges and perhaps plans to date.

Dave Higgins and Kyle (son) went to the sales and picked her. Think they got her for about $7000, she would have been out of one of the first crops after Big Jim (stallion).

I actually thought she would race as a 2 year old, but she had wind problems. We have done a tieback operation on her, things seems ok now. She qualified before the operation, went 2.48 over 2200 with

her wind at 20%. She got her surgery after that. (Explaining the year off the track between qualifier and first start)

Not really, just timing really.

There has been discussions of putting her in foal but we want another season. She is not as good as she has been currently so she is going out for a spell. No particular targets or goals, we will just take it as it comes.

 

 

Myself (Lisa Olsson) and Gayleen from the committee caught up with Bernie Lim at Alexandra Park 14th September just after Jansson had raced.  We congratulated him on the win of the Owner of the Month for August following Jansson’s win on 10th August, price is a table for 4 which Bernie will get at Alexandra Park at the Tasman Room / Top of the Park.

He was notified earlier in the week by Jay Abernethy(committee member) about the win, it had been a pleasant surprise! He had forgotten signing up.

We wanted to find out about the journey he has had so far with Jansson - as we all know it is more often than not straight forward….

Since a foal I breed him.