Out with Old and In with the New

GWAFA winning The Pertemps Network Hurdle at Haydock in May was our high-light of a fairly ordinary year but at least we did finish it with a very important winner on Boxing Day.

Miss Tongabezi (pictured) won for the first time at Huntingdon on Boxing Day, giving our new Conditional Jockey Fergus Gregory his first winner ‘under rules’, on his first ride for us. It was a great thrill to get Fergus his first winner and we all hope and think that it will be the first of many.

To win with Miss Tongabezi’s was equally important, as she is the fifth generation of this family to race from Cropredy Lawn and the fourth generation to be bred here!

My Dad won on her great, great grand dam Honey Isle in 1963. She bred the wonderful Dream Isle, who won 12 races and herself bred the pretty brilliant Townley Stone and the lovely Auntie Dot who won 18 races and finished third in The Grand National. Auntie Dot remains the last mare to be placed in The National and she bred a couple of minor winners and the Bustino filly Shiwa, who was un-raced due to a pelvic injury. Despite this injury Richard Kent at Mickley Stud somehow managed to get a filly foal out of her, her only one and that Overbury filly isMiss Tongabezi.

The one thing that being a breeder teaches you is patience, as it has taken 53 years of care, attention and a right few ££’s to win £3,000 with Miss Tongabezi, but who knows what achievements lie ahead for her! Now, of course, there is no way we cannot do our best to keep the family going. Sounds like a whole lot more ££’s to me!

Miss Tongabezi’s Great Great Grand Dam, Honey Isle (My Dad) at Wincanton April 1963