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Off the back of Zecora's tough win in the Gr.3 J Swap Sprint, we caught up with Russell Rogers who, in conjunction with wife Robyn, literally built Kendayla Park from the ground up; and has some fantastic success to go with it.
How did you get into thoroughbred breeding?
Russell: My grandfather was a dairy farmer who always bred a couple of mares each year in Gisborne to race the progeny back in the 60’s and 70’s. He bred and raced a very good horse called Master Morgan who won 18 races. He actually won a 2yo race and then won the Matamata Cup as a 10yo. His racing colours are the same ones that our horses race in now, I think they were first registered in the 1950’s. My passion for breeding stemmed from there. On leaving school I went to work for Fieldhouse Stud under Ray Knight, when that was sold I had a brief stint in Aussie before coming home to take up a job at Fayette Park for David Benjamin where I was for seven years, the last four as Manager. I then went to Rodmor Stud and managed that for Veda Morris. It was around this time that I met Robyn and the two of us then approached Veda about leasing the farm which we did for 8 years.
Tell us the history of Kendayla Park.
Whilst leasing Rodmor we decided we would like to buy our own place so we purchased 50 acres on Bellevue Road and set it up from scratch as when we purchased it it was a 50 acre maize paddock with no fence lines or water lines so it was very much a blank canvas. We not only fenced it but also built a new house, new stables and put in NZ’s first Aqua walker. The property was named after our 2 girls, Kendra and Mikayla. (the first 4 letters of Kendra’s name and the last 4 letters of Mikayla). We had dabbled in training our own racehorses with help from Royce Dowling while we were at Rodmor so we wanted a farm where we could continue to breed our own horses, prepare yearlings for sale and train the ones we couldn’t sell. The aqua walker has been the main part of our business, pre training and rehabilitation for a large number of local (& not so local) trainers whilst still breeding our own horses.
Tell us a bit about the success Kendayla Park has had.
We have been lucky to breed a number of successful racehorses (many of which we’ve had the excitement of racing ourselves) and have been fortunate to sell a number overseas which certainly helps one keep afloat. Through our aqua-walker work we have pre-trained a number of the best horses in the country, not just thoroughbreds but some of the best standardbreds and also elite sporthorses. It is a privledge to be entrusted with the care of these horses and we still get a huge amount of satisfaction when we send these horses back to their owners and they go on to perform really well. It also reinforces that successful horses come in all shapes and sizes, you just need to try all of them.
Tell us about Zecora?
Zecora is from a family we bought into a number of years ago when we attended the Magic Millions sale and purchased Iman who was in foal to Anabaa for $100k. We were great fans of Anabaa so we left her in Australia and sent her back to Anabaa before bringing her home. Her filly foal she came home with we sold at Karaka for $320k which was a huge thrill at the time, that filly was later named Imananabaa and she went on to win the Group one Railway Handicap, also a great thrill as a breeder to have that result.
The next Anabaa was also a filly which we retained to race called C’est La Vie. She won a couple of races but had a lot of ability and actually resbroke the track record at her first start. She is the dam of Zecora. Zecora showed ability right from the start winning her first trial easily then going onto win her first race at Cambridge. She was very consistent after that building up a record of 8 starts for 3 wins and 4 seconds, her only failure been on a very heavy track. We decided it was time to take on stakes company this time last year but unfortunately her last gallop beforehand she pulled up sore and we discovered she had a fractured cannon bone so off to Cambridge Vets to have 3 screws inserted in her leg and she spent the next 4 months locked up in a box. She then had a brief spell in a paddock before the vets suggested we take out the top screw as this could bother her as a racehorse in the future. She then had to have another month confined again. We were very lucky to have the Aqua walker to rehab her.
Zecora then slowly came back into work after our vet Rob Hitchcock gave her the all clear and progressed to a quiet trial at Taupo. She had her first start back at Te Rapa a couple of weeks ago finishing 6th, we then decided to take the plunge and put her in the J Swap sprint hoping she could poke her nose into 3rd and get a group 3 placing but to our excitement (and everyone else involved in her comeback) she won the race adding huge value to her future broodmare claims.
What else is in your bloodstock portfolio? (young horses, racehorses, stallion shares etc)
We only have a couple of shares in stallions they being Shocking and Niagara. We have 6 horses in work with a couple of 2yos about to join the team and we still breed a few but these days more to race than sell as yearlings. We have Zecora’s half sister who has a really nice Time Test colt at foot. We have a ¾ sister to C’est La Vie who has a Shocking colt at foot, she is the dam of Our Absolute who has shown plenty of ability in her first 2 starts. We also have a colt foal out of a half sister to Veloz who finished second in the Gr. 1 Captain Cook Stakes as well as winning a couple of listed races along the way.
We also have a filly called Priceless racing in Australia that we purchased for $2k as a weanling before her half sister Roch ’n’ Horse came out and won 2 group one sprint races in Aussie. We won a trial with her and then sold 50% to Australian owners.
How many mares do you breed each year?
We generally only breed 3 or 4 mares each year now.
Do you breed to trade or to race? If both, how do you determine what to keep and what to sell?
Mainly to race and if we can sell the odd one coming through that always helps. Our Daughters normally have their eyes on them as potential Eventers if there racing careers don’t work out.
Do you seek advice on your breeding decisions or how do you come to make your breeding decisions?
Normally just decide ourselves, with the emphasis on trying to breed a really good type with a good temperament.
What do you love about the thoroughbred breeding industry?
I think just seeing the mating that you have chosen turn into hopefully the type of foal that you were wanting to breed then seeing it go onto perform at a good level whether that is in our stable or someone else's.
What advice would you give someone entering the industry as a breeder?
Dip your toe into the industry and learn all about it as a small breeder, you will then probably go onto being very successful on a larger scale. The ones that seem to come in with really big ideas don’t seem to last that long and its such a great industry that we want people in it for the long haul.
Proudest moment as a breeder?
Certainly breeding a horse like Zecora that can overcome the troubles she’s had and is tough enough to win like she did on Saturday makes you proud but you also can’t beat breeding a group One winner and Imananabaa winning the Railway was very exciting. We also bred, trained and raced Veloz who was beaten a nose in a Group One.
Finish this sentence: The best part of being a thoroughbred breeder is… the fact that no one knows where the next champion is going to come from. They are often not the most fashionably bred or the most correct and small breeders have as much chance of breeding a champion as the bigger commercial operations so everytime you watch one of your foals running around the paddock you might just be looking at the next Winx. The breeding game really is a an industry for “glass half full” kind of people.
