Opunake Cup winner Kenadaad is more than repaying Ken Mold's decision to save his dam Manorvails from an early death.
Mold, whose main job is milking cows near Te Aroha in north Waikato, bought Manorvails, by Justice Prevails, from friends Vaughan Handley and Jim Shallue as a five-year-old mare after she was set to be culled, and a little more than a year later she foaled the dual listed stakes winner.
"They said they were not going to keep the mare and she was going to be put down," Mold said.
"I had a mare that I wasn't going to keep either but I asked them if I could have a look at her. She looked okay to me and I liked her dam Manorey – she won four and I think had 14 seconds – so I offered to take her myself. She probably cost me about $100."
Manorvails, who was unraced after injuring herself when going through a fence, was sent to Istidaad when the Australian Cup winner was serving his first season at Blue Gum Lodge in Cambridge.
"He was a very good horse, very underrated," Mold said. "He was very good value for what he had done on the track."
From nearly the day he was born, Mold liked Kenadaad. "He looked like an athletic type right away," Mold said. "But he was small and we didn't get any good offers for him even after he looked good early on in training.
"One agent had a look at him after he'd won his first two starts and said he was too small. I think he's shown that's rubbish."
Still owned by Mold, Kenadaad has now won nine races from 20 starts and more than $200,000 in prizemoney. Since joining the stable of Te Aroha trainer Colin Fache he has won five times from 11 starts, including four of his last five starts.
He became a listed winner in last month's AG Challenge Stakes (1600m) at Wanganui, and Mold was amazed pundits ignored him when assessing his Opunake Cup chances.
"They said his win at Wanganui was soft but he's shown that they don't know what they're talking about," Mold said.
"He's going down south now for the Winter Cup (Gr 3-1600m) and if he gets a good ride he should be hard to beat in that too."
Last weekend proved a big one for Mold. After Kenadaad's win in Taranaki on Saturday, Mold bought the well-related five-year-old mare Lexus at the broodmare sale at Karaka for $3000.
Lexus, by Mellifont, was unplaced but her dam The Folly, by Otehi Bay, was a winner and comes from the fabulous family of the Dennis Brothers of Southland. Her next two dams were broodmares of the year; her second dam is The Fantasy, dam of The Phantom and The Phantom Chance, and her third dam is The Pixie, whose produce include The Twinkle, The Dimple and The Grin, dam of The Jewel and The One.
"The pedigree doesn't get much better than that, and Mellifont's not too bad either," Mold said. "And she's also in foal to Istidaad."
Mold, who has only two mares on the farm, has bred sparingly from Manorvails since she foaled Kenadaad. She was left empty for two years after producing Kenadaad, partly because he was a late foal, and was left empty again for a season after producing sisters to Kenadaad in 2004 and 2006.
"The first sister was a late foal as well, but the second one was born a bit earlier," Mold said. "But I like to give her a bit of a chance to recover from her foaling."
Mold says he's not sure if Manorvails will return to Istidaad this year, but he thinks Kenadaad's rising three-year-old sister will enhance the mare's reputation further.
"Both her daughters are like clones of Kenadaad. The first one (named Manordaad) has gone to Colin Fache and he agrees with me. We're looking forward to seeing her race."
- Alastair Bull
Mold, whose main job is milking cows near Te Aroha in north Waikato, bought Manorvails, by Justice Prevails, from friends Vaughan Handley and Jim Shallue as a five-year-old mare after she was set to be culled, and a little more than a year later she foaled the dual listed stakes winner.
"They said they were not going to keep the mare and she was going to be put down," Mold said.
"I had a mare that I wasn't going to keep either but I asked them if I could have a look at her. She looked okay to me and I liked her dam Manorey – she won four and I think had 14 seconds – so I offered to take her myself. She probably cost me about $100."
Manorvails, who was unraced after injuring herself when going through a fence, was sent to Istidaad when the Australian Cup winner was serving his first season at Blue Gum Lodge in Cambridge.
"He was a very good horse, very underrated," Mold said. "He was very good value for what he had done on the track."
From nearly the day he was born, Mold liked Kenadaad. "He looked like an athletic type right away," Mold said. "But he was small and we didn't get any good offers for him even after he looked good early on in training.
"One agent had a look at him after he'd won his first two starts and said he was too small. I think he's shown that's rubbish."
Still owned by Mold, Kenadaad has now won nine races from 20 starts and more than $200,000 in prizemoney. Since joining the stable of Te Aroha trainer Colin Fache he has won five times from 11 starts, including four of his last five starts.
He became a listed winner in last month's AG Challenge Stakes (1600m) at Wanganui, and Mold was amazed pundits ignored him when assessing his Opunake Cup chances.
"They said his win at Wanganui was soft but he's shown that they don't know what they're talking about," Mold said.
"He's going down south now for the Winter Cup (Gr 3-1600m) and if he gets a good ride he should be hard to beat in that too."
Last weekend proved a big one for Mold. After Kenadaad's win in Taranaki on Saturday, Mold bought the well-related five-year-old mare Lexus at the broodmare sale at Karaka for $3000.
Lexus, by Mellifont, was unplaced but her dam The Folly, by Otehi Bay, was a winner and comes from the fabulous family of the Dennis Brothers of Southland. Her next two dams were broodmares of the year; her second dam is The Fantasy, dam of The Phantom and The Phantom Chance, and her third dam is The Pixie, whose produce include The Twinkle, The Dimple and The Grin, dam of The Jewel and The One.
"The pedigree doesn't get much better than that, and Mellifont's not too bad either," Mold said. "And she's also in foal to Istidaad."
Mold, who has only two mares on the farm, has bred sparingly from Manorvails since she foaled Kenadaad. She was left empty for two years after producing Kenadaad, partly because he was a late foal, and was left empty again for a season after producing sisters to Kenadaad in 2004 and 2006.
"The first sister was a late foal as well, but the second one was born a bit earlier," Mold said. "But I like to give her a bit of a chance to recover from her foaling."
Mold says he's not sure if Manorvails will return to Istidaad this year, but he thinks Kenadaad's rising three-year-old sister will enhance the mare's reputation further.
"Both her daughters are like clones of Kenadaad. The first one (named Manordaad) has gone to Colin Fache and he agrees with me. We're looking forward to seeing her race."
- Alastair Bull
