News

Viewed rewards breeder's vision

1st Oct 2009

The Age - Andrew Garvey - Friday, 2 October 2009

IT MAY be easy for one's ego to get out of control after breeding a Melbourne Cup winner but for small NSW breeder Ian Johnson, any thoughts of self importance are well under control as his star graduate Viewed heads towards a possible second Cup victory this spring.

''It just goes to show the wonderful uncertainty of racing that a mug like me can get a fairly cheap horse and do it (breed the Melbourne Cup winner),'' a modest Johnson said this week.

He had been breeding to the occasional mare for about 25 years but 12 years ago, after retiring from full-time work, Johnson bought a property that he named Finchs Crossing, at Gunderman on the Hawkesbury River, on which to keep his mares.

Johnson says he has always preferred stayers and without the hype that goes with the speed side of the industry, they are cheaper to produce.

For many years he had been keen to acquire a mare from the famed New Zealand ''Heights'' family, which has been the source of any number of superior stayers, but he was unable to find one in his price bracket.

At the Inglis Australian broodmare sale in Sydney in 2000, however, he was able to buy the Khozaam mare Lovers Knot, a member of that family, for $36,000, the most he had paid for a mare.

Lovers Knot had produced several winners, including a stakes placegetter for Viewed's trainer Bart Cummings, but when offered for sale, in foal to Hennessy, she had failed to produce a foal for two years.

''She had a poor breeding record and that was the only reason I could afford her. If the truth be known, if I could have afforded a dearer one (from the family) I would have bought a dearer one,'' Johnson said.

Lovers Knot's poor record did not improve that year because she produced a dead foal, although it was not a total write-off as Johnson had insured the pregnancy for $20,000.

In her first season in his ownership, Lovers Knot visited More Than Ready and produced a colt that his breeder likened to an elephant. Racing as Knot Now, he won a race in Sydney but was just too big for his own good and broke down before reaching his potential.

After seeing the huge foal, Johnson felt he had to find a smaller stallion for Lovers Knot and landed on Scenic. ''Lovers Knot is a big, tough, coarse New Zealand mare and I thought sending her to a horse like Scenic would add some refinement to a foal,'' he said.

Added to that was the fact that Scenic was a son of champion staying sire Sadler's Wells.

Scenic had originally stood at stud at Collingrove in NSW before being sold to West Australian interests. But, after several very successful seasons by his progeny, he returned to Victoria for one season and Johnson made the most of the opportunity - not that Scenic had done him any favours in the past.

He had sent two mares to Scenic during his NSW days but in Johnson's words, they produced foals that ''couldn't run a yard''.

Johnson rarely sends horses to the yearlings sales but always had a good opinion of Viewed and after inviting bloodstock agent Duncan Ramadge to inspect him, the horse was sold to Dato Tan Chin Nam for $50,000 and the rest is history.

Unfortunately, Lovers Knot's breeding record did not improve after Viewed and after a year off, she missed the next two seasons.

That might have been something of a frustration for Johnson but at least by the time he was looking for a stallion for the 2006 season he was well aware that Viewed was living up to his opinion of him.

A return to Scenic was out of the question as the stallion had died two years after returning to WA. There were two options: Blevic and Universal Prince, both derby-winning sons of Scenic.

With Blevic standing in South Australia, Universal Prince, who was standing at the time in NSW, was chosen and with Lovers Knot producing a three-quarter sister to a now Melbourne Cup winner, Johnson has not had a moment of regret.

This time around it was Ramadge doing the dialling but Johnson was not a willing seller, although he was happy to lease out the filly to Dato Tan Chin Nam.

After a year off, Lovers Knot went to God's Own largely through the Ramadge connection and produced a filly foal two weeks ago.

That filly is also likely to be leased out for a racing career before being retired to stud to continue on from her now 19-year-old dam, who this year will visit Darley's latest boom stallion, Shamardal.

All going well on the racetrack, Johnson will be back at Flemington on the first Tuesday in November to see Viewed attempt another Cup victory, but he is more than happy to be an anonymous face in the grandstand.

What he is really looking forward to is a trip to Sydney in two weeks to meet the 2009 Cup on its tour around Australia.

Everyone else may be concentrating on this year's Cup but Johnson admits he cannot wait to be presented with a miniature 2008 Cup by the Victoria Racing Club. The VRC wanted Johnson to go to Flemington for a presentation with lots of fanfare but he preferred something a little quieter, although he is not downplaying what it means to him.

''I think it is a fantastic idea to present the breeder with a replica and I am really looking forward to putting it on the shelf,'' he said.