Group One winning trainer Fraser Auret collected trophies of a different variety on Saturday night as he took centre stage at the Property Brokers National Breeding Awards at the Sir Don Rowlands Centre in Cambridge.
Auret’s first foray into thoroughbred breeding struck paydirt when he sent five-win mare Missy Moo to Windsor Park Stud stallion Shamexpress. The resulting foal, whom Auret sold after a dominant jump-out victory as a juvenile is now known as Ka Ying Rising, the world’s best sprinter.
Ka Ying Rising was named Seton Otway Horse of the Year at Saturday’s awards after a season in which he went undefeated that included four Group One victories.
Auret bred the sprinting star under his Grandmoral Lodge banner and, along with wife Erin and son Milton, made regular forays to the stage as he secured four awards, which also included the Small Breeder of the Year sponsored by Luigi Muollo and the Arion Pedigrees Eight Carat Broodmare of the Year Award went the way of Ka Ying Rising’s dam Missy Moo.
Despite his parents Nigel and Adaire running well-regarded breeding operation Letham Stud, home to successful stallion Unusual Suspect, Auret himself was a breeding novice.
“We are very fortunate to do a bit of work for Windsor Park Stud and I was having a cup of tea with Rodney Schick and he said to me that trainers should be the best breeders out there because you know what horses have that real talent that maybe didn’t leave their mark on the racetrack for various reasons,” Auret said.
“It all stemmed from there. I trained Missy Moo, who unfortunately had some real arthritic problems with her back leg right from a young horse. She won five races but she was a very talented horse.”
The Marton horseman said Ka Ying Rising showed natural ability from the outset prior to his purchase by bloodstock agent Mike Morais before he ventured to the Hayes family’s Lindsay Park prior to export to Hong Kong.
“He certainly showed good ability but in fairness we had only galloped him three or four times when he was sold,” Auret said.
Ka Ying Rising was Missy Moo’s first foal with her second foal, a colt by Turn Me Loose, also sold to Hong Kong and named Ka Ying Glory, where he has placed for David Hayes as a three-year-old.
“When she was carrying her second foal the arthritis really got the better of her,” Auret said. “We did get a second foal but we had to do the right thing and humanely euthanise the mare.
“Because Ka Ying Rising had shown so much we searched for a sibling to Missy Moo, but would you believe the dam of Missy Moo had eight colts in a row and then Missy Moo had two colts, so unfortunately there are just no fillies or mares in the family.”
Auret is enjoying every minute of the Ka Ying Rising ride and said there is quite a ritual in the Auret household every time the star sprinter races.
“We have three young children and we all have a pair of Ka Ying Rising socks. They are all on and we are glued to the TV,” he said.
With 24 individual winners of 37 Group One races acknowledged at Saturday’s awards the global success of horses with the NZ suffix was not lost on Auret.
“Every time an Aussie radio station rings me, I do remind them that New Zealand is doing a pretty good job of their job really, breeding sprinters and that is quite evident when you see horses like Ka Ying Rising, Jimmysstar, Gringotts, War Machine and Here To Shock acknowledged tonight.
“It’s been a great evening and terrific to enjoy it with family.”
