The day Sir Patrick Hogan tapped me on the shoulder

Moments in your life stick with you & I vividly remember being at the Te Rapa races in April 2007.  At the time I was fortunate to own & race the excellent racemare SARAJAY.  That day she won her first Black Type race – it was the Travis Stakes-Gr.2 (2000m); Noel Harris was aboard and she won by 3 lengths.

After the presentation, I headed to the post-race drinks in the President’s Room and Patrick Hogan was there.  He came over to me & said “come and see me when you are ready to breed from Sarajay – we can do a foal-share arrangement with Zabeel”

And that’s exactly what happened, Sarajay raced on for the remainder of 2007 – was mated while still in work – and concluded her career with a win in the Gasmate Stakes-Gr.2 and a fourth in the Zabeel Classic-Gr.1.

Sir Patrick was kind enough to allow that arrangement for three years straight & the resulting foals (all colts by Zabeel) were sold at an excellent level at Karaka.

I pinch myself that I was so fortunate.  It’s one of the reasons I love working with female stock.  If they’re good enough, amazing things are possible on the track, then the breeding barn thereafter.

The late Sir Patrick Hogan

SARAJAY carrying my personal colours to victory in the 2007 Travis Stakes-Gr.2