Client Spotlight - Keith Ussher & Sylvia White

Keith Ussher and Sylvia White have experienced harness racing in many forms over the past thirty years together, from Group One wins, to amateur driving. There isn’t much that they haven’t gone through together.

The North Canterbury couple are the proud breeders and owners of 2023 Rowe Cup winner, Love N The Port, and their journey into the breeding fold all started when Sylvia and Keith met.

“I had always followed the racing, attending race meetings with friends and enjoying social outings at the track with friends,” said Keith.

“But it wasn’t until I got together with Sylvia thirty years ago that I really got heavily involved. It was then that I got into ownership, and the breeding came later.”

“Sylvia’s dad and uncle had been involved for a long time in the industry, and of course her kids, so it was the start of everything really for me then.”

Early on Keith recalls having the likes of Clovelly Beach (4 wins), Wheels On Fire (unraced) and Sharn’s Delight (raced).

Then that’s when the breeding aspect started for them.

“Once those mares retired that’s when we started. We always had raced them with a thought to breed from them later on,” Keith explained.

Clovelly Beach left a winner in Somebeach N Clovelly and five further foals either qualifying or raced.

Sharn’s Delight left Toppathepark and Toppatherock, who both placed in their racing careers.

Toppathepark then went on to leave Arocknatthepark, who won six races, and Topspinner who was a winner also.

But it was the Armbro Invasion trotting mare, Wheels On Fire, that would lead to their Group One breeding success eventually. With her first foal a Sundon filly, Ngaire Margaret.

Ngaire Margaret was the first winner that Keith and Sylvia bred, and did so by winning at her first start at Kaikoura. She then went on to win four in her career, and is the one mare they are breeding from now.

“That first win as a breeder was such a buzz. What a place to win as well. What an experience,” Keith reflects.

Little did they know that that was just the beginning of what was to come.

Ngaire Margaret to date has had seven foals, her third of which was the Love You gelding, Love N The Port.

Love N The Port to date has had 11 wins, including the Group One Rowe Cup, and 22 placings.

He won and placed in just two starts as a two-year-old and has continued to race consistently through until now being an eight-year-old.

Ngaire Margaret also produced Majic N The Port, one win to date, and has Champagne N The Port, a What The Hill yearling that has broken in well with Matty Williamson.

Last season she produced a lovely Volstead colt that Keith and Sylvia are excited about.

“It’s pretty funny, with all seven of her foals she has alternated what she leaves each time. So she’s just had a colt, we’re guessing she’ll leave a filly this time to Father Patrick.”

“It sounds bizarre and Phil (Williamson) always laughs at us and says, it doesn’t work like that, but each year she proves him wrong.” Keith laughed.

When asked about his breeding goals, Keith was pretty humble.

“I’d love to breed another Love N The Port. But they don’t come along every day.”

Along with the highs, they have certainly experienced the lows, losing Whats N The Port.

“That was a terrible six weeks for us all. Phil Williamson said he was every bit as good as Love N The Port, but then the horse got crook. And they did everything to try and save him, but we sadly lost him.”

“I know it really hurt Phil too, we were gutted and that knocked us back a bit”

“But you tend to have your good runs, where you might win two or three, and then the luck can change. Love N The Port has had his moments, and Phil suggested we send him up here to the beach so now he’s with Benny Hill. So we are just trying to get him back on track.”

Keith and Sylvia had always felt if they ever had a trotter good enough, they knew where to send them.

“We always said we’d send it to Phil Williamson. We didn’t know him from a bar of soap at the time, but now we know the whole family really well and I really respect them.”

Wanting to be hands on help with the horses, Keith and Sylvia also took part in amateur driving races when the programme first started in Canterbury, before the races became tote events and were held at trials.

“We were helping Sylvia’s son Adam (White) out at the stables, and when the amateur driving courses were available we thought that would be a good way to learn more about it and be able to help in a useful way.”

“It did give us a whole new perspective on the sport. And once the amateur races became more competitive we stopped, we weren’t really into it like that. We just enjoyed being able to compete and experience driving.”

Ownership has been a fun experience for the couple, but nothing really compares to racing a horse they have bred.

“We’ve been in a few syndicates around the place, with Andrew Stuart and Paul Kerr and enjoyed that. But I’ve always felt that breeding and racing your own one is the ultimate.”

“We have some friends that are still in syndicates and I’m definitely not knocking that, but some of them don’t really understand the whole process it takes to breed one and the feeling of success just getting it qualified.”

“You don’t want to look at the cost of it, my god, I stopped checking how much we had spent years ago,” laughed Keith.

Stallion selection is a joint effort between them, but not without vigorous discussion at times.

“Oh there’s a bit of debate that goes on,” Keith laughed.

“But we are lucky that with Ngaire Margaret being by Sundon we can go pretty much anywhere.”

“We did a bit of homework and went to Love You, and we have tried a few others. But Ngaire Margaret is in foal to Father Patrick now, which is pretty exciting.”

Sharing this journey with Sylvia has proven to be the icing on the cake for Keith.

“It’s been such a ride, and we do love a trip away together. We’ve just had a ball, it’s been great.”

“Even the trips and down to the likes of Oamaru have been a lot of fun.”

And the whole family is able to enjoy the sport together too.

“Our grandson Louie is in Kidz Kartz and he just loves it. He’s got his own pony, Phoenix, which is usually based out at Robbie Holmes and Louie goes out there and works him.”

It means that often you will see Keith and Sylvia oncourse cheering the ponies on, just as much as their own horses. It really is a family experience for them.

Louie proudly leading Love N The Port

The relationship with Wai Eyre Farm has been a strong one too, when foaling at home became a bit too much in recent years.

“We used to breed two a year and have them at home, but that was up until a couple of years ago. And now we are only breeding one a year it made sense to have them at Wai Eyre, the foals need mates and it just made the whole process a bit easier for us,” Keith explained.

“Foals are valuable, so you need to send them to the professionals. And we are really happy with the service Wai Eyre have given us. I can’t speak highly enough of them.”

“The staff are very accessible, and it’s never been a problem for us to come out and see our horses and they’ve also kindly shown us Lazarus too. He’s a beast isn’t he?”

And though the dream is there to breed another Love N The Port, the horses simply give them so much pleasure to be around.

And they are never forgotten about either, even long after breeding ends.

“We still have the mares here at our place, even though we aren’t breeding from them anymore. They become a bit like pets, we love them and love having them around us.”