Yearling Sales Preview – Hot August Night by Lazarus – Cracklin Rosie - Lot 246 colt

Yearling preparers, breeders and buyers are in for a big two weeks as we count down to the New Zealand Bloodstock Yearling Sales, this year to be held at Karaka on Monday 16 February and the Canterbury Agricultural Park on Wednesday 18 February.

We are proud of the Wai Eyre stallion offerings and are as always, grateful to those who support them.

We will highlight some of those up for auction as we build into the biggest week on the standardbred sales calendar in New Zealand.

Lot 246 is a brown colt by Lazarus, out of Cracklin Rosie, an Art Major mare.

Hot August Night is owned and prepared by Ken and Anne-Marie Spicer of Rosedale Farm in Christchurch.

He is out of Cracklin Rosie (Art Major), a race winning mare herself and placed 12 times in her racing career.

A dark brown colt, his co-breeder Ken Spicer likes what he sees in the son of Lazarus.

“He’s a nice cut of a horse. He’s got nice length about him, a lovely body and head on him and is a good size,” Ken said.

“He’s got a lot of personality, and a lovely temperament. He’s a real mate of a horse, we are pretty pleased with him really.”

“I think the Art Major mare is a good cross for Lazarus as well. You can see that coming through in him.”

Lot 246 Lazarus x Cracklin Rosie

The Art Major and Lazarus cross has proven to be a successful one, with the likes of The Lazarus Effect (13 starts, 8 wins to date).

He has also produced Laz in North America out of an Art Major mare, a winner of 18 races so far, and $284,260 in earnings.

“The mare has done a good job, she keeps dropping winners. She’s been a good producer.”

“We really want to keep that Wayne Francis family going.”

Cracklin Rosie has left four winners to date from six foals to race.

They include Duke (15 wins), Song Sung Blue (4 wins to date), He’s Olly (9 wins) and Dynamite (3 wins).

She is from a pedigree that dates back to one of the toughest families in New Zealand harness racing, relating back to many talented and successful ‘Franco’ horses.

The second dam Time Again Franco was the Spicer’s first venture into the commercial side of breeding, and they had always wanted to buy into the Franco line.

“We really wanted to buy into that breed. We kept approaching Wayne Francis, and actually, initially, he didn’t want to sell. But he called a couple of months later and had this mare available (Time Again Franco), we were so excited but we had to go to the bank to get the money sorted – it was a lot of money back then,” said Ken.

“We put her to In The Pocket and sold the colt at the sales for $100,000 which was a huge price in those days. It really was a great start to our commercial breeding career.

“She was the very first mare we purchased to get ourselves going, so it means a lot to still be breeding from her foals.”

Time Again Franco (a winner of three races) was very well related, being a full-sister to former Two and Three-year-old Pacing Filly of the Year, This Time Franco (10 wins including the Group One DB Fillies Final), and There’s A Franco (13 wins, including the Group One New Zealand Breeders Stakes and New Zealand Oaks, and an Invercargill Cup), Franco Thunder (44 wins) and Franco Tantango (7 wins).

From Time Again Franco, the Spicers bred Three Blind Mice (16 wins including the Group One West Australia Derby), Tango Tango (6 wins), Another Mouse (5 wins), Hey Let’s Tango (3 wins) and Tom And Jerry.

The Spicers kept Tom And Jerry, who they raced themselves.  He was a great performer for them winning six of 15 starts, including a Nelson Cup, while trained by Cran Dalgety.

With the yearling parades and inspections well underway, the Rosedale Farm team have been busy. And this Lazarus colt from Cracklin Rosie has had plenty of interest.

“He got a lot of attention on parade day, so we are hopeful of a good sale for him,” Ken said.

To view his full sale information click here: https://www.nzbstandardbred.co.nz/sales/26syc/246