Rising 4yo Jessie, as she is yet un-named, was bred by Mike Dalzell in New Zealand, where he put his good mare Hope to Towkay, who was a useful racehorse in Australia when trained by the Freedman brothers in the latter part of the 90s.

Jessies life so far as written by Mike

Jessie is a bay filly and is Hopes first foal. Now a 3 year old she will be 4 on 1st August, 2010.

Ive had her at our place since she was a foal and find her an easy horse to handle and shes a good float traveller.

Shes was broken in by Greg Griffin at Okawa, Lime Country Thoroughbreds in January 2009 and went into Guy Lowrys stable in Hastings last March for an initial preparation.

She was headstrong and handy with her feet but manageable and has fortunately not inherited her mothers feral temperament She is small but is well conformed and has a long stride for a small horse.

She had a spell mid winter then went back to Guy for another preparation last spring. She showed ability in trackwork outpacing some more experienced horses but needed a spell before she got fit enough for a trial and came home in November a bit shin-sore/ jarred up.

Guys assessment was that he thought she could win 2 or 3 races but was probably not a champion.

I sent her back to Guys on 26th of May after 6 months strengthening on a special diet. Shes settled back well and has a covered yard for the winter.

Guy and his staff found Jessie to be athletic and well balanced last year and he said the other day that If shes got it in her , well get it out of her this time.

Plans, being hopeful, as owners should be, rather than optimistic
The idea is that now the groundworks been done and shes learnt the basics we should be able to get a trial and then to the races this preparation - by spring, barring injuries etc.

If she needs a spell mid summer she can come home and we then give her another go in the autumn, see how she shapes up and decide whether to keep going the next season.

Choice of Trainer

Choosing a good trainer is important and not easy. I look for someone who is knowledgeable, honest and has more than a passing interest in the welfare of their horses.

This excludes about 90%+ of the license holders!

I chose Guy Lowry on the basis that:
He has a reputation for being honest about a horses ability and is not afraid to tell you if your horse is slow. He told me that some owners would rather hear that their wife was ugly than that their horse was slow .
He has had good horses in the past including Lilakyn who he took to Brisbane to win a group race. He used to be Sam Kelts trainer so had any number of well bred horses to manage so should know what to do when he gets a good one.
He was Bart Cummings stable foreman at one point and despite his claim that I never went to school is well organized and a good judge of a horse.
He has excellent track-work riders. Really important when educating a young horse.
Hes local and training in Hawkes Bay you generally get better footing over winter which helps horses in their preparation.
He charges $48 plus GST per day - about average for CD trainers.

Guy Lowry has a training partner in Grant Cullen who also rides trackwork. Theyre having a good season without any big stars, they are in the trainers premiership top 50 and have a strike rate of about 9.Theyve also continued to sell some good young horses to Asia this season.

They have about 20 horses in work and more at the pre-trainers, have a nice set-up in Southland Road and are in the process of putting in a water-walker.
Ive found Guy good to deal with - understated and competent

Pedigree

Jessies Dam - Hope

I bred Hope, a group of us raced her. She won $31,500 stakes, (multiply by 4 to equate to Australian prize-money) winning 4 and placing 7 times from 35 starts.

She was a tough mare who raced from age 4 to 7, generally over middle and staying distances.

Jessies grand-dam, Sky Lass is a sister to Dynamo who won 4 races including a stakes race in Australia. Her dam is a half-sister to Affectionate who won the Queensland Oaks and was placed in the Brisbane Cup and the AJC Oaks. Clangalang is also in the family and he won the AJC Derby and the Epsom Handicap both G1.

Sky Lass had 7 foals to race of which 6 were winners, the best being Topflight who won 4 in NZ and 6
in Australia.
Other winning foals of Sky Lass are
Questar - won 2 races, one in Sydney and ran numerous minor places.
Valley of Sin - won 3 races in NZ.
Chu Gyeok Seon winner in Korea
Stanhope Venerator won twice in NZ.
Hope 4 wins

The family is light framed but tough. Theyre horses who tend to prefer middle and staying distances. Theyre generally sound, can tend to be aggressive although not dirty. Its not a particularly well known family but some have sold for good prices. Its a family with a high percentage of winners to runners with some excellent big race performers in it. Jessie should be suited to sprint or middle distances given her fathers pedigree and her type despite her mothers family being staying oriented.

Jessies Sire

TOWKAY (1994 c by Last Tycoon (IRE)). 3 wins at 1200 m. and $235,500. Won MVRC C.S. Hayes S. [G3]. 2nd MRC Schillaci S. [G3], VRC Concept Sports S. [L]. 3rd VRC Salinger - Victoria Racing Club S. [G1], MRC Rubiton S.[G3]. 4th MVRC Australia S. [G1], VRC Rupert Steele S. [G3]

Towkay was a group performed Australian sprinter and has left some top horses.
In 2008 he stood at a fee of $10,000 and his progeny sell very well at the sales especially colts to agents for Asian owners.
His best performers in NZ have been fillies and mares.

He leaves quite a few smallish horses but most have good temperaments and most tend to be sprinters or middle distance horses.

Some of his best performers have been in Hong Kong including Armada who was ranked in the top 10 horses in the world in 2007.

In NZ Towkay has had numerous winners including group winning mares Special Mission and Kays Awake. He was 10th on the NZ Stallions premiership in the 2007/08 season.

I chose Towkay as a sire to bring sprinting blood to Hopes family, on temperament and because he is by Last Tycoon who is a top international sire himself.

I also have a two year-old sister to Jessie by Towkay, a colt foal by the Stravinsky stallion Patapan and Hope is in foal to Patapan again.

Current List of Owners include:

Mike Dalzell - Pakowhai
Andrew Beattie - Sydney
Barry Goble - Nelson
Tonia Haskell - Wellington
Rex and Joy Dalzell Palmerston North
Leigh Duncan - Pakowhai
Tim Dalzell- Auckland