Clymenus the latest star from Norwegian Wood
By Peter Wharton
The A Rocknroll Dance five-year-old Clymenus, who came from near last to win at Melton recently and has now won eight races in Victoria this season, is the latest smart performer bred by Cantabrian friends Don Bates and Stephen Hammar, of Norwegian Wood Breeding fame.
Clymenus winner at Melton. Photography (c) Stuart McCormick
The partners knocked down the gelding to Manawatu horseman Doug Gale for $22,500 at the NZ Bloodstock National Yearling Sale at Christchurch in 2020.
“I was quite disappointed because the first foal out of the mare was Pulp Fiction. He was a top horse. I was expecting reasonable money for him,” Bates said.
“Doug really liked him as a young horse. But he proved a disappointment, so that’s why they ended up selling him.”
Clymenus won one race under the direction of Gale as a two-year-old at Cambridge Raceway and two for Ashburton father-and-son team Brent and Tim White as a four-year-old.
He has worked his way back to a NR82 mark in Victoria.
Clymenus is the fourth foal out of the Christian Cullen mare Joy’s Underworld.
“She had one start for Mark Purdon as a two-year-old. Mark told his owners that she was only going to win a few races and advised them to sell her,” Bates said.
Don Bates
“She was spelling at my place at the time and he asked me if I wanted her and accepted my offer.
“She won four races for us. She was a lovely little racehorse who had a lot of speed.”
Joy’s Underworld was a half-sister to Life Of Luxury, who won 12 races in NZ including the Yearling Sales Series 3YO Final and the Yearling Sales 2YO Graduette and later raced with great distinction against the best mares in North America. She earned $414,927.
Joy’s Underworld’s first foal, Pulp Fiction, won a string of country cups in NZ as well as several Free-for-alls at Albion Park and finished up with a bankroll of $336,940.
Her next issue, Hercules (by Bettor’s Delight) was sold to New South Wales and never raced, while her third foal, Casablanca (by Art Major) was unplaced in four attempts.
Clymenus was next, followed by the Art Major pair Glee and Give Me Joy, the former being unraced and the latter finishing unplaced in two starts.
“Joy’s Underworld died three years ago and I have nothing left from the family,” Bates said.
Joy’s Underworld
Bates, a retired accountant, has been breeding standardbreds for almost 50 years.
The devout Beatles fan names most of the Norwegian Wood horses after songs and albums recorded by the legendary British pop group.
“The best one we ever bred was probably Lennon,” Don said.
Lennon won six races as a two-year-old including the NZ Sapling Stakes, Kindergarten Stakes, Cardigan Bay Stakes and Yearling Sales Series Final and was awarded the NZ 2YO Colt of the Year in 2003. He later won in good company in Australia and America and, in all won 27 races and $519,846 in stakes and took a mile record of 1:52.
Strawberry Fields, a half-sister to Lennon, Penny Lane, Hey Jude, Blackbird Fly, A Taste Of Honey, Revolver, Band On The Run and the current two-year-old Ukraine have been other handy performers bred by Bates and Hammar.
Bates said Clymenus was one of the few horses they’ve bred that didn’t have a name linked to the Beatles.
“Clymenus was a Greek god of the underworld,” he said.