Borrowed mare leads to top Victorian youngster
By Peter Wharton
A mare borrowed by Waikaka hobby breeder Lois Byars from her father, the legendary Colin Baynes, is now the grandmother of one of Victoria’s most exciting, young pacers in Vincent Can Gogh.
Vincent Can Gogh as a yearling
Better Hurry, the mare Lois was loaned from her dad, produced to the cover of Auckland Reactor, a filly named Hazel B Hasty.
“She was a good looking filly but never raced due to injury,” Lois, a retired sheep farmer, said.
Mated with the Auckland Cup and dual Derby winner Vincent, Hazel B Hasty produced Vincent Can Gogh, or ‘Sam’ as he is affectionately known, as her first foal.
“I gave a share of him to our daughter Alisa and daughters-in-law Sarah and Julia,” Lois said.
Lois Byars’ granddaughter Daylee with Hazel B Hasty
“Alisa picked his name, a pretty clever play on words if you ask me. We had all bases covered – he can ‘go’ as in fast and he is such a pretty picture to look at, a real Van Gogh.”
Broken in by Alex Milne, Vincent Can Gogh was trained by Gore horseman Tony Stratford.
The Vincent gelding was unplaced at his first three outings before leading throughout on the grass track at Gore in February. He was subsequently sold to prominent Victorian owner Eric Anderson, who has enjoyed spectacular success with New Zealand stock over many years.
From nine starts in Victoria, Vincent Can Gogh has notched five wins and two placings for $27,070 in stakes and has worked his way back to a NR70 mark. He looks to well in line for the major juvenile classics at the end of the season.
Since producing Vincent Can Gogh in 2019, Hazel B Hasty has not been bred from but is likely to be joined in the upcoming season.
“I’m tempted to go back to Vincent,” Lois stated.
Vincent Can Gogh belongs to a family that has been bred from extensively by the Baynes’s for almost five decades. It includes the NZ Flying Stakes and Geelong Cup winner Country Ways, the Victorian 4YO Bonanza winner The Phantom, Stratofortress, Doncaster, Nellie Doon and many others.
Lois is only breeding from three mares at present. Besides Hazel B Hasty, she owns the American Ideal mare My Tern and the dual-gaited One Cool Chick, a great granddaughter of the smart trotting mare Cool Cat.
“My Tern had some speed but just wasn’t a racehorse. She is currently in foal to Stay Hungry,” Lois said.
“One Cool Chick has a Pegasus Spur three-year-old filly who is due to go back into work soon. We’re hoping she shapes up.”
One Cool Chick also left a yearling filly by En Solitaire, which Lois part-owns with her brother, Kenny Baynes.
Hazel B Hasty with Vincent Can Gogh
Vincent Can Gogh (2 other photos)