Champion juvenile was bred by leading NZ sportsmen

Champion juvenile was bred by leading NZ sportsmen

By Peter Wharton

A friendship spawned in their school days between Mark Lyon and former All Black halfback Ant Strachan led to the breeding of this season’s outstanding New Zealand juvenile Cyclone Jordy.

The Art Major gelding is the winner of Group 1 classics on both sides of the Tasman – the $106,150 Breckon Farms Cardigan Bay Stakes at Auckland and the $150,000 Golden Slipper at Gloucester Park.

Cyclone Jordy winning the Breckon Farms Young Guns final in May 2024 at Alexandra Park
Photo source – hrnzc.co.nz

“Ant and I have been mates for 40 odd years,” Lyon said.

“We bought a service to Christian Cullen and then we borrowed a mare named Andra’s Night. We knew that former Test cricketer Kyle Mills and his brother Heath were interested in the harness game, so we asked them if they would like to join the two of us to form a syndicate.

“The result of the service to Christian Cullen was Cyclone Night.”

Trained by former South Auckland horseman Gareth Dixon, who is also a member of their breeding partnership, Cyclone Night won seven races and $75,000 in stakes.

“When we sold Cyclone Night we had some money in the bank, so we went to Ian Dobson’s dispersal sale and purchased Eyre To The Throne. She was in foal to what turned out to be Cyclone Prince,” Mark said.

Cyclone Prince (by Mach Three) won four races and $131,057 including the Group 1 2013 Cardigan Bay Stakes defeating Isaiah and Sky Major.

Eyre To The Throne’s second issue was Cyclone Kate (by Mach Three), a top flight racemare who won 21 races – including five at Group level – and the Breeders Crown and $341,723 and took a mile record of 1:50.3.

Cyclone Kate is the third foal of Eyre To The Throne

Her first foal, Cyclone Charlotte (by Bettor’s Delight), totted up 10 wins in NZ and WA and $178,744.

“Cyclone Charlotte bowed a tendon recently and will most likely be retired,” Lyon said.

“We sold Cyclone Jordy at the Auckland sales to Frank and Ann Cooney. We asked Frank and Ann if we could buy back into him because we really liked him. We subsequently bought a 25 percent share.”

Following his stylish win in the Group 1 Cardigan Bay Stakes last May, Cyclone Jordy was sold for an undisclosed six figure amount to clients of champion Perth conditioner Gary Hall Senior. He is undefeated in two starts in WA to date and has lifted his stake tally to $179,926.

Since producing Çyclone Jordy in 2021, Cyclone Kate has left a Bettor’s Delight yearling colt and an Always B Miki weanling colt. She is carrying a positive test to Bulldog Hanover and will be mated with Bettor’s Delight this season.

Bettors Delight-Cyclone Kate colt on first prep

“We retained the yearling and sold 25 percent of him to Frank and Ann Cooney, so we did the reverse of the Cyclone Jordy deal. He’s in work with Tate Hopkins and shows quite a bit of promise,” Mark stated.

“The weanling has been entered for the Auckland sale in February.”

Lyon and his friends are also breeding from Holyrood, a Bettor’s Delight sister to the dam of The Eureka winner Don Hugo (1:49.6) and a half-sister to Cyclone Kate and Cyclone Prince.

“We originally sold Holyrood to Graeme Rogerson for $125,000. He put her up on Gavelhouse in August in foal to Sweet Lou and we bought her back for $37,000,” Lyon said.