Kelvin Reed’s record as a breeder 

By Peter Wharton 

Gore dairy farmer Kelvin Reed has a record as a standardbred breeder that would make him the envy of most. 

The octogenarian owns only two broodmares – Touch Of Rose (by Mach Three) and Royal Impression (by Christian Cullen) – and they have left nine foals of racing age between them and six are winners with five taking records inside 2:00. 

Touch Of Rose, a useful racemare herself with a stake tally of almost $70,000, has produced six foals of racing age for five winners headed up by the brilliant but injury plagued American Ideal gelding The Ideal Touch.

The Ideal Touch scoring victory at Gloucester Park
(c) Hamilton Content Creators c/- Gloucester Park

After winning once from four starts as a two-year-old for Roxburgh couple Geoff and Jude Knight, Reed sold The Ideal Touch to clients of master Perth horseman Gary Hall.  

He has since totted up nine wins – all at Gloucester Park – and eight placings from 23 starts for $101,518 in stakes. 

Having his second outing for four months, the six-year-old was a very impressive end-to-end winner on WA Pacing Cup night, peeling off his last three quarters in 29.7, 28.4 and 27.6. 

“He would be a genuine Cups horse if he had good legs,” driver Gary Hall Jnr. said. 

Others from Touch Of Rose have been Ferritt’s Sister (by Bettor’s Delight), the winner of six races including the 2020 Otaki Cup, Fiery Ferret (by Mister Big), who won nine, Delightful Gloria (by Bettor’s Delight) and last season’s Auckland three-year-old winner Falcon’s Watch (by He’s Watching). 

A daughter of the Marlborough Winter Cup victor Rose Sands, Touch Of Rose has since produced a two-year-old colt by Always B Miki, who is being prepared by Branxholme trainer Nathan Williamson. 

The other broodmare, Royal Impression, won four races and took a mile record of 1:56.9 at Wyndham. At the stud Royal Impression has left three live foals including the 1:57.3 Riverton winner Meghan Markle (by Captaintreacherous) and the two-year-old placegetter Zara Tindall.  

Royal Impression ranks as a half-sister to the good Australian and North American winner Erik 1:52.8 ($126,954), being by Christian Cullen from Invigorate, by Artsplace from the Holmes Hanover mare T K Swift, dam of the exported Ultimate Pursuit (1:51.6) and Time Flies (1:52) and the grand-dam of Australian metropolitan winners in Summit Special (1:50.7), Floyd Mayweather (1:53) and Cee Cee In America (1:53).