Penny Black stamps her class in Perth

By Peter Wharton

Canterbury hobby breeder and NZ Sires’ Stakes Board Executive Martin Pierson has no misgivings for being the underbidder on the Rocknroll Hanover filly Crystal Sparkles at the Auckland yearling sale a decade ago.

MARTIN PIERSON

“I went to the sales hoping to buy Crystal Sparkles but I got blown away by Merv Butterworth,” Pierson reflected.

“I was a good friend of the vendor Sandy Yarndley and managed to secure her three-year-old full sister Tessa Rocks. She had qualified but didn’t look like she would make a racehorse, so we bred from her.”

Tessa Rocks’ fourth foal is none other than the five-year-old Penny Black (by Sweet Lou), who has firmly entrenched herself among the top bracket of racemares in Western Australia.

“We took her to the sales and couldn’t get a bid,” Pierson said. “So we kept her and raced her ourselves with Jeremy Young in Auckland.

Penny Black as a yearling

“She made the Nevele R Fillies’ Final and then went back to Auckland and won and was subsequently sold to Perth.”

From 17 starts in WA Penny Black has notched 10 wins and four placings for $154,229 in stakes and has worked her way back to a NR113 mark. She has earned $171,052 lifetime.

Six of her successes have been at Gloucester Park including the Group 3 $50,000 The Lombardo and the Listed $35,000 Race For Roses, overcoming a 30 metre handicap and an early miscue.

“Penny Black came out of the same paddock as The Vicar Of Dibley and Coney Island Lou, so it was a hell of a good crop we had that year,” Pierson said.

Tessa Rock’s first foal was the Bettor’s Delight filly Zarnia.

“She was a beautiful filly who was beautifully gaited but lacked a bit of ambition,” Pierson said.

“We got her back for breeding and she’s got a beautiful Sweet Lou filly on the ground and is in foal to Confederate, which we are particularly excited about.”

Penny Black – in winning form

Xlendi (by Somebeachsomewhere), the second of Tessa Rock’s brood, has won five races with 12 placings from 22 starts to date for $84,846.

“He’s a very nice horse. He won the Nelson Cup and then ran second in the Cheviot Cup recently. We sold a majority share in him to Mick Boots but remain in the ownership group,” Pierson said.

Pierson, who shares the breeding and racing interests with his wife Maureen and mother Jennifer, has high hopes for Tessa Rock’s last foal, Gia Bremberg, a three-year-old Lather Up filly.

“She was broken in and turned out and is due to come back into work soon. She has the family heritage of being big, but we think she’ll be alright,” he said.

Tessa Rocks is a daughter of Taylor Kate, an Artsplace half-sister to the freakish filly Lauraella and thus a member of the noted Black Watch tribe.

“It’s beautiful blood,” Martin said.

“We have scaled back our breeding numbers. We had up to 10 mares at one stage, but we’re now down to two, Zarnia and the trotting mare Fortunato, a half-sister to Temporale. She’s got two foals by Tactical Landing and is in foal to Tactical Approach,” Pierson said.

Major Express, who won nine races on end in WA, the Group winner Herrick Roosevelt ($438,650), the cups winner Mister Odds On ($227,528) and the unbeaten three-year-old Crunch Time were other smart performers bred by the Pierson family.

Hoofnote: Crystal Sparkles won 29 races in NZ, WA, South Australia and North America and $223,951 in stakes