Wagga breeder has good Reason to smile
By Peter Wharton
Until recently Wagga (NSW) accountant and harness trainer Paul Kahlefeldt, who has been breeding and training pacers for more than 40 years, was adamant that Leap To Fame is the best horse he’s ever bred.
However, the powerhouse win of Leap To Fame’s older half-brother Swayzee in the $790,000 IRT New Zealand Trotting Cup at Addington has left the popular Riverina breeder in a quandary.
Kahlefeldt said that it is hard to split the two horses.
Paul Kahlefeldt, the breeder of Swayzee, is hoping to the come to NZ for next year’s Cup
“Leap To Fame was right back at the top of his game winning at Albion Park last Saturday, while Swayzee was simply awesome beating the Kiwis on their home ground in the NZ Cup,” he said. “Swayzee has won nine starts on end.”
The pair are among the top seeds for the Inter Dominion Championship to be held at Albion Park next month.
Leap To Fame (by Bettor’s Delight) has won 25 of his 35 starts and $1,462,782 in stakes; Swayzee (by Rock N Roll Heaven) has won 18 of his 45 starts and $825,314.
Both, bred by Kahlefeldt’s Redbank Lodge Standardbreds, are out of the Art Major mare Lettucereason, a sister to the Victoria Cup and dual Derby winner For A Reason, now a successful colonial sire.
“I bought Lettucereason for $50,000 at the Australian Pacing Gold sale in Melbourne,” Kahlefeldt said.
“I trained her originally. She won her first start at Wagga and finished third in Bathurst Gold Tiara,” he said. “I then sent her up to Luke McCarthy and she was placed in a couple of Group One’s. She was probably unlucky not to have a Group One next to her name.”
Letttucereason totted up 17 wins and 22 placings from 51 starts for $180,073 and took a mile record of 1:55.9 as a two-year-old.
Her first foal, to the cover of American Ideal, was Maximus Red who has won 30 races and $333,027 in stakes and is still racing successfully in North America.
Next, to Rock N Roll Heaven, she produced the colt Lettuce Nheaven, who twisted a knee as a yearling and never raced.
Swayzee, winner of the 2023 New Zealand Trotting Cup
Swayzee and Leap To Fame were her third and fourth foals respectively, while her fifth foal, Reason For Fame (by Sweet Lou), showed a lot of ability with Grant Dixon is Brisbane but was not persevered with.
“She is going to be bred from this season,” Paul said.
Lettucereason’s latest foal, a filly by American Ideal, has been entered for the Nutrien Equine sale in Melbourne in April.
Lettucereason’s progeny have notched 15 Group wins and a staggering $2,621,123 in stakes between them so far.
