The domination of the New Zealand Sires’ Produces Stakes by greyhounds bred and trained by Gary “Crafty” Cleeve plus co-owned with his partner Gaylene Turnwald continued at the Manukau Stadium on Sunday afternoon when Know Refusal and Know Denying provided the Canterbury based mentor with his seventh training victory (plus he also bred another winner) in the $16,000 Group 2 527m event.
It was a strong performance that the three sons from the December 2016 whelping of the Yella Mustard and Know Which litter produced, with another brother Know Betrayal also finishing fourth. It also meant it the second winner of this race that recognizes the New Zealand registered stud dogs sired by the current NZ Sire of the Year Yella Mustard.
“It’s always great to breed the winner of NZ Sires. It confirms to us that our breeding program is working,” commented Cleeve postrace, however he also added, “I really feel for Mark (Lin) with what happened to his greyhounds.
He was referring to the first turn incident which saw the Mark Lin bred and owned, Glennis Farrell trained litter brothers losing all claims. The race favourite Tianyu (Dream Collector – Little Dreams) led into the first turn, however he went amiss while rounding the turn and he was cannoned into by his litter brother and kennelmate Gao Gao with both greyhounds falling.
After making a moderate start Know Refusal, who was wearing the pink racing vest, skirted around the melee after being briefly hindered. Both reserve greyhounds gained a race start and it was the kennelmate of the two affected litter brothers, the second reverse Opawa Magic (Dyna Vikkers – Opawa Rob) who secured the race lead when entering the back straight.
She was quickly joined by Know Refusal and Know Denying, who was racing in the green and white racing vest. This trio broke away from the balance of the disorganized field, putting a fair margin on them.
Swinging in for the run home in the race lead was Know Refusal and he kicked clear to secure his Group 2 title by an easy 6.5 length margin, clocking 30.75s for his 527m assignment. Know Denying pressed on stoutly and he covered a game Opawa Magic by 1.75 lengths for the minor podium placings. There was a further 4.25 lengths back to the fourth placed Know Betrayal.
Sunday’s New Zealand Sires’ Produces Stakes winner Know Refusal; Know Denying his litter brother and kennelmate was second, while Opawa Magic finished third.
Cleeve has a couple of litters from their former handy bitch Know Style with the later litter now aged around four months sired by Yella Mustard. “Yes, hopefully there’s some up and coming future NZ Sires’ contenders between the litters,” chuckled Cleeve, who also added, “We’ll look at taking some straws from Yella Mustard before he gets too old to stand.”
The breeding program utilized by Cleeve and Turnwald is selective and a lot of it revolves cross breeding back their brood bitches from their former top sire Scotexcited (2007 NZ Derby winner) and the prolific producing Love Of History. “Breeding back to Yella Mustard has really worked for us and we having been using daughters and now granddaughters of Love Of History.
“Look back at the 2016 NZ Sires’ when members of the Yella Mustard and Know Which litter ran the first four in the race. We are selective with our breeding and we restrict ourselves to breeding two litters a year. We attempt to focus on the stronger dogs as that’s where the racing dollars are (middle & distance races). Yella Mustard throws back strength into the lines. It doesn’t always work out that way, although it seems to be working for us,” confirmed Cleeve.
Know Refusal has now raced on 27 occasions, winning eight of those outings and he has placed another eight times. The current C4 graded chaser has accumulated $25,678 in stake earnings.
It has been a successful northern sojourn for Cleeve who was on his third road trip to Auckland within the last four weeks with his long time mate Allan Johnston, who shares the driving duties. Earlier in the month he had qualified two stayers for the $100,000 Duke Of Edinburgh Silver Collar which saw him producing Know Anxiety (Yella Mustard – Know Revenge) to pick up $5,720 for his Silver Collar fourth placing, plus also the NZ Breeders’ bonus for being the first Kiwi bred stayer to finish in the great race. “These results makes it very satisfying for us. We couldn’t have achieved without the help that Allan gives us,” he advised.
Auckland President John Roberts presenting the NZ Sires’ Produces Stakes trophy to Gary Cleeve; Alan Johnston handled the runner up Know Denying for Gary Cleeve; the proud dad of the moment is their dad Yella Mustard
