Saturday, May 21, 2011

Verkade previously known as Very Canny

I'm WAY behind on posting and have progressed to two successful rides and a sound horse now :)

In the meantime, I'm FASCINATED by following up Kadey's racing history. His racing name was Very Canny, he's out of Canny Lad and a NZ mare Hedgehog out of Sir Tristram. So.... he has some pretty cool lines!

He had 29 starts, 9 wins and 5 places (and 2 shows... not sure what that means?). I'm loving the amount of info i'm finding - for example he was raced in blinkers and a norton bit. That bit apparently helps for horses who pull, which is interesting given he's so heavy in the hand now.

Actually (just did a little Google-Fu), it's stated as one of the most severe bits going.... poor Kadey :( I just found a photo of it... HOLY BEJEEBUS! No wonder they were riding him in a rubber gag when I got him, after that horrid bit it was probably the only thing he could handle as part of his retraining!

The torture device bit in question:



In fun news, Kadey seems to be related to many of the big winners in Australia - Black Opal, Makybe Diva, Grosvenor, Sir Tristram (grandsire on dam's side), Canny Lad (sire) and a number of others including many Melbourne Cup winners. He looks A LOT like his Dad Canny Lad but I can see a bit of Sir Tristram in his foxy ears - it makes him look a little feminine and with a name like Kadey has been mistaken for a mare (sorry boy!). The middle pic below looks a loy like him in the face.






Other fun facts: Sir Tristram was a tad clumsy and his progeny are sometimes the same. Kadey always trips over his hooves, particularly in the fore so maybe that's where he got it from!

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