Hi Yo Legacy is the latest success story for Kim Reid out of her family’s late broodmare Hi Yo Wassup, with the five-year-old producing an impressive victory on debut at New Plymouth on Wednesday.
A quiet trial at Foxton prepared Hi Yo Legacy for his first raceday appearance over a mile, where he settled back in the field early under George Rooke. The gelding loomed into contention turning for home and kept finding in the closing stages, powering away from the remainder of the field by 3-3/4 lengths.
Reid was delighted with the performance, which rewarded plenty of perseverance with the son of Per Incanto.
“He went super, really nice and it was great to see him come home so well,” she said. “It was very encouraging.
“He’s been an interesting horse, a work in progress and has had a lot of issues along the way that we’ve had to work through.
“He’s such a big horse, just under 17 hands and he showed a lot early on, so it has been a case of working through his issues. Even though he’s five, he’s very mentally and physically weak.”
While the victory came at the first time of asking, the road has been far from smooth for Hi Yo Legacy, beginning at birth when Hi Yo Wassup, owned by Reid’s parents Josephine and Graeme Reid, sadly passed during foaling.
“It’s quite a story, Mum and a good friend bought the mare from the sales and she was a very special horse, being the original mare,” Reid said.
“When she went to Per Incanto, it was something a bit more fancy compared with some of the others she went to, but she actually died while giving birth to him which was quite sad.
“He was raised by a surrogate mother, but that obviously hasn’t affected his size, he grew to be a big, rangy type and needed a lot of time.
“Mum has always been a big believer of this horse, he’s been her pride and joy, and they’ve had the patience to persevere with him which has been really good. A lot of owners probably wouldn’t be, as he’s been a long time coming, so it’s great to be able to reward them.
“Jess Mangan from ESI (Equine Sports Institute) and her husband Dave have been amazing in working through all of his issues, we’ve really problem-solved together.”
Hi Yo Legacy was the final foal of eight out of the Al Akbar mare, who also produced five-win mare Hi Yo Soo, the dam of Reid’s Group One performer and Gr.3 Cuddle Stakes (1600m) winner Hi Yo Sass Bomb.
“They are totally different horses, he’s about the same weight as Sass Bomb, and she’s about 15.3 hands and a solid little nugget,” Reid said.
“He’s actually going out for three weeks now, I know he’s five, but I’d like to see him fill out a bit more and hopefully he’ll come back stronger both physically and mentally.
“I think he’ll get over a bit more ground, but as he strengthens up, I think he’ll make the shorter distances as well. He’s got such a big stride on him.”
Back at Reid’s local base, Hi Yo Sass Bomb is back from a short holiday and preparing for some major targets through the summer, with options including the Gr.1 TAB Classic (1600m) and Gr.2 Cal Izuzu Stakes (1600m).
“She’s going super, she had two weeks in the paddock after the Livamol and put on 10 kilos,” Reid said.
“She’s come back and is working really well, we’ll definitely be going for one of the miles in December, whether we run before that, I’ll just see how she goes in her next few gallops. She’s starting to lose that weight again which is good.
“She’s just a happy little horse, such a cool customer.”