Football has been a big part of Awapuni trainer Mike Breslin’s life and that has continued in racing through the naming of his horses.
The son of former New Zealand footballer Paddy Breslin, Mike has always had a fascination with the sport and was himself a representative player.
“My father was New Zealand footballer of the year back in the early seventies, I played myself and had a few years in the national league before I retired at 23 and decided to go into horses,” Breslin said.
While playing in the national league, Breslin was scouted to play professionally in Australia, however, a series of events curtailed those plans, and he found himself following a career in racing instead.
“The turning point of my life was when I had a contract to got to Adelaide to play,” he said.
“It was through an Irish guy that had coached at Gisborne City and Manawatu.
“He went back to Ireland to get a few things together after signing two of us. He had a couple of criminal convictions he hadn’t declared and the Australian Government found them, so we got rung the day before we were meant to travel to Australia and were told they (Football Club) didn’t know enough about us so they didn’t want us.
“I was a grain and seed rep for Dalgetys and I had given that up to go to Adelaide. I didn’t have a job so I rang up Paddy Busuttin to ask if I could muck out some boxes until I sorted out what I was going to do, and I ended up staying there for six years before going out on my own.”
While his playing days are long over, Breslin has continued his passion with football and has shown that through naming a number of his horses after football stars, with Crouch the latest of Breslin’s equine athletes to bare such a name.
“He really suited Crouch because this horse is a big, leggy fella like Peter Crouch,” Breslin said.
The Awapuni conditioner identified the son of Tarzino as a yearling in Mapperley Stud’s New Zealand Bloodstock Book 2 Yearling Sale draft and went to $20,000 to secure him.
The now three-year-old gelding has compiled a strong record, winning his third race from five starts at Awapuni on Saturday and Breslin believes he has a bright future instore.
“He is a really progressive staying horse,” Breslin said.
“I thought his run yesterday was a decent step up for him from his run beforehand because he travelled a bit kinder.
“He has only had the five runs and fourth is the furthest he has been back. He is just learning all of the time.
“There is nothing for him in the next little while. There is a little bit of interest in him at the moment so we will just see where that goes.
“He will likely have two to four weeks in the paddock and that gets him through the worst of the winter and we will concentrate on the spring with him.”
Breslin was also pleased with the placings of stablemates Revolt and Pepeha.
“Revolt is a little bit immature. He still does quite a bit wrong and that is why I went with the blinkers yesterday,” Breslin said.
“Tina Comignaghi (jockey) still said he was wondering and wasn’t focussed on what he was doing. He has shown a bit of ability and he will now go out for a while.
“I was hoping Pepeha would get away with running on that (Heavy 10) track. He has just got too much brilliance to be at his real best on them.
“He injured his pelvis back in January and I didn’t want to leave him nine or 10 months before he got back on the racetrack.
“We decided to give him a couple of starts to get him ready for some lesser races at Hawke’s Bay in the spring.”
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