HRNZ's Owner and breeder for June

Every month HRNZ picks at random an owner and breeder of the month. The only criteria is that their horse must have won a race during the month.

For June Valmai Bowen was selected as Owner of the Month following Dragon Power's win at Invercargill on June 3 while Marlene Lynch is the Breeder of the Month after Fifth And Final's win at Cambridge on June 20.

Owner : Valmai Bowen

Bred by Macca Lodge, Dragon Power is a three-year-old Fear The Dragon gelding owned by the Tricode racing syndicate, the Tricode 2 racing syndicate and the Dolce Syndicate. From Spring Creek in Marlborough, Bowen is in the Tricode 2 syndicate which also races Beaudiene Blaze, Please Shuddup (5 wins in NZ and 14 overall), Talking Unowhat and With A Bang (4 wins). It was Dragon Power's first win in seven starts.

Breeder : Marlene Lynch 

Fifth And Final (He's Watching - Kissimmee) was bred by Marlene Lynch. She also races the horse, along with husband Bob Lynch and Oona Manning. With Marlene in hospital Bob was happy to talk about the horse on her behalf.

Bob trained Kissimmee, who won four races from 2008 - 2011. She then had five foals.

"Fifth And Final got his name because he was Kissimmee's fifth and final foal," says Bob, "and I was a rugby league referee for a long time and was always saying 'fifth and final' (tackle) so it just made sense."

One of Kissimmee's other foals was Three Kisses who won six in this country and 10 overall.

"She ran 1:53 in Aussie."

Since the 1980s Lynch reckons they have bred "about a dozen or so", including four-race winner Magic Note. In the last breeding season three of his mares were served but none of them got in foal.

One of them Asteria Lavra is now heading back to the trials with a view to make a race day comeback. A two-race winner she is a half sister to two-time Dominion winner Master Lavros. She last raced in October last year.

Both winners will receive a plaque from HRNZ. Congratulations.