Racing: A true Lady who loved hard work

By MICHAEL GUERIN

Blossom Lady finally found a rival she couldn't outstay.

The champion pacing mare was put down after her physical condition deteriorated on Tuesday, closing the book on one of New Zealand racing's greatest tales.

During her race career Blossom Lady redefined toughness, racing in six New Zealand Cups and winning races at five separate Interdominion carnivals.

She received one of the most memorable receptions of last decade at Addington when she won the 1992 New Zealand Cup, but perhaps even greater were her two Hunter Cup wins in Australia.

In all three races her stamina sapped the sprint out of champions like Chokin, Master Musician, Golden Reign and Christopher Vance.

In an era of pacing millionaires, she was the only millionairess.

That Blossom Lady was able to win 43 races and $1,334,808 in pacing's golden age is amazing.

But when you consider how she started her career, it is unfathomable.

Blossom Lady was a battling mare from the harness racing backwater of the Central Districts when she joined Derek Jones' Canterbury stable permanently in 1991.

She teamed up with youthful driver Anthony Butt and the young man was far from impressed.

"We thought she was just coming down here to try and get another win before she retired," said Butt.

"She was horrible to drive, hanging in on the bends, pacing rough and hanging out in the straights."

But Jones found the key to the mare's now legendary stamina reserves and it was forged in a furnace of hard work.

"Once Derek worked out that he could work her harder than any horse he had ever had she just thrived," said Butt.

"It got to the stage she was so fit she could do anything."

That doing anything included her unforgettable second Hunter Cup win when she went to war for a lap of Moonee Valley with Golden Reign and Master Musician, crushing the two iron men of pacing.

"That was her greatest performance and one of the greatest races I have ever been involved in.

"To beat horses like them the hard way, well, you just can't ask a horse to do that. Only a champion can do that."

Blossom Lady retired the richest pacing mare to have raced in Australasia, a title she later relinquished to Tailamade Lombo.

But she was not out of the spotlight for long, with her first foal Mister D G now a star in his own right.

In a career that mirrors that of his famous mum, Mister D G has become a serious open class force since joining trainer Tim Butt and won the A$400,000 Hunter Cup in February before being one of the best at the Interdominions in Perth, finishing a close fourth in the final.

Her next foal, In Bloom, is already a 1:57 pacer and her only other offspring is a Live Or Die foal.

"Having Mister D G around is great because it sort of means nobody will forget Bloss," said Butt.

"Then again, I'll never forget her. She is the best pacer I have driven."