15 mares under lights – 13 served by 12 September

When Casey Dando (the former Stud Manager of Blandford Lodge) and his wife, Michelle, established their own property (Bradbury Park) during the last year, a high priority was offering a ‘mares under lights’ service to their clients.

“It’s all about extending the daylight hours,” Casey Dando told NZTM this morning.

“The maiden or dry mares come in from the paddock around 4.30pm.  Some are boxed with the lights left on and others stay in a yard with the purpose-built lights left on till 10.30pm.  We let them back out into the paddock at 6.30am,” added Dando.

Bradbury has had 15 mares under lights and all-but-two of the mares have been covered during the first 12 days of September.  The list of mares includes Peace of Mind, the dam of Keep the Peace who won the Mudgway Partsworld Stakes-Gr.1 recently and tackles the Group One Windsor Park Plate at Hastings this Saturday.

“Danny and Jude Moss sent us Peace of Mind to go under lights on the 12^th of July,” said Dando.

“She’s 18 years of age, so we’ve given her plenty of TLC and she’s been boxed each night.  She was served by Keeper on fourth of September and is due to have her 16 day scan next Monday.”

The figures reveal that 98.6% of mares put under lights have been served during the month of September

Dave Hanlon of Matamata Veterinary Services looks after Bradbury Park’s reproductive needs and has been conducting a NZ Racing Board-funded survey over the past few years which has included the success of putting dry mares under lights.

“The figures reveal that 98.6% of mares put under lights have been served during the month of September,” Hanlon told NZTM today.

“Only 39.5% of mares not under lights were served during September,” added Hanlon