A wedding present more than four decades ago keeps delivering for the Hill family.
Trainer Brian Hill, wife Cheryl and daughter Kristie (Dunstan Territory Manager in Southland) have
been enjoying a brilliant run with the talented but sometimes naughty Milliondollarmonkey.
Hill has recently produced the stylish grey trotter for
back-to-back wins from his stable for his breeder-owners Cheryl and Kristie.
Milliondollarmonkey comes from a successful line that
has passed the test of time as well as Brian and Cheryl
Hill’s marriage.
The trotter’s lineage can be traced back more than four
decades to the day the couple tied the knot.
“My father was given Single Girl by Ted Lowe as a wedding present and this is where the family has come
from,” Kristie Hill said.
“Single Girl left Single Lord, he was a magnificent pacer.” “And she left a trotter called McShane and he won a heat of the Interdominions and beat Scotch Notch.” “I actually watched the video the other day, which was a pretty cool find.”
Single Girl is Milliondollarmonkey’s fourth dam. The seven-year-old trotter is out of Ruby N Diamonds, an Iraklis daughter of Dancing Master mare Carmenchita. Carmenchita is from Single Majesty a Lordship daughter of Single Girl.
With three pacing stallions on his dam’s side, it’s clear the origins of the Hill breed are not in the trotting gait. However, Carmenchita changed all of that.
“Where the trotting came from was through little Carmenchita, who I won my very first race with, Hill said.
“I sent her to Iraklis because I just loved him, he was a
magnificent horse.”
“The result was Ruby N Diamonds. When Dad was breaking her in he said the tighter he had the hopples the harder she hit them trotting.”
“So he took them off and she never ever paced.” Ruby N Diamonds won three races as a trotter and placed 15 times. Her talent meant the Carmenchita was now a trotting mare.
“At that point, we had gone to a pacing stallion with Carmenchita and she had left Maddison Hill.”
“But Dad and I really like our trotters so we were straight off to Sundon with her the next year.”
Sending Carmenchita to Sundon proved a masterstroke with the resulting foal being the smart seven-win mare, Sunchita.
Though she was smart on the track, Sunchita hasn’t proved as successful in the breeding barn as her half-sister, Ruby N Diamonds.
“We tried for five years to get her in foal, and we ended up getting her in foal to One Over Da Moon. We are really excited about it because we have got a really strong colt like her.”
“I think she and Ruby N Diamonds will go to What The Hill next year.”
Carmenchita also left three-win trotter Sunny Bill (Sundon), one win pacer De Real Diva (Real Desire) and current racehorse Muchacha Bonita (Great Success). She has also left a four-year-old Majestic Son entire, which Hill describes as a work in progress.
De Real Diva became a hack after retiring from racing, leaving Ruby N Diamonds, Maddison Hill and Sunchita in the Hill family’s broodmare band.
Maddison Hill has had one foal by Sportswriter for a group that includes trainer Chris Chalmers. Hopes are high that Ruby N Diamonds can leave another star performer following Milliondollarmonkey. Her next foal is a four-year-old by Majestic Son named The Crown Prince.
“He has been to the workouts a few times for a couple of thirds and a first against the older pacers. He was a three-year-old at the time and we have just taken our time with him. He is quite a big boy, but he quite a nice horse and we are looking forward to him. He won’t be far away from the trials.”
The Hills also have a yearling filly by What The Hill from Ruby N Diamonds. “Tim Trathen broke her in for us and he really liked her. He said she was a really nice filly.” “We have also got a nice little Majestic Son filly. We went straight back to Majestic Son because Dad really liked Crown Prince.”
“She is not in foal at the moment, she does her foals very well and it is at her own expense.” Hill admitted when she bred Milliondollarmonkey trotting genetics were not the whole focus.
“I had my heart set on a grey trotter, I always wanted a grey trotter. So we sent the mare to Monkey Bones and I got a beautiful grey colt.”
Mixing up Milliondollarmonkey’s work regime looks to be one of the keys to his recent success. The seven year-old is thriving and part of that should be credited to his swimming regime.
“We felt he has always had a lot of ability, but it has just been him putting it all together with his little quirks. We are pretty thrilled with him at the minute.”
“We sent him out to the beach to Regan Todd’s and he did a wonderful job with him. And he was really cool with me because he is a bit of a pet. He swum him and did beach work with him and got two massive wins with him.”
“Lately I have been taking him around to Toliman Lodge – Ken Barron and Blair and Lisa Orange – and swimming him.”
“You always hold your breath a little bit, but we are thrilled with him.”
It is not just Milliondollarmonkey that enjoys a varied work schedule. Hill sees all kinds of horses and all kinds of horse sports in her work as the Lower South Island Territory Manager for NZSNA sponsor Dunstan Horsefeeds.
“It is cool to see young horses coming through that have been raised on Dunstan. It is a great bunch of people that I work with and that makes it all that much better.” Between working her horses at her father’s stable and her work with Dunstan Horsefeeds, Hill sees all spectrums of the horse world. “I look after all of the harness community and we have equestrian horses, galloping stables, so it is really diverse and interesting.”