The story of John Brekelmans and his famous Duck horses is well known in the Australian campdraft and cutting industries. However, the story seems to continue to reach new heights.
The 2018 landmark horse sale saw a milestone that John is extremely proud of. He became the first vendor to sell over $1,000,000 of horses through the Landmark sale ring. This was achieved with just 24 horses which averaged a massive $43,979 per horse. 15 out of the first 19 horses sold have won drafts. These horses have all carried the famous “Duck” within their name and all are direct descendants of John’s famous broodmare, Cold Duck, who John purchased in 1975 for just $300.
Cold Duck’s daughter, Docs Duckling, then became the matriarch of this powerful mare line as her 5 foals sired by Docs Freckles Oak all competed in the cutting pen and are credited with winning 10% of the total Docs Freckles Oak progeny earnings from his 498 progeny. This statistic alone convinced John that he had a tremendously strong mare line and it remains one of the strongest cow working mare lines of all time.
Docs Duckling is in the NCHA Heritage Hall of Fame, as is her son Ducks Freckle and great grand daughter Ducks Dux. All the mares out of Docs Duckling have produced campdraft and cutting winners with the exception of campdraft winning mare Dynamic Duck whose foals are yet to compete.
John’s horses have always been dual purpose, originally in the cutting pen where they became household names. Docs Duckling placed 3rd in the 1986 Cloncurry Stockmans Challenge and her first foal Oaks Fancy Duckling was the 1992 NCHA Open Futurity Reserve Champion and 1993 Open Derby and Non Pro Derby Champion.
Oaks Fancy Duckling daughter Dashing Duckling was also a star performer winning both the Toowoomba and Goondiwindi Non Pro Derbys. Her foal Ducks Dux is the NCHA Australia all time highest money earner with earnings in excess of $200,000. Ducks Dux’ many wins include 2011 NCHA Futurity Champion, 2012 NCHA Non Pro Derby Champion and the 2016 NCHA Open Gold Cup Champion.
Many people were surprised when John embryoed Ducks Dux to Hazelwood Conman. John tried to balance up a horse’s best attributes between stallion and mare, very seldom does this balance actually happen. He believed he had achieved this with Breks Duck Yeah. He is an attractive headed horse with a comfortable long stride and long rein, good sloping shoulder, good legs and feet, powerful hind quarter, speed, cow sense and outstanding temperament.
John was so confident in Breks Duck Yeah that he bred all his mares to him in his first year standing and he also bred Ducks Dux back to Hazelwood Conman hoping for a filly.
Breks Duck Yeah’s exceptional fertility resulted in outstanding pregnancy rates both on farm and in shipped semen around Australia.
