How Goldman and even his mother came to be is a story just in itself. It includes a series of mates helping mates that began when a young James Keyte, not long out of school, started working for Bruce McNaughton at Glenrock Station.
James purchased a talented chestnut mare from Bruce & Julie by Poco Peppy Doc bred by the highly regarded Copperwood Ranch. Her name was Smokin Poppies and she was campaigned as ‘Tip Toes’ . She and James were a formidable team, hauled along with the McNaughtons, winning many campdrafts throughout the Hunter area.
When the time came to retire ‘Tip Toes’, James was breaking in horses for Richard Bull at Tamarang, so deciding who to breed her to was easy, it could only be the immortal Acres Destiny. The resultant foal was a lovely black filly, that would later be known as ‘Barragunda Acres Two Step’. James thanked his lucky stars!
The next lucky break in this story involves James’s best mate Simon Deery, who acquired a stallion service to the legendary Hazelwood Conman. Simon was looking for a quality mare that would be worth breeding to a stallion of this caliber. At the time James was steadily training Two Step who was showing lots of talent. He felt she’d be the ideal mare for the job, before she began her campdraft career. Deery accepted the offer and a partnership was formed. Two Step was joined to Hazelwood Conman in 2013 and Barragunda Goldman was born.
As a young breaker James knew Goldman was exceptional. He said, ‘We weren’t looking to have a stallion, but we knew we had a special horse right from the start’.
Once broken in he had a stint with cutting trainer Phil Gray, so James decided to have a go at cutting, the NCHA Snafflebit Futurity no less. James & Goldman cut for the very first time, impressing everyone with his cool mind, willingness and athleticism.
Due to other commitments the partnership ended and Deery was given lifetime breeding rights for his mares.
The following year as a 4 yo, Goldman began his challenge career with Warwick Lawrence. With only a few weeks preparation Warwick and Goldman went to the ASH Nationals. The demands of this multi discipline event came natural to Goldman under the expert hands of Warwick. He found it easy to chase cattle, had the athletic ability to compete strongly in the Time Trial and displayed a trainable demeaner in the Hack & Working phase. Oh and he was happy to strut his stuff in the Led class. The duo successfully placing 9th overall in a strong field of over 70 horses in the National Maturity event and were awarded Champion Open Working Stallion 4 yo.
From that point James took the reins again and has since enjoyed a lot of success campdrafting Goldman. With only a limited amount of starts, Goldman is proving to be a stallion with a big performance career in front of him. His first run at Walcha in 2018 saw him run an 88 and final in the Maiden Campdraft.
His second event that year at Rouchel saw him win the Maiden draft and become a Novice horse. This was well before they had intended as James was very mindful of the stallion’s potential and was looking to only lightly draft him to ensure a solid foundation for the future.
Due to drought and then Covid, Goldman hasn’t been out to many events. However a pop up draft in March 2020 at Cubbaroo had James keen to give him another run. It certainly paid off with Barragunda Goldman making the Novice Final and placing 3rd overall.
Goldman’s first foal crop have now been handled and are showing their sire’s sensible nature and athletic type. With proven performance top and bottom plus a heart of gold, James and Blair are confident that his progeny will be great horses.
