Breeding and training Champion horses is theoretically an easy thing to do.
You find a high-performance mare with outstanding genetics that is also a proven breeder with progeny already performing at the highest level.
You then breed the mare to the standout sire of the decade who is also constantly producing progeny who are competing and winning at every major venue. The foal is then special from the get go and is therefore given every opportunity.
When the time to break the foal in arrives you use a breaker who has broken champion horses before and therefore knows his stuff. He then works the horse giving it a solid grounding for anything which might lie ahead.
Then considering his future he then changes stable into the hands of an elite trainer who will complete the education process and then compete on the horse at the highest level and then, of course, the blue ribbons will automatically come.
Sounds easy and something that even a mug horse breeder could do.
Well, this is exactly the story of Conduit. This new star on the Challenge circuit could not have a better pedigree and could not have been offered a more complete opportunity to become the star he is.
Bred by Cameron Parker out of his outstanding broodmare, Destiny’s Fancy Jewel, who had already produced Cameron’s Cloncurry Champion in 2013, Jewel N Boon, and by the champion sire Hazelwood Conman.
Cameron broke Conduit in and continued his preparation taking him to Ridgelands for an outing to simply have a look around and for experience of being away from home. While riding him around he was spotted by the eagle eye of David Smith. A quick conversation of, “Nice horse, what’s he by and what’s he out of?” ended with, “Would you sell him?”.
Answer being, “I probably should sell him to you blokes”.
David quickly got Josh involved and the deal was done.
With the shortest preparation in his new stable of 3 weeks he was taken to Cloncurry and performed above expectation, however a bad cow put an end to the fairytale result for their first outing. Since then, the journey has shown all the results that we would expect from the combination of Josh Smith and Conduit. Wins at the Horse of the North, Rocky Rush, Flinders and Dalby Challenges in 2022 indicated that the future was exciting and expectations were justifiably high.
The interesting thing about Conduit is how excited Josh gets when he tells you about this horse. He has ridden plenty of good ones and yet he has no hesitation in telling you how Conduit is everything he ever thought a horse could be.
While his ability in the Challenge arena confirmed Conduit as the ASCA Challenge Champion for 2022, as a Conman son and from the talented mare line going back to Acres Destiny, Conduit is now proving himself in the campdraft arena.
The start of 2024 already saw him winning the 3 round open draft at Ridgelands and the Stallion Draft at Paradise Lagoons.
David & Raelene look forward to watching how his full sister, Conflict, progresses. She has been retained by Cameron and her future will also be something to watch.
