The Breeder Series - Its A Long Journey From Williams to Menangle

In March 1988 owner/breeder Steve Johnson recorded his first ever winner when the mare Cap Sensitive won at Williams in the Great Southern region of Western Australia for trainer/driver Frank Ellis.

In the intervening years Johnson has bred a further 128 winners which have a combined wins tally of 807 and include 19 Group One wins and an Australian 2yo Pacer of the Year title.

Johnson has continually tried to improve the quality of his broodmares and it was with that aim that he purchased the unraced Embrace Me mare Hold Tight from Victoria in 1997 and brought her to Western Australia.

He bred his first Group One winner from Hold Tight in the 2004 WA Sales Classic winner Fake Embrace which won 37 races and $240,000 by the time its career finished in North America.

While Hold Tight only produced a couple of average winners for Johnson in addition to Fake Embrace – it was four of the mare’s daughters that provided him with his biggest thrills as a breeder.

The moderate country winner Like A Dame produced the millionaire David Hercules which won four times at Group One level while the unraced Gaetana Nicole is the dam of multiple Group One winner Major Martini.

Another unraced daughter of Hold Tight is the dam of Group Three winner Know When To Run but the Die Laughing mare Endless Journey is the cream on the cake so far as broodmares is concerned.

Endless Journey was placed twice in nine starts as a 2yo and 3yo but he second foal Isaiah Artois got the ball rolling when he won a heat and final of the Group One Pearl Classic for 2yos.

Isaiah Artois was the first of four $100,000 earners produced by Endless Journey and while her daughter Janet Gai was only a country winner she is now the dam of multiple Gloucester Park winner Otis p,1:54.8 $162,648.

Johnson hit the jackpot with Endless Journey’s eighth foal which is the 2022 Australian 2yo Pacer of the Year Never Ending.

A gelding by Sweet Lou, Never Ending has won 16 of his 21 starts and stakes of $629,600 since being sold at the 2021 APG Western Australian Yearling Sale for $75,000 to a large group of clients of the Justin Prentice stable.

Never Ending won the two major Group One 2yo races in Western Australia, the Golden Slipper Stakes and the Pearl Classic in an unbeaten 2yo campaign of six starts.

While Steve Johnson has bred a host of quality juveniles from the immediate maternal family of Never Ending it is a family that originated in New Zealand a century ago with the birth in 1920 of the Logan Pointer mare Royal Empress.

Royal Empress produced a pair of exceptional broodmares when mated to the imported American stallion Frank Worthy.

Little Ada was to become the dam of the legendary Caduceus which won the 1960 Inter Dominion Final at Harold Park and a pair of New Zealand Free-For-Alls.

A full-sister to Little Ada in Queen Ayesha produced another pacing legend in Highland Fling which won two New Zealand Cups and a New Zealand Free-For-All.

Highland Fling’s full-sister Highland May was the great-grand-dam of the outstanding Western Australian mare Via Vista.

Via Vista won 29 races in Perth 40 years ago including a Group One Golden Slipper Stakes as a 2yo and a memorable WA Derby win as a 3yo when she thrashed the colts for her trainer/driver Bill Duffy.

Never Ending