For the love of Generous

Phil Nehmy is one of those gregarious characters who can find himself on the top of the dinner guest list of many of those people who have met him. His hearty laugh and left-of-field slant on life makes for a very entertaining evening.

Nehmy – a former racing analyst for the famous South Australian professional punting brothers John, Greg and Rick Manuel – is also a gambler, and like most gamblers he’s very opinionated; often the things he likes, others don’t.

For instance, Nehmy likes, no loves, the stallion Generous. Not many others do.

Generous (ch h 1988, Caerleon (USA)-Doff The Derby, by Master Derby (USA)), the racehorse, was a champion, as good as you can get. He won six of his 11 starts, including the 1990 Group 1 Dewhurst Stakes (1400m) 1991 Group 1 Epsom and Irish Derbys (2400m) and the 1991 Group 1 King George V1 and Queen Elizabeth Diamond Stakes (2400m).

Generous retired to stud at four to Banstead Manor Stud, Newmarket, England, in 1992 with the highest reputation. He commanded the best mares but the results were moderate. In 1996 he was bought to stand in Japan. He shuttled for two years (from 1999) to Glamorgan Stud, near Auckland, New Zealand, before Glamorgan purchased the chestnut outright in 2002 and “reverse” shuttled him to Plantation Stud, Newmarket, in England.

Generous, following the sale of Glamorgan, stood his last season in New Zealand in 2003. He has left eight Stakes-winners – only three Group winners – from his five southern hemisphere seasons (although world-wide he has 39 Stakes winners). His best local progeny are Zilzie (two Group 3 wins), Tingirana (two Listed wins and Group 1 placed), Natural Woman (Group 3 Doomben Roses), the current handy Listed winner Fast Future and the Bart Cummings-trained pair Generosa and Kamsky.

Yet, despite his stallion’s relatively disappointing record, Nehmy continues to sing his praises. In fact, he won’t have a bad word said against him. “I am his greatest supporter,” he said.

Nehmy was first alerted to Generous by John Manuel, who rated the horse one of the greatest gallopers of all time, and the news that the horse was to stand in New Zealand sparked the interest of Manuel and his disciple, Nehmy. Both supported the stallion with mares.

“I remember seeing the promotional video of his wins. He was unbelievable,” Nehmy said.

Nehmy, like most gamblers, plays the “chance card” when possible. That’s what happened in 2002 when on a holiday in New Zealand with his wife, Heather. He was travelling through the Hamilton district to visit Rodmor Stud where he had an interest in a couple of resident mares. It was while he was at Rodmor, that he was told there was a sale on at Karaka, just south of Auckland. The annual Ready To Run sale for 2YOs was in full swing.

“My wife looked at me as if to say ‘oh no, not a sale’,” Nehmy said. “She knew that my record to that date was that I hadn’t attended a horse sale without buying a horse.”

The Nehmys drove straight to Karaka where one of the first people they bumped into was fellow South Australian, bloodstock analyist Brian Messner, who knew of Nehmy’s passion for the Generous stock. Messner said there was a little chestnut that Nehmy must see. The colt wasn’t by Generous but his Group 2 winning son, Germano (b h 1993, ex Gay Fantastic (GB), by Ela Mana Mou (IRE)), out of the Touching Wood mare Princesses Touch. Germano was then standing at Fayette Park, near Matamata.

The colt was as small as his pedigree was thin. “Not one black type horse in the first four dams,” Nehmy said.

“But he had a lot of Generous about him. The same colour, the same flaxen mane and tail. And when I saw him breeze up (on a video at the sale complex), I saw he had Generous’s action. I just fell in love with him.

“Brian said I would get him for next to nothing, maybe $3000 or $4000, which was around Germano’s service fee at the time.”

Nehmy found that others liked the little chestnut too, and he needed to bid $NZ18,000 to secure his prize.

Nehmy named his new horse Ista Kareem. Kareem is Arabic for Generous. Ista, well Nehmy said he just made that up because it “sounded nice”.

Ista Kareem started life with trainer Jeremy Gask in Adelaide. The little horse soon showed immediate potential, and his career peaked in 2005 when he finished third behind Exalted Time and Tubular Bells in the Group 1 Adelaide Cup (3200m) at Morphettville.

Two years ago, Nehmy sent Ista Kareem to Melbourne to be trained at Caulfield by Colin Little. Like a lot of the Generous stock, Ista Kareem is a late maturing horse who has kept surprising Little, but not Nehmy.

It was Nehmy’s persistence that saw Ista Kareem set for the Group 1 Sydney Cup (3200m) at Randwick last weekend. Little had his doubts the 2008 Group 3 Launceston Cup (2400m) winner was good enough to win at Group 1 level. He left the entering of the horse in the Sydney Cup to Nehmy.

“Colin sent me an email that said that the Sydney Cup entries closed the next morning, if I wanted to enter him. I didn’t read his email until it was nearly too late. I got onto the phone and made the entry time by only three minutes,” Nehmy said.

Ista Kareem won the Sydney Cup with an outstanding burst of speed between horses over the last 200 metres. Both Nehmy’s faith and Little’s training skill – “I shortened up his work” shorthand for kept him fresh with short distance work – were rewarded.

On Saturday, Nehmy is hoping for a two-state “Generous” double when his mare Dollops (b or br m 2003, Generous (IRE)-Dresden Gold (NZ), by Famous Star (NZ)) – trained by David Jolly – runs in the Listed Proud Miss Stakes (1200m) at Morphettville.

On Friday, To A Fault (Ch g 2002, Generous (IRE)-Just Coz (NZ), by Don’t Forget Me (IRE)) – one of the first Generous horses bred by Nehmy – now trained by Patrick Payne, is likely to resume racing at Wodonga in a 1400m 0-78 class race. To A Fault has won five races in South Australia when trained David Jolly, and last year finished ninth behind Lacey Underall in the Group 2 Adelaide Cup (2400m) at Morphettville.

According to Nehmy, the records of Ista Kareem and To A Fault are similar at the same age. That makes the six-year-old To A Fault one to watch.