The grand old mare, a five-time stakes winner on the track, passed away aged 24 on New Year's Eve last year, but her legacy is still alive and well, with her grandson Zorro's Dream (Toronado {Ire}) winning at Flemington on the weekend.
Tickle My has produced eight winners from eight runners to the track, highlighted by the Listed winner Snitz (Snitzel), while her daughters, the majority of which have been retained by the Breeses, have now produced 14 individual winners, including the Group 2 winner and G1 Goodwood H. placegetter, I'll Have A Bit (Smart Missile).
Every breeding dynasty has a few 'sliding doors' moments, where if things had gone another way, history would have been written very differently.
For Breese it came back in 1997, when he couldn't get his Perugino (USA) yearling filly into any of the 1998 sales.
"Tickle My was rejected from the Inglis sales all those years ago. We tried to sell her and nobody wanted her and we ended up racing her ourselves," Ken Breese said.
"We tried to sell her (Tickle My) and nobody wanted her and we ended up racing her ourselves." - Ken Breese
The Breeses had secured her dam, Mere Fancy (Noalcoholic {Fr}) a few years earlier. She was out of a stakes-winning mare, Golden Fantasy (Golden Orange {GB}), and a half-sister to two stakes winners.
But as a broodmare, she didn't live up to expectations and by the time Tickle My was a yearling, she was on-sold for $2500.
"She didn't produce too much early. When Tickle My wasn't quite correct in front, we decided to quit Mere Fancy and I think she ended up in China," Breese said.
"We finished up racing Tickle My with Bruce Purcell and it was a great association."
Tickle My when racing
Indeed, while Tickle My wasn't the prettiest yearling, she developed into a mighty mare, winning 11 of her 51 starts and earning over $780,000 in prizemoney. Her best victory came in the twilight of her racing career, in the 2003 G2 Sunline S., while she contested some top Group 1 races, including the 2001 Australian Cup, which was won by the legendary Northerly (Serheed {USA}).
From the broodmare barn
The Breeses decided to breed with her and she repaid them by not only producing a constant stream of winners, but also with five fillies to start off with, ensuring they had plenty of the family with which to breed.
The Breeses' current broodmare band, based at Armidale Stud in Tasmania, has just four members, with three of them daughters of Tickle My and the other, one of her granddaughters.
"She throws very, very good types. Three of her mares that we still have at stud are just beautiful mares in Il Sogno, Take All Of Me and Myhro, while Dream Food, who is her granddaughter by Snitzel, is much smaller, but the one she has had go through the sales topped the Tassie Sale last year," he said.
The 7-year-old gelding Snitz, trained by Matthew Dunn, has proven Tickle My's best performer on the track, winning nine races, including the Listed Takeover Target S. at Randwick last year.
Continuing the legacy
Her best performer to date in terms of the broodmare barn has been Take All Of Me (Jeune {GB}).
She would follow in her mum's footsteps as a multiple city winner for Purcell, while she has now left five winners from five foals to the track, among them, I'll Have A Bit, who famously won a G2 Euclase S. at odds of $151 for trainer John McArdle.
I'll Have A Bit was purchased by Tom Magnier for $450,000 at the 2019 Magic Millions National Broodmare Sale and last year delivered a filly by Triple Crown winner Justify (USA) at Coolmore, before visiting Pierro.
Another of Take All Of Me's daughters is the aforementioned Dream Food (Snitzel), who was twice a winner on the track and who delivered a terrific return for the Breeses when her first colt, by Darley's Impending, produced a record price of $150,000 to Cameron Thompson at the Magic Millions Tasmanian Yearling Sale.
Dream Food is now in foal to Toronado and will visit new Darley shuttle stallion Ghaiyyath (Ire) this season, while her dam Take All Of Me visited Impending last year and has a date with Rosemont's Shamus Award.
Impending x Dream Food (colt) sold for $150,000 at the Magic Millions Tasmanian Yearling Sale
Another member of the Breeses' broodmare band is Tickle My's daughter Il Sogno (Elvstroem), who has had four winners to the track, including the Mitch Freedman-trained Zorro's Dream, who broke a run of near misses to storm home and win over 1100 metres at Flemington on Saturday.
The son of Toronado (Ire) was sold by the Breeses through Armidale Stud for $80,000 at the 2018 Magic Millions Tasmanian Sale and has now won four - and been placed in 12 - of his 18 starts.
"We had been hoping that Zorro's Dream would jump out of the ground and he has almost done it a couple of times. Last Saturday was a good win and hopefully he can go on with it," Breese said.
"We had been hoping that Zorro's Dream would jump out of the ground and he has almost done it a couple of times. Last Saturday was a good win and hopefully he can go on with it." - Ken Breese
"I think Zorro's Dream broke his wither when he was broken in and that clearly has had some impact on his racing career. He's racing pretty well at the moment."
Il Sogno produced a sister to Zorro's Dream last year, is in foal to Shamus Award, and will visit Earthlight (Ire) at Darley this season.
The other broodmare daughter of Tickle My at Armidale is Myhro (Lonhro), who has produced three colts to date, by Smart Missile, Magnus and Epaulette, and visited Akeed Mofeed (GB) last year. A decision on where she heads this year has not yet been made.
The Breeses are also currently racing another of Tickle My's daughters, Jens (Toronado {Ire}), with McArdle, while there is also an unraced 3-year-old filly by Toronado as well as the mare's final colt, by Alpine Eagle, who just turned two.
All of that family have been bred and raised on the lush Northern Tasmanian paddocks of the Whishaw family's Armidale Stud, an association that Victorian-based Breese has had for a very long time.
"We stood a few stallions with them over the years. We originally sent them Weasel Clause, we then sent them Ladoni and we stood Savoire Vivre in partnership. We have had a 30-year association with the Whishaws," Breese said.
"I've seen plenty of studs over my time, both in Australia and overseas and I reckon Armidale has as good a grass as you’d find anywhere. It’s just such a beautifully run stud and that's a credit to the entire team there."
