Forest View Farm owners Ben and Jo Duncan have been spoiled for choice this season with a roll-call of winners ranging from rejuvenated mare Super Smink (Super One) to burgeoning stayer Filthy Habits (I’m All The Talk).
They have bookended promising city winners Sixinch Heels (Nicconi), Mangifera (War Chant), Hanoi Miss (Epaulette), Belta Of A Song (Your Song) and Fast Harry (Harry Angel) who have either been bred, sold or raced by the Duncans off their property at Jindong.
That success played out at the Perth Magic Millions in February when Forest View Farm finished second on the Book 1 vendor list in the Swan Valley. All 10 yearlings found new homes with top price of $250,000 paid by NZ-based Corridor Bloodstock for the Toronado (Ire) colt from Keltara (Exceed And Excel).
The south-west couple also own and operate Australia’s largest equine fence supply company as well as filling out a 24/7 lifestyle with their three children. They wouldn’t have it any other way and there are still ongoing projects at work and Group 1 goals on the farm.
Winning the Group 1 Northerly Stakes (1800m) at Ascot would be a dream come true, especially after missing out with
Super Smink earlier this season. The Duncans bred and sold her for $45,000 at the 2022 Perth Magic Millions and she was voted WA Champion 2YO in 2022–23, but had been in the doldrums for 12 months until winning the G3 Asian Beau Stakes (1400m) last November.
Super Smink went out a $4.80 favourite for the Northerly but found trouble in running behind interstate winner Light Infantry Man (Fr). There were excuses, with stewards reporting she had difficulty obtaining a clear passage over the final furlong, and she also returned to scale with a laceration to the off-hind leg. Her dam Sminky Shorts (Snitzel) foaled a Playing God colt last September and was bred back to Gingerbread Man.
Ben’s parents, Neville and Susan Duncan, bred Northerly at nearby Oakland Park Stud and raced him with Fred and Judy Kersley throughout a triumphant career with memorable Group 1 victories in Cox Plates (2), Australian Cups (2), Underwood Stakes (2) and the Caulfield Cup.
“I was there for the entire Northerly journey,” Ben recalled. “So the race named after him is the one I would love to win. I’ve got some amazing memories of Northerly and it was pretty special for all the family having Super Smink competing in the race over 20 years after he retired.”
Northerly (Serheed) won 19 races and earned over $9.34 million, but it was a Group 2 that Ben rates as a personal highlight. He was the only horse to consistently get the better of Sunline (Desert Sun), and he prevailed by a long head in the 2001 G2 Feehan Stakes (1600m) at Moonee Valley.
After observing a minute’s silence only a week after 9/11, an emotional full house erupted as Damien Oliver balanced up and set the ‘Fighting Tiger’ alight to collar the four-time NZ Horse of the Year on the line.
It’s no wonder Ben would love to relive another “I was there moment” in a future Northerly Stakes at Ascot.
“I was there for the entire Northerly journey… so the race named after him is the one I would love to win.”
— Ben Duncan
