Ashley Frank - from a long line of Ashleys

Ashley Frank (Bettor’s Delight) was an impressive winner of the second harness racing heat of the Rising Stars last Friday night at Addington and heads into tomorrow’s $30,000 final as one of the favourites.

Trained by Hayden and Amanda Cullen, the promising gelding is raced by Peter Van Beek and his wife Jude.

Jude is the daughter of former Canterbury horseman Frank Murfitt and through Frank, Peter became involved in the sport.

“One day when he was in his seventies, he (Frank) said to me ‘I want you to go half shares in this horse with me.’ I looked at him and could see where he was going. He wanted to hand over the baton at some stage,” said Peter.

The mare was Ashley Queen (OK Bye) who from seventeen starts, ran two seconds and a third for trainer Brent Lilley.

“I said to Frank that she wasn’t going to go too far, so I’d breed from her. He asked me who I was going to send her to and I told him Christian Cullen. He said ‘well you’re on your own.’ So I’ve been on my own ever since (laughter).”

The resulting foal was Ashley Cullen which won five races for David and Catherine Butt.

She went to stud and her first foal Ashley Locaz won six races for Mark Purdon and Natalie Rasmussen. His wins including the 2017 G1 Two Year Old Emerald at Ashburton and the G3 Summer Cup at Alexandra Park. He then headed to Australia, winning another three races before being shipped to America where he won a further twenty two.

The mare’s second foal Ashley Bolt, qualified but was unraced.

“He was a really big horse. We gave him to Stables and Stirrups and he ended up being a hack on the coast somewhere.”

Her third foal Ashley Jude also did not see a racetrack and is now being bred from by the Van Beeks.

Ashley Frank was Ashley Cullen’s last foal, as the mare was put down in February 2024.

Peter has a wide and diverse background. He was a milkman for a number of years before becoming a commercial flower grower. He also ran a tree surgery business and before he retired he became a property developer.

Peter and Jude have just returned from a holiday in Europe and were not quite home last Friday to see Ashley Frank win at Addington.

“We had a month away. The reason we went was because one of our grandsons made the New Zealand Under 23 Rowing Squad for the eights. They raced in Germany.”

Frank Murfitt, after whom the horse is named, was a very good horseman. He trained seventy six winners between 1944 and 2006 including Lord Louie (11), Thurber Globe (8), Sharmbro (8) and Ashley Knight (5). The colours worn by Ashley Frank are Frank’s original race colours.

Ashley Knight was bred by Murfitt and his good friend Dr Clive Moody and was out of their mare Ashley Star.

Trained by Frank at Rangiora, Ashley Knight won five of his fifteen starts as a two year old and finished second behind Lyndon Robert in the 1982 NZ Standardbred Breeders Sires’s Produce Stakes at Addington before he was sold to Australia.

He won fifteen races in Australia including his first six there. He was then exported to America and when he ran a 1-52.2 mile at Meadowlands in July 1986, he became New Zealand’s fastest bred pacer at that time.

Frank’s father George was also a successful trainer. His best horse Harbour Light, won fourteen races including two Canterbury Park Trotting Cups.

by Bruce Stewart, for Harnesslink