Kevin Hickman with his wife Joanna Early April 2019 will go down as one of the less memorable periods in my life, beginning with the call I received on the afternoon of April 2 advising me that The Informant, the weekly publication I had edited for the previous seven years, was no longer.
Along with the team I led, I was in a state of shock at the sudden and unexpected demise of something we had all lived for. Amid the fallout, however, I had already paid for my airfare to Sydney, and nothing was going to stop me from being at Randwick on April 13 for Winx’s final race in the Queen Elizabeth Stakes. Thus I found myself at Randwick on Friday morning, catching up with some of the main players ahead of the big day, when Kevin Hickman’s number came up on my cellphone.
“Hi Dennis, bloody sorry about what’s happened with The Informant,” said the familiar voice. “I want to help. Could you send me your bank details and I’ll put $100,000 into your account. No strings, I just want to get you back in business.”
As a former employee I had no authority to accept such a generous offer and besides, as I had to explain, nothing would salvage what had been revealed as a grim situation. Thankfully by the end of 2019 RaceForm had risen from the ashes and the Hickman-owned Valachi Downs was amongst the dedicated group of industry participants to come on board with advertising support.
That anecdote paying tribute to a special person is just one of many to do the rounds over recent days in the wake of Kevin Hickman’s sad passing in Christchurch last Friday after a protracted and debilitating illness.
A common theme has been his generosity and empathy for the wide range he interacted with, and in a racing and breeding context, doing everything in his power for the benefit of this industry. Yet while possessing a shrewd business mind, indulgence in his passion didn’t necessarily mean commercial priorities dominated his thinking.
Success had been a hallmark of Kevin’s life from his days as an athlete and then coach in the same field, as a police detective in his initial career and then as co-founder in 1984 of what was to become an aged care leader, Ryman Health.
The competitive streak that had first become evident in athletics and then in commerce was to take another form in equine performance, as he initially became involved with family and friends in harness racing and then heavily committed to thoroughbreds.
Stepping back from his role as managing director of Ryman Health in 2006 allowed Kevin the freedom to fully embrace his passion for bloodlines and testing the resultant progeny on the track. The seeds that germinated in Canterbury quickly grew, boosted by the success of one of his earliest home-breds, 2008 O’Reilly filly Silent Achiever.
Under the training of Roger James, the gorgeous brown made a clean sweep of three-year-old staying features in the summer of 2012, winning the Gr. 2 ARC Championship Stakes, Gr. 3 Waikato Guineas, Gr. 2 Avondale Guineas and Gr. 1 New Zealand Derby – the first filly in two decades to win the Ellerslie classic.
The following spring Silent Achiever added the Gr. 2 Crystal Mile at Moonee Valley and as an autumn five-year-old she bounced back from a below-par spring campaign to complete a Group One hat-trick in the New Zealand Stakes at Ellerslie and the Ranvet and Tancred Stakes in Sydney.
At the end-of-season national awards, Kevin Hickman became just the third recipient after partners Philip and Peter Vela and Sir Patrick and Lady Justine Hogan to claim both the Breeder of the Year and Owner of the Year trophies. Topping that off, his pride and joy was voted Stayer of the Year and fellow home-bred Vespa took the Champion Two-Year-Old title.
Yet it was a non-winning performance that provided another indication of Silent Achiever’s ability and more importantly, her owner-breeder’s scope of appreciation.
On Cox Plate day in late October 2014 I was at Moonee Valley to witness one of the closest finishes in the race regarded as the Australasian weight-for-age championship. That Cox Plate was won by the Aidan O’Brien-trained Galileo colt Adelaide by a neck from local galloper Fawkner, with a short head to Silent Achiever. Catching up with Kevin and his wife Joanna soon afterwards, it was as if their gold jacket and blue cap had crossed the line first.
“That’s the biggest thrill I’ve ever had in racing,” he said with not a hint of regret. “It wasn’t a win, but what she just did was every bit as good.”
While maintaining their primary residence in Christchurch, the Hickmans were by this stage spending more time in the Waikato, where their Hinuera Valley property Valachi Downs was rapidly expanding from boutique to grand scale nursery.
Their original 110-acre holding eventually grew to more than 600 acres, with no expense spared in the provision of every facility required to make Valachi Downs the new force in thoroughbred breeding. The investment also included sourcing quality bloodlines from the Northern Hemisphere to bolster the farm’s broodmare band, then expanding to stallions with a roster that included Vespa and fellow Hickman-bred Savile Row, along with Zacinto and shuttlers U S Navy Flag and Ten Sovereigns.
Zacinto represented a partnership with the revived North Canterbury nursery Inglewood Stud, followed in a similar arrangement by that farm’s current resident sire War Decree, whose progeny include the Hickman-bred Warmonger, the winner in June of the Gr. 1 Queensland Derby.
Kevin Hickman’s investment in his own ambitions was matched by those he surrounded himself with – loyal staff, advisers and industry partners, while never forgetting his wider community.
Race sponsorships was led by features on his home track, Riccarton Park, where corporate hosting meant enjoying the company of family and friends, while his significant financial input was, along with other generous donors, instrumental in the realisation of a nationwide network under the auspices of the New Zealand Horse Ambulance Trust.
Across the Canterbury community, his massive contribution was recognised in part in the 2016 New Year Honours List when he was made an Officer of the New Zealand Order of Merit (ONZM) for services to aged care and sport.
The diagnosis of an incurable health condition several years ago was to eventually force the dispersal of Valachi Downs as well as the extensive Hickman racing team based at Matamata’s Valachi Racing Stables and elsewhere.
While Kevin’s passing means the end of an extraordinary life and an all too brief chapter in racing and breeding in this country, the legacy he created will ensure his memory remains for decades to come.
*Kevin Hickman’s funeral service is scheduled for 11am this Saturday at the Christchurch Town Hall.
