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Kiwi-bred sprinter sitting on top of the world

New Zealand has been synonymous with producing quality middle-distance and staying thoroughbreds, but now it can lay claim to the best sprinter on the planet after Ka Ying Rising (Shamexpress) took out the Gr.1 LONGINES Hong Kong Sprint (1200m) at Sha Tin on Sunday.The Kiwi-bred gelding has been a dominant force since making his debut in Hong Kong in December last year, posting eight wins from his 10 prior starts, including three at Group level, and he was duly backed into $1.10 favouritism for ...

Bonecrusher quinella continues Wexford run

The outstanding form of Lance O’Sullivan and Andrew Scott’s three-year-olds continued at Ellerslie on Saturday with a one-two finish by Sethito (Super Seth) and Prosegur (Proisir) in the Gr.3 Bonecrusher Stakes (1400m).It was the second age-group feature within the space of a week for the Wexford Stables team, who saddled Checkmate for a commanding victory in last Saturday’s Listed Armacup 3YO Stakes (1500m) at the same venue. Overall, O’Sullivan and Scott have had a total of 1...

Bosson masterclass lands second Group One for Ladies Man

Champion jockey Opie Bosson moved to the brink of a Group One milestone with an outstanding ride on Ladies Man (Zed) to take out Saturday’s TAB Mufhasa Classic (1600m) at Trentham.The $400,000 weight-for-age feature was the 99th win at Group One level for Bosson, who returned to riding this week after taking a two-month break for personal reasons. Ladies Man was only his fourth ride back.“That’s 99 Group One wins now, and I probably should be up around 110 by now if I kept my life on track...

Meet the Breeder - Sarah Devcich

In our Dunstan Horsefeeds Meet the Breeder interview this week, we catch up with Sarah Devcich who bred impressive Listed O'Leary Fillies Stakes (1340m) winner, Hitabell.Tell us the story of Hitabell?I came across Anahita on Gavelhouse. She was out of a family we had had a lot to do with and unfortunately ‘Visique’ who was from the same family had passed away.At the time we were looking for a mare to send to Embellish and she seemed to fit the bill.I purchased her for $1000 much to Marc’s ...

Meet the Breeder - Ross and Corinne Kearney

In this week's Dunstan Horsefeeds Meet the Breeder, we catch up with Ross and Corinne Kearney who bred Listed Armacup 3yo Stakes winner Checkmate under their Okaharau Station Ltd banner. Tell us the story of Checkmate?Checkmate was born at the Rich Hill Stud, but he grew up at our farm in Okoroire.He was good natured with us, but could get excitable when other horsed were around -  especially fillies,  hence he was castrated at 18 months old.He always looked to have an easy stride...

Jericho Cup jackpot for $1000 gavelhouse.com purchase

Three and a half years after taking a $1000 punt on a pedigree they liked on gavelhouse.com, Ian and Shelley Wright landed their richest prize in racing when Farag (NZ) (Sacred Falls) romped to a 20-length runaway in Sunday’s A$300,000 Jericho Cup (4600m) at Warrnambool.It was the seventh win of a 29-start career for Farag, who has turned that meagre purchase price into A$331,358 in prize-money.This year’s Jericho Cup was the seventh running of the ultra-long-distance race, which was added t...

BetaVet Under The Radar - Kylie Unsworth

In this month's edition of BetaVet's Under The Radar, and leading into the busy sales season, we thought it was the perfect time to reintroduce BetaVet's National Sales Manager Kylie Unsworth. If you would like to have a chat with Kylie in regard to any of BetaVet's products, you can contact her on 022 078 4958 or sales@betavet.co.nz.Explain who BetaVet is, what they produce and what they stand for?BetaVet is a NZ owned and operated company established 16 years ago and is one of the on...

Kiwi Chronicles - Counting down

The NZB Karaka Yearling Sale catalogue is out and the countdown to the 2025 or 99th National Sale begins. Over the next eight weeks stakes races may impact, particularly sires, as well as pedigree pages as the results unfold and last Saturday’s New Zealand racing got the ball rolling.Buyers often react to current fashion and sires that are running hot get more attention. One such sire might be Cambridge Stud’s Embellish (Savabeel) and the stud should be encouraged with recent resul...

Checkmate continuing broodmare’s grand record

A chance purchase at Karaka has proved to be an outstanding piece of business for Waikato breeders and owners Ross and Corrine Kearney.While wandering around the complex, a winning daughter of Conatus caught their attention and they followed through to secure Signorina for $6,000 out of Westbury Stud’s draft at New Zealand Bloodstock’s Broodmare Sale.She has proved to be a gem for the couple with Saturday’s Listed Armacup Stakes (1500m) winner Checkmate, who is raced under their Okaharau S...

Promising filly a stakes-winning hit for Devcich

Sarah Devcich was full of pride witnessing a filly she bred and part-owns in Hitabell (Embellish) win last Saturday’s Listed The O’Leary’s Fillies Stakes (1340m) at Wanganui.At her fourth raceday start, Hitabell was due a change in fortune after a luckless run at Ellerslie behind Costae, and jockey Courtney Barnes took luck out of the equation in the feature, leading from the outset to score over race-favourite Celestial Wonder.Devcich, who owns and operates Henley Park alongside her ...

Whangaehu captures Wanganui Cup

Promising stayer Whangaehu (Proisir) claimed his biggest success when came with a bullocking late run to take out the Listed Steelform Roofing Group Wanganui Cup (2040m) on Saturday.The six-year-old son of Proisir has always promised to perform at a higher level and finished off his last campaign with a creditable performance in the Gr.2 Auckland Cup (3200m) before finding a Heavy10 track too testing when near the rear in the Listed Hawke’s Bay Cup (2200m).Trainer Bill Thurlow lined him u...

Marsh goes back-to-back in Fillies’ Stakes

The decision to move the Listed O’Learys Fillies’ Stakes (1340m) to a new position on the calendar has worked wonders for Cambridge trainer Stephen Marsh, who has now won both December runnings of the Wanganui feature.Previously staged in September, the Fillies’ Stakes was shifted to its new date last season and Marsh won it with Glamour Tycoon. He targeted the same race again on Saturday with promising filly Hitabell (Embellish), and again he pulled it off.“It’s been a good little rac...

Checkmate adds to Wexford record in three-year-old feature

The race now known as the Listed Armacup 3YO Stakes (1500m) is becoming a reliable springboard to bigger and better things for Lance O’Sullivan and Andrew Scott, and that trend looks likely to continue after a smart win by Checkmate (Monglian Khan) at Ellerslie on Saturday.The three-year-old feature was previously known as the Trevor and Corallie Eagle Memorial. Wexford Stables won the race in 2022 with the subsequent Gr.1 Sistema Railway (1200m) hero Waitak, while they finished second last ye...

Raise The Flag fondly remembered

Veteran White Robe Lodge stallion Raise The Flag has been humanely euthanised after battling health issues in recent months, aged 20.The impeccably bred son of Sadler’s Wells and blue-hen mare Hasili, retired to White Robe Lodge in 2010 after injury cut short his racing career after just one start.A half-brother to a remarkable five Group One winners including Banks Hill, Intercontinental, Cacique, Heat Haze and Champs Elysees, Raise The Flag was also a half-brother to the Group Two winner Dan...

Tuxedo takes centre stage in Wellington Stakes

Shaune Ritchie and Colm Murray collected their second Group Three success in a matter of days at Otaki on Thursday, with Tuxedo (Tivaci) stamping himself as an early Derby prospect when winning the Gr.3 Elsdon Park Wellington Stakes (1600m).The Cambridge training partnership won last Saturday’s Gr.3 Counties Cup (2100m) with Nereus, and partnering up once again with jockey Joe Doyle, they travelled to the Central Districts with a promising horse having just his second race-day start.The s...

Meet the Breeder - John Cassin

This week in Dunstan Horsefeeds Meet the Breeder, we caught up with John Cassin, who inconjunction with his wife Jan, bred and race outstanding racemare, La Crique.Tell us the story of La Crique?It started with buying a 50% share of a yearling filly, Dubai Destination/Lulworth Cove, purchased by Simon & Katrina Alexander, through the 2008 NZB Select book at Karaka. We raced her (Destiny Cove) until her retirement in 2014, and our trust (Cassin Trust) bought out the other owners. As we have a...

Kiwi Chronicles - Influential

The folks at Waikato Stud had plenty to celebrate when Nereus (Savabeel) added the Counties Cup (Gr 3, 2100m) to his growing record. However, Nereus wasn't the only positive for the highly influential bloodstock establishment.Last autumn, Nereus made a good impression when taking out the time honoured Awapuni Gold Cup (Gr 2, 2100m), run at Trentham while the Awapuni track was undergoing refurbishment. That was just his eighth start and fifth win as he'd flown through the grades with Benchmark wi...

Elite 1088-Lot Catalogue Unveiled for Karaka 2025

Hot on the heels of a record-breaking Ready to Run Sale, the cream of New Zealand’s yearling crop has been revealed for Karaka 2025.The world-renowned week of selling in late January is the shop window for the thoroughbred talent that New Zealand produces, and that trend is set to continue with world-class catalogues unveiled.The 99th National Yearling Sales Series will take place at Karaka from Sunday 26 January to Thursday 30 January. The catalogues, which are now available to view online, c...

Pearler sale for Prima Park

Prima Park has accrued an enviable record with their New Zealand Bloodstock Ready to Run Sale graduates, and farm principal Kelly Van Dyk is hoping they can add another to that list from their 2024 draft.2019 Hong Kong Champion Sprinter Beat The Clock, 2016 Horse of the Year Debt Collector, and Gr.1 Queensland Derby (2400m) hero Warmonger sit atop their honour roll of Ready to Run Sale graduates, and Van Dyk believes plenty of quality is set to come out of their draft from last week’s sale, wh...

Breeding feather in vendor’s cap

Vendor Barry Donoghue enjoyed a lucrative two days at New Zealand Bloodstock’s Ready to Run Sale last week and he’s now celebrated a significant result in another role.Under his BMD Bloodstock banner, his draft was highlighted by a Toronado colt who was knocked down for $625,000 and hot off the heels of his Karaka success came homebred Globe’s victory in Saturday’s Listed Cranbourne Cup (1600m).“I was delighted, I don’t breed many so to be a black-type breeder now is fantastic,” Do...

Gong glory for Gringotts

Gringotts (Per Incanto) continued his coming-of-age campaign with a powerhouse front-running performance under 60kg to win Saturday’s A$1 million The Illawarra Mercury Gong (1600m) at Kembla Grange.The Per Incanto gelding continued an outstanding run in the race for New Zealand-breds, who have now won it three years in a row. Riodini won The Gong in 2022, followed by Detonator Jack in 2023.Gringotts went into Saturday’s race on an upward trajectory. He had claimed his first black-type s...

Globe caps comeback with Cranbourne Cup

The super-talented Globe (Charm Spirit) put a troubled 14 months behind him with a powerful all-the-way win in Saturday’s A$500,000 Listed Cranbourne Cup (1600m).The New Zealand-bred son of Charm Spirit had announced himself as an exciting young talent on the Australian scene with wins in all of his first four starts between March and May of 2023. He was sent out as favourite in the Gr.2 Feehan Stakes (1600m) in his next appearance in September of that year, but was beaten by more than 30...

La Crique lands last-gasp triumph

La Crique (Vadamos) sprouted wings in the Pukekohe straight on Saturday to come from a near-hopeless position and win the Gr.2 Dunstan Horsefeeds Auckland Thoroughbred Breeders’ Stakes (1400m) in a photo finish.The Vadamos mare went into the fillies and mares’ feature as the class act of the field, having won eight races and more than $1.3 million including Group One victories in the Arrowfield Stud Plate (1600m) and the Otaki-Maori WFA Classic (1600m). In her first start since taking o...

Drama aplenty in Counties Cup

Promising stayer Nereus (Savabeel) put his current campaign back on track when he captured an action packed Gr.3 TAB Counties Cup (2100m) on Saturday.The field of fourteen runners was thrown into chaos after 500m when Arby dropped rider Matt Cartwright after making contact with the inside running rail leaving the straight for the first time.Severely checked in the incident were Cognito, Blue Moon, Sassy Lass and Ess Vee Are while the rest of the field were also subsequently hampered as the ...

Luberon all class in Counties Bowl

Quality mare Luberon (Embellish) put a classy field of sprinters to the sword at Pukekohe on Saturday when she dashed away in the closing stages to score a handsome victory in the Gr.3 Haunui Farm Counties Bowl (1100m).The Lance Noble-trained daughter of Cambridge Stud stallion Embellish was shooting for a winning treble to open her spring campaign after taking out a rating75 1200m contest at Ellerslie back in September, followed by the Gr.3 Sweynesse Stakes (1200m) at Rotorua last month.Dr...