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Chief Executive’s Blog - December 2015

Dear Branch Committee Members, I hope you're looking back on a successful 2015 as we head into Christmas and the Yearling Sale season. I'm pleased to update you on a number of issues since the Council meeting of 29th November: MEMBERSHIP At the end of last week we had 252 subs still in arrears, 60 of whom are 2 years in arrears. That's down from 273 (69 - 2 years) a month ago. We have followed up with branches with lists of overdue members and Nicola is helping with some branches. B...

Three generations of the Rogers family rejoice in Stolen Dance

Stolen Dance(Alamosa-Songbird) is a real family horse as was evident by the crowd on the presentation dais after her win in the Group Two Cal Isuzu Stakes 1600 at Te Rapa recently, with three generations of the Rogers family revelling in the glory. Not on the dais but looking on very proudly at his daughter Jackie Rogers, grandchildren and great grandchildren, was former Waikato Racing Club committeeman and racing stalwart Gerald Shand, who also shares in the ownership of the mare and had a han...

NZTR launches improved mobile site

To view the press release click here - NZTR...

NZTR Circular Briefing Notes – Support for Race Fields Legislation

11 December 2015 NZTR CIRCULAR 2015/16 – No.8 TO EACH TOTALISATOR CLUB, SECTOR ORGANISATION, TRAINER AND BREEDER With the busy summer racing season upon us there will no doubt be opportunities for your local MPs and Ministers to attend race meetings around the country. The attached Briefing Note provides you and club committees with the information required to advocate and explain the importance of the work carried out by the Offshore Racing and Sports Betting Group, the report they produced ...

Blandford pair set to shine at Sha Tin

Graham Bax is pinching himself ahead of Sunday's Hong Kong International races at Sha Tin. The studmaster at Matamata's Blandford Lodge can hardly believe that two runners in the blue riband Gr.1 Hong Kong Cup were nurtured on his farm. Many of the world's most powerful breeding establishments aren't represented at all, so for Blandford to have prize graduates Criterion and Lucia Valentina representing the farm at such a prestigious international meeting is a source of immense pride for Bax...

Longlands Stud continue their success on the track

"Leading Role was a lovely yearling, and we are absolutely thrilled to see him win the Group Two Wakefield Challenge Stakes," enthused his breeder Waikato branch NZTBA member Vicki Pike. "It's been a little while since we had a new stakes winner, we have been a little bit spoilt over the last couple of years with Chintz (Savabeel[AUS]-Charmed), Waterford (Darci Brahma – Crystal Hailey) and Kelly O'Reilly (O'Reilly – Grace), and it was a great win, even though he is still very green. "I hav...

Dream day at the races for breeder Tim Harrison

NZTBA Auckland branch stalwart Tim Harrison is no stranger to breeding stakes winners, but the win by Alamer (Alamosa-Clerio[GB]) in the listed Trevor Eagle Memorial at Ellerslie was very special as it was the first stakes winner that he has raced. Just to make the day at Ellerslie even more special was the fact that Harrison also bred and raced the winner of the first race Castle Bee (Castledale [IRE]- Might Be), and the third place getter in the last race Prince of Passion (Castledale[IRE]-Hi...

Caellum returns to New Zealand and sprints ahead

The recent listed Counties Bowl winner Caellum (Fast'N'Famous[AUS]- Cheetie), could well be the sprinting find of the season. A week before his impressive Bowl win, he dished out a galloping lesson to a handy field of rating 85 sprinters at Tauranga at his first start in New Zealand for three years. "The Bowl win was stunning really, amazing, you go out with the hope of winning, but more often than not it doesn't happen," said Tony Smith, who bred the horse with his wife Corrine. Calleum star...

Auckland Branch of the NZTBA - Breeding and Racing Award Winners

The Auckland Branch of the NZTBA held their Awards Luncheon at the Karaka Sales Complex on Sunday 8th November 2015. The winners of the Awards are:- G3 Awards ADORABEEL 2009 br f Savabeel – Plaza Doree by Saumarez Winner of the G3 ATC Aspiration Handicap Bred by Emblem Ltd Accepting the award: Clyde & Pat Buckingham DECORAH 2009 b f Pins – Nordic Dancer by Generous Winner of the G3 Manawatu Racing Club Manawatu Breeders Stakes Bred by AT & Mrs CM Jackson Accepting the award:...

NZTBA 2016 Scholarship Winners

At a time when the New Zealand thoroughbred breeding industry is in the international limelight, two young ambassadors from the industry are off to the Northern Hemisphere too improve their skills and develop their careers. Bevan Smith and Hannah Mee have both been awarded scholarships from the New Zealand Thoroughbred Breeders' Association's Sunline Education Trust, and according to a previous recipient Shannon Taylor, who is now on the selection panel, the competition was pretty tough. "Onc...

The old adage about a gift horse

A wonderful gift horse from a good friend, that's how Bay Barlow described her mare Red Dirt Girl (Align[AUS]- Harmonics) the recent Listed Pegasus Stakes winner. "We are still buzzing it's such a wonderful feeling, she is the only horse I have bred and the only thoroughbred I own." Red Dirt Girl is a six-year-old mare by Align(AUS) out of the Bletchencore(AUS) mare Harmonics. She was recording her eighth win when she blitzed home over a 1000 metres in 56.45 flat, getting up on the line to win...

Kiwi-breds star on the big stage

The curtain has come down on a Flemington spring carnival memorable for outstanding performances from a trio of New Zealand-bred gallopers and a host of supporting acts. The festival of racing was the perfect international stage to showcase our Kiwi-bred talent and Karaka graduates Prince Of Penzance (Pentire), Turn Me Loose (Iffraaj) and Tarzino (Tavistock) seized their opportunities to play lead roles. The Rich Hill Stud-bred and sold Prince Of Penzance beat what was arguably the strongest y...

Xtravagant completes rich double for stud

Rich Hill Stud's golden Group One run continued at Riccarton where their home-bred Xtravagant produced an extraordinary performance to demolish his classic rivals. The handsome colt raced right up to his looks with a breath-taking victory in Saturday's Sothys New Zealand 2000 Guineas. Rich Hill celebrated an historic Gr.1 Melbourne Cup victory with Pentire's son Prince Of Penzance and Xtravagant completed a memorable double for the Walton, near Matamata, farm's foundation stallion. The three-...

Breeding Industry World’s Best

Now the dust has settled on the wonderful win by the All Blacks, it is time to celebrate a major win with the best horses in the world. New Zealand could easily become the world leader in breeding and horse racing. Unlike rugby, it is celebrated by some of the richest people in the world, and also dreamers and battlers who own only a small share, but is it something that can become a major export earner for New Zealand. The win on Tuesday in the Melbourne Cup brought reality back to this great ...

Celebrations at Rich Hill Stud

The champagne was flowing at Rich Hill Stud on Tuesday afternoon with a Group One celebration to toast their major role in a history-making Melbourne Cup result. Their giant-killing farm graduate Prince Of Penzance (NZ) (Pentire) repelled the international challenge with his rider Michelle Payne becoming the first woman to win the Flemington feature. Rich Hill principal John Thompson said it was a dream result for the stud and his family, his staff, clients and supporters. "The place just wen...

Cup victory a life-changer

Rich Hill Stud's John Thompson is still coming to grips with the few minutes at Flemington on Tuesday afternoon that have thrust him into the spotlight of the racing world. The Walton farm near Matamata is the birthplace of the Melbourne Cup hero Prince Of Penzance and with that comes unprecedented attention, not that Thompson is for a second complaining. "It's something no-one can ever take away and I can die a happy man, not any time soon though, knowing I've bred a Melbourne Cup winner," he...

Fairy tale continues for New Plymouth scrap metal dealer

A fairy tale story for New Plymouth-based scrap metal merchant Graham Meredith got even better on Saturday evening as he and his mates gathered to cheer home Gr.1 Victoria Derby winner Tarzino. A stroke of ill-fortune saw Meredith become involved in the world of thoroughbred breeding and led to the purchase of the three-year-old classic winner's dam Zarzino at the 2014 New Zealand Bloodstock Broodmare Sale at Karaka. Tarzino was the last foal bred by Cambridge Stud supremo Sir Patrick Hogan an...

Breeders' Bulletin: Spring/Summer 2015

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David Wallace breeds his first stakes winner in No More Tears

Wellington NZTBA branch member David Wallace was probably destined to be in the thoroughbred breeding game with a pedigree almost as strong as that of the recent stakes winner he bred in No More Tears (Darci Brahma- Ocean of Tears). "I was very lucky that as a young fella my grandad (Ardsley Stud's Jim Wallace Senior), would lend me a mare and a nomination to Lord Ballina, so since those days I have been hooked," enthused Wallace, a commercial lawyer in Wellington". "It is the first stakes w...

Winx shows off her NZ family

Winx wins the 2015 Cox Plate Click here to read her story - Michael Sheridan...

Rolston in search of imported blood

New Zealand Bloodstock's Danny Rolston will spend the next week helping local breeders in a long-term plan to produce the next Trust In A Gust, Foxwedge or Anabandana. All three of those Australasian Group One winners are out of United States-bred mares, and all were bought at the Keeneland November Sale, where Rolston is headed. The sale is a mixed bloodstock sale, and it's an especially good place to find high-quality mares. This year will be the third in which Rolston has gone over, as par...

Benji’s Blog – October 2015

Benji's Final Blog Saratoga Yearling Sales My much anticipated day had finally arrived - Saratoga Sales, here we come…. We came in and mucked out as a normal day, then brought all the horses in from their paddocks as usual. We were then sent home to get ready for an 18 hour, 1178 mile road trip to Saratoga, New York State in the back of a truck! I went straight to Walmart to buy a deck chair and was given a sleeping bag, and fueled my back pack with snacks! We came back at lunch time to lo...

Mongolian Khan - New Zealand Breeding Background

Although foaled in Tasmania, owned in China, by a shuttle sire, the interesting fact is that the first ten dams of brilliant Caulfield Cup winner Mongolian Khan are all New Zealand bred. MONGOLIAN KHAN (AUS) Foaled 2011 (10-d) Mongolian Khan (AUS) by Holy Roman Emperor (IRE) - Centafit (NZ), by Centaine (AUS) - Galopede (NZ), by Three Legs (GB) - Regal Step (NZ), by Imperial March (CAN) - Aristocracy (NZ), by Agricola (GB) - Ma Reine (NZ), by Faux Tirage (GB) - Excellency (NZ), by Salmagundi...

Strada Cavallo on track for the Guineas

Matamata trainer Graham Richardson thought enough of Strada Cavallo (Alamosa-Abenroad) to nominate her for both the 1000 and 2000 Guineas, even though she was only a maiden. Late last month with only two career starts under her belt, he sent her South to prepare for those targets, and recently she took a step closer to her goal with a win in the Listed John Grigg Stakes at Ashburton, with the stakes winners Windbourne (Darci Brahma-Sweet Dreams Baby) and Brighton(Buffalo Man[CAN]-Gore Bay [AUS]...

Ventura wins another NZB Insurance Pearl Bonus

Pukekohe Park trainer Richard Collett is fast becoming a fan of the NZ Bloodstock Insurance Pearl Bonus Series after Ventura (Iffraaj[GB]-Newgrange) won her second bonus in four starts. "She has certainly got herself on the right side of the ledger," enthused Collett a member of the Auckland Branch of the NZTBA. "I think it's massive, this horse has had similar financial returns as if she was racing in the city in Australia. Winning that $20,000 bonus at Otaki added to the $15,000 that she pic...