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New stallion for White Robe

A lengthy search for the ideal addition to the White Robe Lodge stallion roster has ended successfully. The leading South Island farm's patience has been rewarded with their dream signing of the well-related Group Two winner Ghibellines. The rising four-year-old is a lightly-raced son of the international Group One winner and producer Shamardal, sire of the Hong Kong champion Able Friend, in a deal brokered by the respected Auckland bloodstock agent Michael Otto. "We've been looking for a h...

Battle Paint flys the flag for Chequers Stud

Last year's Champion two-year-old in Singapore, Affleck (Battle Paint[USA]-Greenstone), has come back this season an improved horse and recently took out the Group One Singapore Guineas. Bred by Chequers Stud he was sold to one of Laurie Laxon's major clients Phua Chian Kin on the back of two impressive trial wins. He made a winning debut in Singapore in April last year, and at the end of his two-year-old season had won three from four starts. He continued in winning form until November scorin...

Huge bonus beckons Kiwi duo

Paul O'Sullivan will stick close to home with Aerovelocity in their bid for a massive pay-day. The Hong Kong-based expatriate New Zealand trainer has bagged two legs in the Global Sprint Challenge with his Kiwi-bred stable star, with a $US1 million bonus on the line for any horse to claim three wins in the series. Aerovelocity is two-thirds of the way there after he added Sunday night's Gr.1 KrisFlyer International Sprint at Kranji, Singapore, to his Gr.1 Takamatsunomiya Kinen title won in J...

Lime Country Thoroughbreds have had an exciting past week...

Courage, and determination, combined with good equine and sound business skills are reaping rewards for Jo and Greg Griffin of Lime Country Thoroughbreds. Members of the Hawkes Bay/Poverty Bay branch of the NZTBA, the energetic and enthusiastic couple took a huge leap of faith when they established their business at the historic Okawa Stud property in Hawkes Bay nine years ago, one of only a handful of new equine operations to be established in the Central Districts in recent years. Lime Count...

Benji’s Blog – May 2015

My time at Cheveley Park Stud in Newmarket is coming to an end. I have had a great time and the weather has been improving every day. During my time at the stud I have had the opportunity of visiting a couple of studs in the area. Visiting Stud Farms My highlight had to be seeing champion racehorse Frankel, a very beautiful and professional looking horse, Frankel is the first horse in 60 years to be champion at two, three and four years of age, and the record holder for European consecutive...

Dylan's Blog – May 2015

The Flat is Back! The National Hunt season is finally coming to an end and there was no better way to see it out other than with a massive festival held at Punchestown. What a festival it was with Willie Mullins going out with a bang, breaking his own record claiming 15 winners over the 5-day festival with 10 of those being Grade 1 winners! As Punchestown is not far from us we were lucky enough to have a half day to go experience the festival first hand, and what a festival it was with most of ...

Murray Baker breeds a stakes winner in Sucre

Champion race horse trainer Murray Baker has many accomplishments in the thoroughbred industry and he can now add breeding a stakes winner to that impressive list. Baker is the breeder of the Listed Great Easter Stakes winner Sucre a six-year-old Ishiguru(USA) mare who has now won 12 races and $224,938 in stakes. "She's not a bad horse, not many mares win that many," said Baker when discussing the mare who has also been stakes placed four times. "I still own her, but you can't race them all. ...

John and Margaret Thompson enjoy recent success with Windsor Park Stud

Breeding stakes winners is nothing new for Windsor Park, they have an extensive roll of honour to be proud of, and recently they celebrated the success of two more black type wins when Leebaz (Zabeel-Polish Princess[GB]) won the Group Two Hollindale Stakes and Lady Le Fay (Thorn Park[AUS]-Mia Le Fay) won the listed Manawatu ITM Classic. However while Leebaz was bred by the farm, Lady Le Fay was bred in partnership with a retired Auckland couple John and Margaret Thompson. "We have been dealing...

Proisir available for inspection

Rich Hill Stud's new signing Proisir has arrived at Rich Hill Stud and is available for inspection. Appearances don't lie and the striking son of the internationally-successful Choisir compiled an impressive race record to the highest level. With a pedigree to match, he is an exciting addition to New Zealand's stallion ranks. "He is a beautifully balanced horse with a lovely fluent walk," Rich Hill studmaster John Thompson said. "He has strength and quality and should sire a lovely line of fo...

New Cambridge farm ready for business

Wellington property investor and thoroughbred enthusiast Luigi Muollo has called on his Italian heritage in the establishment of his new breeding operation. Muollo's Novara Park is the home of his globe-trotting Group One performer Jakkalberry, who will stand his second season at stud at the recently-acquired Cambridge property. "Novara on the banks of Lake Maggiore is the province in northern Italy where Federico Tesio established his famous breeding operation," Muollo said. Tesio is one of ...

Major coup for the New Zealand breeding industry

The winner of three successive Gr.1 races at his last three starts including the Ascot Queen Elizabeth II Stakes, Charm Spirit, highest earning son of boom sire Invincible Spirit, has been secured to join the stallion roster at Windsor Park Stud. Following only world champion Kingman (Invincible Spirit) in the 3YO mile category (Turf) on the 2014 World Thoroughbred Rankings, Charm Spirit won six races and over €1.4 million from nine starts as a two and three year old. His wins included succes...

Ponderosa Miss beats her rivals and her life-threatening injuries

It's been a rollercoaster season for the Te Awamutu mare Ponderosa Miss (High Chaparral[IRE]- Bak da Princess) and her win in the Group One Manco Easter Handicap was thoroughly deserved. One month into the season the four-year-old mare was involved in a fall in a race at Hastings that almost claimed her life. In six starts as a three-year-old she won two races and was unplaced once. She started her four-year-old season with an impressive win at Te Rapa and was a two dollar shot in her next sta...

Group 3 winner for Allan and Colleen Jackson

When Decorah (Pins[AUS]-Nordic Dancer) won the Group Three Manawatu Breeders' Stakes recently she became the 150th winner for her owner/breeders Alan and Colleen Jackson. Included in that number are two very classy mares they have raced in partnership Faint Perfume and Irlanda, but this is the first stakes winner bred by the couple, who are members of the Auckland Branch of the NZTBA. "It was a fabulous win even though we weren't able to be there, nor were any of the other partners, and neithe...

Vale Philip Vela, a bloodstock pioneer

New Zealand racing lost a hugely influential figure on Saturday with the passing of Philip Vela. He was a respected and popular identity whose contributions to both the business and bloodstock worlds were both successful and far reaching. With his brother Sir Peter, he became a powerhouse thoroughbred identity with the 1997 purchase of the then struggling Wrightson Bloodstock. Renamed New Zealand Bloodstock, they oversaw the growth of the Karaka-based operation into one of the most highly-reg...

Dream addition to the Waikato Stud line-up

The latest addition to the Waikato Stud stallion roster is a wish come true for the Matamata farm. "We've always wanted to stand O'Reilly's best son and this season we will be doing so with the brilliant four time Group One winner Sacred Falls," principal Mark Chittick said. "We identified Sacred Falls early in his career and it has been hugely exciting to have subsequently been a part of his two Doncasters and George Main successes with co-owner Dato Yap and the Raffles Racing team." Sacr...

Dylan's Blog – April 2015

Spring Has Come The temperature has finally crept up to the double digits and even touched over the 20's in the past couple of day's bring smiles and even more enthusiasm into the yards as we finally strip of the five or so layers of winter clothing and change into t-shirts. The sun is definitely a mood booster for everyone as we are now in full swing with paddocks overflowing with sprightly newborn foals and the amount of covers rising by the day. The combination of foals in the sun tends to ...

New Zealand's Point of Difference

The phenomenon that is Danehill [USA] seems to be endless. His sons and grandsons crowd the current and recent Australian sires lists. Nine Australian premierships (six in succession) in an 11 year stretch (the last in 2004-05) has laid the foundation for Danehill's subsequent champion sire sons Redoute's Choice [AUS], Fastnet Rock [AUS], and Flying Spur [AUS], with Redoute's Choice topping the list four times. A seventh Australian premiership for a Danehill son is virtually certain this seaso...

Lloyd Jackson looks at the influence of the mighty Pakistan II (GB)

Editorial commentary on recent stakes winners, their sires and families, is one of the many cogs of the bloodstock breeding industry's evolution. A sales catalogue page tells a limited story too, its focus being on the highlights (black type). It is, after all, a sales tool. Deeper analysis (not the purpose of a sales catalogue page) can reveal some very interesting points - mostly historical, occasionally predictive and certainly quite interesting. Take the result of the New Zealand Oaks, G1,...

History made by New Zealand bred sprinter Aerovelocity

An equine family connection stretching back 23 years created history in Japan on Sunday evening, when Windsor Park-bred Aerovelocity (Pins) beat a field of Japan's best sprinters in the Gr.1 Takamatsunomiya Kinen at Chukyo racecourse. Trained by Paul O'Sullivan, Aerovelocity became the first foreign racehorse to win the Japanese Gr.1 race, which is one of a series of races that comprise the Global Sprint Challenge. A former champion New Zealand trainer, now training in Hong Kong, O'Sullivan p...

Win a nomination to exciting new sire Proisir

Rich Hill Stud is once again demonstrating their support of the New Zealand Thoroughbred Breeders' Association. On behalf of the Proisir Syndicate, Rich Hill Stud has generously donated a 2015 nomination to their exciting new sire Proisir. This will be the major prize for the NZTBA members draw on the Gr 1 NZ Thoroughbred Breeders Stakes at Te Aroha on Saturday 4th April. The picturesque Te Aroha racecourse boasts a great day of racing highlighted by the Gr 1 NZ Breeders Stakes and the annual N...

Wayne and Karen would like to "Include" a Group One

White Robe Lodge stud manager Wayne Stewart has been temporarily relieved of duties at Wingatui and is heading north with his classy race mare Include (Gallant Guru[AUS]-She's Snubbed) to have a tilt at the Group One Fiber Fresh New Zealand Thoroughbred Breeders' Stakes. "Its 30 years since I travelled with race horses to the North Island, but at White Robe we take turns at all the jobs. The last horse I took north was Joyarty and she ran second in the Group One New Zealand Stakes, this mare I'...

Dylan's Blog – March 2015

The Beginning: The Irish National Stud Scholarship My journey began saying my goodbyes to my parents at Auckland International airport. Sitting down as the plane goes through its final checks the emotions and overwhelming excitement finally set in of the realization that not only I will be going to travel across the world but I will be setting of to broaden my knowledge and experience in a industry that I am so very passionate about. Understanding that my knowledge of the northern hemisphere r...

Benji’s Blog – March 2015

Background My name is Benji King, I am the very grateful receiver of the Sunline Trust Scholarship. I have been working with horses since I can remember having grown up on my parent's successful thoroughbred stud, Brighthill Farm. My true drive and passion for horses came when I was fortunate to have been given a holiday job at Vinery Stud, Australia preparing yearlings for the 2010 Sydney Easter sale. I then stayed on to work for two stud seasons followed by subsequent yearling preparation...

Thee Auld Floozie wins the Sunline Vase

For 24 hours Te Awamutu dairy farmer John Young didn't worry about the drought in the Waikato, he was too busy enjoying a day at the races in Auckland and watching his smart filly Thee Auld Floozie (Mastercraftsman [IRE]-Thee Auld Hussie) take out the Group Three Sunline Vase. "There are some great people racing this horse with me like Ali and Helen Cunningham and we sure celebrated her win, in this game you have to cherish every win," said Young a member of the Waikato branch of the NZTBA. "M...

Breeders' Bulletin -Autumn 2015

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