Photo: Supplied
This week in Dunstan Horsefeeds Meet the Breeder, we caught up with Nicci Oberholster, who along with her husband Dirk own Totara Park Stud. As breeders, they achieved the pinnacle on Saturday with both a group one winner and group two winner within hours of each other.
A huge congratulations with the results on Saturday – tell us where you were watching and how you celebrated?
We flew to Trenthan on Friday and met up with dear friends and co-owners Matt and Mandy Brown to watch Vegas Queen on Saturday, being on course was great.
The siren sounding was certainly nerve wracking and the enquiry took quite sometime so we were pretty emotionally wrung out after that but beyond thrilled, because everything was running a bit late we were able to stay in the Presidents Room at Trentham to watch Gringotts win, and a shout out here to Des Coppins and the Wellington Racing Club for accommodating us.
We then went back to town for a lovely meal and to rehash our day .......(that took quite awhile)
Tell us the history/story of Totara Park Stud?
Totara Park Stud was established by my late Dad Les Donaldson in 1972.
His proudest achievement was importing a stallion called Bandmaster from England and breeding Uncle Remus, who was out of a mare called Tusitala, she was left to my grandmother when my Grandad passed away. Tusitala was broodmare of the year and Uncle Remus was horse of the year in 1977.
Fast forward, Dad was pretty much out of the game and I met my husband Dirk,(25 years ago) who was a scratch golfer at the time, but quickly got the "horse bug" as he and Dad became great mates, so the resurrection of Totara Park began.
Dirk and Dad went to many sales spending as little money as possible buying many mares to support our sires at Totara Park. Not a great business model as it turned out, so some 15 years later we were back to getting rid of most of our mares and breeding only one or two. Our really good luck was that two of the mares purchased by Dad and Dirk (full sisters by Stravinsky) were half sisters to a mare called Vegas Showgirl, this was around the time a little horse called Winx started winning races, so it was an easy decision for us to keep Operavega and Vegas Dancer and see what unfolded.
Tell us the story of Gringotts and Vegas Queen?
Gringotts conception is a funny story. Mark Chittick from Waikato Stud phoned Dirk one day and asked "do you know who owns the dam of that horse" after watching a horse called Hampton win in Australia to which Dirk said " I haven't got a clue" Mark said "you do, he's out of Operavega". So they decided to do a foal share: Operavega/Savabeel, the result being Miss Bluebell, she was unable to race, so Mark kindly signed her over to us. The idea with sending her to Per Incanto was to try and keep the nick as close to the Winx pedigree as we could with a son of Street Cry.
Vegas Queen is a first foal out of Miss Vegas who is another daughter of Operavega by Carlton House. We have always loved Proisir and supported him from early on, purely on what a gorgeous animal he is himself and the type he leaves. We entered Vegas Queen (or Moana as we know her - named by our granddaughters) into the NZB sales, but when she was selected for Book 2 we decided we would put a syndicate of friends together and race her.
How did you get into thoroughbred breeding?
I was born into it. I remember my Grandad Archie Donaldson training horses on a track around his farm. My Mum used to ride work for him and I was sometimes allowed to ride the horses back to the barn after they had worked. Then Dad started the stud, so I have always been involved. When I met Dirk in 2000 his passion was golf, my first gift to him was a share in a racehorse called Goldstrike, he quickly became obsessed with all things breeding and racing and went about learning everything he possibly could.
How many mares do you breed from?
Currently we have three mares all closely related to the Winx family. Miss Bluebell (Savabeel) who has a Satono Aladdin colt at foot, Miss Vegas (Carlton House) who is in foal to Noverre and Vegas Strip (Shocking) who is currently empty with a Noverre filly at foot.
What else do you have in your bloodstock portfolio (youngstock, racehorses, stallion shares etc)
We have two rising 2yo's, one is a full brother to Vegas Queen (Miss Vegas/Proisir) who we are targeting the ready to run sales with. His full brother made $650K at last years Ready to Run sale, so we have everything crossed with him. We also have an Ace High colt out of Vegas Dancer who we may keep and race, he was her last foal. We also have our old mare Vegas Dancer who is now retired from breeding but living her best life here on the farm, doing the occasional baby sitting job for us.
Do you breed to trade or breed to race? How do you decide on what to keep and/or sell?
Our aim is always to sell, however we do play it by ear a wee bit depending on the sales they get selected for etc. We like to try and keep a filly out of our mares for future breeding if we can. I think you have to be able to adapt, as for various reasons not all horses are suited to a yearling sale, and as any breeder knows it can be a tough gig in the sales ring if you don't have the horses the buyers want.
Do you have a favourite cross?
I think a favourite cross is the one you have had luck with, so for us it has to be the Street Cry sire line. We also love the results we have had from Proisir.
Do you seek advice on your breeding decisions?
Dirk and I generally make our own decisions. We do miss Dad terribly at times he had great knowledge and has been such an integral part of our racing and breeding journey, when Dirk and I were leaning different ways Dad would have had the deciding vote.
Best breeding advice you have received?
Once you have a good base of knowledge, I believe you have to trust yourself, everyone has different theories and ideas. I firmly believe there is a whole heap of luck and timing involved that is beyond anyone's control. As my Dad used to say about horses, "they make terrible liars out of you", meaning you pigeon hole them as stayers, or sprinters or by a not so good sire and they come out and do the opposite of what's expected. Roll the dice and have fun.
Who do you admire in the thoroughbred breeding industry?
This is a big question for us, there are loads of fantastic people and stories rich in history, Cambridge Stud and Sir Patrick, we love how the Lindsay's have preserved his heritage so beautifully. Waikato Stud and their huge achievements, the big syndicators who have bought so many new people into the game and kept things going through some tough times. But, for us the people and stories we adore are the smaller people that achieve success for example, Peter and Heather Crofskey - the breeders and owners of Leica Lucy who won the Oaks on Saturday. They have had other good horses as well including Habibi trained by Donna Logan, just fantastic people getting lucky doing what they love and achieving great success against the odds.
What advice would you give someone entering the industry as a breeder?
Question who is giving you advice/opinions and what their agenda is, there are people who will just take your money if you are a bit new, so surround yourself with people who have knowledge and you can trust. Also invest in something that you love, if you are going to spend money on something, it should give you pleasure.
Proudest moment as a breeder?
Hands down for us it was this Saturday! Having an unfancied filly come down from Ruakaka and win Gr.2 The IRT Wellington Guineas at Trentham for our mate Kenny Rae was a dream come true for us all, but to then watch Gringotts, who we bred and have his dam in the paddock beat Fangirl and Ceolwulf and win the Gr.1 George Ryder Stakes at Rosehill a couple of hours later was surreal.
It has taken us a while to appreciate what this has done for our family and we appreciate how rare days like that are in racing and breeding, so really embraced the moment.
Finish this sentence: The best part of being a thoroughbred breeder is…
The thoroughbred, what amazing animals they are, and of course the people you meet and friendships that develop over the love of horses.
