Orovela (pictured above) takes out the Listed Canterbury Belle Stakes
Photo NZTM website
No regrets. That was the philosophical comment from Cambridge breeder Scott Williams when discussing the win by Orovela (Saperavi –Kim's Coup) in the Listed Canterbury Belle Stakes at Riccarton recently.
"Everyone has done well out of this horse except me," he said with a laugh referring to the recent fortunes of the smart filly.
Orovela was purchased by Ashburton trainer Danny Champion at the 2011 weanling sales at Karaka for $1200. She was raced by his partner Kezia Murphy when she won her first start in July, and the pair were offered a big price to sell her to Singapore.
Disappointed at having to sell the promising young filly, they approached prominent racing identity Ray Coupland who had raced both the dam and the sire and apparently he was quite keen to get back into the family he had let slip through his fingers. He then purchased a half share, and the first time she carried Coupland's famous colours she won the Canterbury Belle Stakes.
Kims Coup (Kashani [USA]- Marcasite) the dam of Orovela was raced by Coupland out of Michael Pitman's stable where she won four races including the listed Warstep Stakes and Southland Guineas. She in turn was out of the Centaine (AUS) mare Marcasite, herself a winner of four races and the dam of five winners. Her dam was the stakes-placed winning mare Jade Maria (Taipan II(USA)- Lois Maria).
Coupland sent the mare to stud at the end of her racing career and she visited Pentire(GB) three times, before visiting Saperavi twice. It was while carrying the second mating that she was purchased by Scott Williams.
"I liked her. She was a nice big mare with a lot of Centaine about her, she had a good pedigree and it was at a time when I was expanding my broodmare band. She foaled the Saperavi she was carrying and it was this filly. She was a nice enough individual but you couldn't take a Saperavi to the yearling sales at Karaka so I sold her at the weanling sale.
"Danny Champion owned Hamilton Coup, her half-sister by Pentire, and thought a lot of her so he bought this filly as well," recalled Williams, a member of the Waikato branch of the NZTBA and former Breeder of the Year.
After foaling Orovela Williams sent the mare to Pins(AUS) and she produced a colt. Not long after that a tuberculosis type virus hit his Scotsmens Valley farm in Cambridge and a lot of the stock suffered by not gaining any weight. Kims Coup failed to get in foal and was sold at a dispersal sale in May last year for $1100 to Dr Grant Howard and she is in foal to Dalghar (FR).
"I eventually sold the Pins colt at the Melbourne sales for $40,000 and he is in the Inglis Ready to Race sale next week. I am pleased that this filly has come up. Her paddock mate Rosada (Any Suggestions [AUS]-Wee Devil) is showing a bit of potential too.
"Now that I know the farm is clear I can concentrate on the stock I have kept. I went from having 35 broodmares to about a dozen and I am going to cut that back to about eight. I had no idea that we had that bug on the farm, and I couldn't make out why the young stock were not gaining any weight. Apparently it's a strain that is not easily detected and is more common in deer.
Orovela who is named after a type of Saperavi wine – Saperavi is the most predominant wine grape in Georgia – is the first stakeswinner for the South Island based sire. The Stravinsky (USA) half brother to Darci Brahma and Burgundy, his oldest stock are now four.
- Michelle Saba
"Everyone has done well out of this horse except me," he said with a laugh referring to the recent fortunes of the smart filly.
Orovela was purchased by Ashburton trainer Danny Champion at the 2011 weanling sales at Karaka for $1200. She was raced by his partner Kezia Murphy when she won her first start in July, and the pair were offered a big price to sell her to Singapore.
Disappointed at having to sell the promising young filly, they approached prominent racing identity Ray Coupland who had raced both the dam and the sire and apparently he was quite keen to get back into the family he had let slip through his fingers. He then purchased a half share, and the first time she carried Coupland's famous colours she won the Canterbury Belle Stakes.
Kims Coup (Kashani [USA]- Marcasite) the dam of Orovela was raced by Coupland out of Michael Pitman's stable where she won four races including the listed Warstep Stakes and Southland Guineas. She in turn was out of the Centaine (AUS) mare Marcasite, herself a winner of four races and the dam of five winners. Her dam was the stakes-placed winning mare Jade Maria (Taipan II(USA)- Lois Maria).
Coupland sent the mare to stud at the end of her racing career and she visited Pentire(GB) three times, before visiting Saperavi twice. It was while carrying the second mating that she was purchased by Scott Williams.
"I liked her. She was a nice big mare with a lot of Centaine about her, she had a good pedigree and it was at a time when I was expanding my broodmare band. She foaled the Saperavi she was carrying and it was this filly. She was a nice enough individual but you couldn't take a Saperavi to the yearling sales at Karaka so I sold her at the weanling sale.
"Danny Champion owned Hamilton Coup, her half-sister by Pentire, and thought a lot of her so he bought this filly as well," recalled Williams, a member of the Waikato branch of the NZTBA and former Breeder of the Year.
After foaling Orovela Williams sent the mare to Pins(AUS) and she produced a colt. Not long after that a tuberculosis type virus hit his Scotsmens Valley farm in Cambridge and a lot of the stock suffered by not gaining any weight. Kims Coup failed to get in foal and was sold at a dispersal sale in May last year for $1100 to Dr Grant Howard and she is in foal to Dalghar (FR).
"I eventually sold the Pins colt at the Melbourne sales for $40,000 and he is in the Inglis Ready to Race sale next week. I am pleased that this filly has come up. Her paddock mate Rosada (Any Suggestions [AUS]-Wee Devil) is showing a bit of potential too.
"Now that I know the farm is clear I can concentrate on the stock I have kept. I went from having 35 broodmares to about a dozen and I am going to cut that back to about eight. I had no idea that we had that bug on the farm, and I couldn't make out why the young stock were not gaining any weight. Apparently it's a strain that is not easily detected and is more common in deer.
Orovela who is named after a type of Saperavi wine – Saperavi is the most predominant wine grape in Georgia – is the first stakeswinner for the South Island based sire. The Stravinsky (USA) half brother to Darci Brahma and Burgundy, his oldest stock are now four.
- Michelle Saba
