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Sir Albert caps Rae’s big day in Spring Classic

Classy gelding Sir Albert (Savabeel) starred in the Listed Sothys Spring Classic (2000m) at Riccarton on Saturday in another winning double for Terri Rae, but the local trainer was only a nose and a neck away from an even more remarkable day.Rae recorded back-to-back wins at Ashburton two weeks ago when Spot On Time took out the GD Jones Salute (1200m) and Sir Albert followed suit in the McCrea Painters & Decorators Ashburton Cup (1600m).The same two horses provided a repeat performance at R...

Deserved Crystal Mile for Von Hauke

The Cliff Brown-trained Von Hauke (Savabeel) swamped his rivals late under a patient rider from Ethan Brown to land the Gr.2 Crystal Mile (1600m) at The Valley on Saturday.The six-year-old son of Savabeel had been luckless when fourth in last year’s Crystal Mile and was back in the winner’s circle for the first time in 18 months despite racing well.Von Hauke got back in the run and closed well to get the better of fellow New Zealand-bred gallopers Golden Path and Rise At Dawn.“He has ...

World Cup trip a winner for Stapleton

The Bloodstock Agents’ Federation of New Zealand (BAFNZ) is the leading professional body representing accredited bloodstock agents across the country.This series takes an in-depth look at the varying backgrounds of BAFNZ members and their work within the thoroughbred industry.A social trip to New Zealand proved to be memorable on the personal front for Irishman Ed Stapleton and the forerunner for his career in the bloodstock world.He ventured Down Under for the 2011 Rugby World Cup and during...

Azazel enters Derby picture

Talented staying three-year-old Azazel (Shocking) has booked his passage for the Gr.1 VRC Derby (2500m) on Saturday week after a tough victory in the Listed Roderick Insurance Brokers 3YO Geelong Classic (2200m) at Geelong on Thursday.Prepared by Mark Walker and ridden by Mick Dee, the son of Shocking was put into the race early when the pace slackened and despite racing wide over the concluding 600m, had a narrow advantage at the line from Highvol and Savisanta.Sporting the colours of OTI ...

Regal performance ends day on high note

Homebred Ceolwulf’s successful defence of his Gr.1 King Charles III Stakes (1600m) title ensured Cambridge Stud celebrated a top day at Randwick.Their colours were carried by James McDonald into fifth aboard Joliestar in Saturday’s Gr.1 The Everest (1200m) before the Joe Pride-trained farm graduate bounced back to his best in the weight-for-age feature.“We would have loved to have won The Everest with Joliestar, but it wasn’t to be, and then the day finished on a real high with Ceolwulf,...

Vale So You Think

So You Think (High Chaparral) , one of New Zealand’s greatest thoroughbred exports, has passed away, aged 19.Bred by Mike Moran and Piper Farm, So You Think was by former Windsor Park Stud stallion High Chaparral and out of Group Two-winning mare Triassic.He was offered through Windsor Park Stud’s 2008 New Zealand Bloodstock Premier Yearling Sale draft and was purchased by bloodstock manager Duncan Ramage on behalf of owner Dato Tan Chin Nam for $110,000.He entered the care of legendary...

Hayes keen for another Everest tilt

Trainer David Hayes has confirmed another tilt at the A$20 million Gr.1 The Everest (1200m) is on the cards for Ka Ying Rising (Shamexpress) after the Hong Kong star underlined his champion status with an Everest victory for the ages on Saturday.Back in Hong Kong less than 24 hours after Saturday’s triumph, Hayes soaked in the satisfaction of the victory as he looked forward to the five-year-old gelding’s return home.“He is a champion, and he got the job done,” Hayes told RSN. “Th...

Brilliant Linebacker heads Kiwi quinella in Silver Eagle

Two New Zealand-bred horses lined up in the A$1 million Silver Eagle (1300m) at Randwick on Saturday and filled the first two placings, headed by a sparkling performance by Linebacker.Previously the winner of three of his 10 career starts headed by the Gr.1 Randwick Guineas (1600m) in the autumn, the first-crop son of Waikato Stud’s rising star stallion Super Seth had a spring setback last month when he sprained an ankle and was ruled out of the Gr.1 Epsom Handicap (1600m).But Linebacker ...

Stunning Waitak leaves Livamol rivals in his wake

Waitak (Proisir) was a class above his rivals in the Gr.1 Livamol Classic (2040m) at Ellerslie on Saturday, completing a spring Group One double in the early stages of what might be a career-defining season.The son of Proisir has been a Group One horse since his two-year-old days, when he ran third in the Manawatu Sires’ Produce Stakes (1400m) in April of 2022. He went on to be a Listed winner at three, along with placings in the Gr.2 Auckland Guineas (1600m) and Gr.2 Avondale Guineas (21...

Ceolwulf defends King Charles crown

Ceolwulf (Tavistock) mastered the Randwick mile again on Saturday, going back-to-back in the Gr.1 King Charles III Stakes (1600m) and heading an all New Zealand-bred trifecta in the A$5 million showpiece.The Tavistock gelding defended his King Charles crown with a powerhouse performance to beat 10-time Group One winner Mr Brightside by a length and three-quarters. The Matamata-trained Proisir gelding Pier finished another neck away in third.That trifecta capped a remarkable day at Randwick ...

White Robe stallion boosts spirits with first winner

Ancient Spirit (Invincible Spirit) is on the victory board and White Robe Lodge is expecting his progeny to continue to build winning momentum as the season rolls on.The well-related son of Invincible Spirit has only had a handful of runners and was represented by his first success at Wingatui where when Bobby Mcgee broke her maiden last Friday.From the stallion’s first crop, the Terry Kennedy-trained three-year-old was making her third appearance and had placed on debut last term.“It was re...

Ka Ying Rising conquers Everest

New Zealand-bred champion Ka Ying Rising (Shamexpress) climbed the highest mountain of his career and claimed a piece of racing history in the A$20 million Gr.1 The TAB Everest (1200m) at Randwick on Saturday.The world’s highest-rated sprinter lived up to his red-hot favouritism and became the first overseas-trained winner of the world’s richest race on turf.Ka Ying Rising’s record spoke for himself when he arrived on Australian shores for his Everest mission. He was the winner of 14 ...

Agera flies to Matamata Cup success

Agera’s coming-of-age campaign has carried him all the way up to black-type level, flying home to score a last-gasp victory in Friday’s Listed Team Wealleans Matamata Cup (1600m).Coming into the 2024-25 season, Agera (Complacent) was a two-race winner from 18 career starts. He had placed on another eight occasions, had earned $81,490 and had a rating of 70.Agera’s six-year-old season has now produced four wins from only six appearances, adding another $127,250 to his earnings. His rat...

Torture inflicts pain on Debutant rivals

Trainers Ben, Will and JD Hayes have unleashed another promising juvenile when two-year-old filly Torture proved too good for her rivals on debut in the Listed Debutant Stakes (1000m) at Caulfield.Sent out a $21 chance, Torture came from just behind the leaders to score by half a length from stablemate Free Flying in the hands of Ethan Brown in what was a professional performance.The well-related filly is the first winner and stakes winner by freshman sire Sword Of State, a Group One winning son...

Shamexpress and the Ka Ying Rising Effect

At Windsor Park Stud in Cambridge, pride runs deep in the paddocks where so many champions have been nurtured.Among the stallions to have carried the stud’s hopes, few have left such a complex legacy as Shamexpress. A Group One-winning sprinter turned stallion, he is the sire of the world’s best racehorse, Ka Ying Rising, a fact that cements his place in New Zealand breeding history.Yet his story is also tinged with a sense of what might have been, for despite his talent as a sire, Shamexpre...

Mighty result delivers timely RTR Sale update

Barry Donoghue has savoured his first top level success as a breeder and one that has boosted prospects of another major celebration.The Waikato-based horseman bred and sold Gr.1 Might And Power Stakes (2000m) winner Globe (Charm Spirit) and will offer a half-brother through his BMD Bloodstock draft at next month’s New Zealand Bloodstock Ready to Run Sale.“It was brilliant and not something that we expected or dreamed of until it came around,” Donoghue said.Globe’s latest victory at...

Kiwis driving forces behind star Group One winner

High class three-year-old Autumn Boy (The Autumn Sun) may not have a New Zealand suffix next to his name, but his Kiwi roots run deep.The Gr.1 Caulfield Guineas (1600m) winner was bred and sold by Beltana Stud’s Richard Rutherford, who is continuing to breed from the Chris Waller-trained colt’s dam Rosegarden.“It was terrific result all around and he’s a cracking horse,” said Rutherford, whose boutique breeding operation is located at Parnassus, about 130km north of Christchurch.A...

Globe goes all the way for Group One triumph

An all-the-way victory in the A$1 million Gr.1 Might And Power Stakes (2000m) at Caulfield on Saturday marked a career-defining triumph for New Zealand-bred gelding Globe (Charm Spirit).The weight-for-age feature was the first appearance at Group One level for the seven-year-old Charm Spirit gelding, who had previously won five of his 14 career starts headed by the Listed Cranbourne Cup (1600m) last November. In his only previous attempt at the 2000m of Saturday’s big race, he had run third in...

Twain all class in Sweynesse Stakes

It seemed as though it would be only a matter of time before Twain (Per Incanto) added a stakes victory to his name and the rising star did just that at Rotorua on Sunday, powering late to take out the Gr.3 Sweynesse Stakes (1215m).A winner in his debut last July, the John Bell-trained gelding has never finished out of the first four in 12 starts, including six victories and a fourth placing when starting favourite in the Gr.2 Foxbridge Plate (1200m).He continued to improve out of that perf...

Josie and Graeme Reid

This week in Dunstan Horse Feeds’ Meet the Breeder, we spoke with Josie and Graeme Reid, who, together with their daughter Kim — the trainer of Hi Yo Sass Bomb— celebrated her impressive victory in last Saturday’s Gr.3 Grangewilliam Stud Breeders’ Stakes.Tell us the story of Hi Yo Sass BombKim made the choice of Complacent as the stallion after attending the Mapperley Stud Stallion Parade, and we’ve had wonderful success with that decision. When Hi Yo Sass Bomb (Complacent) won the G...

Josh Herd - Sunline Trust International Management Scholarship - Blog Four

As my time in the UK came to a close, I headed off to Hong Kong for the next chapter of my scholarship. On my first day, I visited the Hong Kong Jockey Club headquarters at Happy Valley racecourse. From the moment I stepped inside, I was amazed by the scale and professionalism of the operation. The office itself was enormous, and it was immediately clear that this was a world-class organisation operating at an entirely different level.My first stop was meeting up with Danny Rolston, former New Z...

Unwanted youngster joins Everest challenge

Buyers passed over War Machine (Harry Angel) a younger horse and his Masterton breeders and part-owners continue to count their blessings that he returned home after two tours of the Karaka sale ring.The New Zealand-bred son of Harry’s Angel was offered by Ardsley Stud at both New Zealand Bloodstock’s National Yearling Sale and Ready to Run Sale and failed to attract the expected interest.“We always liked the horse and put what we thought was a realistic value ($100,000) on him,” Ar...

War Machine superb in Everest audition

David Hayes has a New Zealand-bred superstar heading into the A$20 million Gr.1 The Everest (1200m) in two weeks, where his sons Ben, Will and JD Hayes might line up against him with a Kiwi-bred Group One winner of their own.Lindsay Park’s last-start Gr.1 Stradbroke Handicap (1400m) hero War Machine (Harry Angel) kicked off his new campaign in sparkling style in Saturday’s A$300,000 Gr.2 Gilgai Stakes (1200m) at Flemington.The Hayes team hopes War Machine’s blockbuster first-up perfor...

Lindsay Park wins two-year-old opener with Per Incanto colt

Ben, Will and JD Hayes know a thing or two about the juvenile progeny of Per Incanto, and they unveiled another exciting son of the Little Avondale Stud stallion in Melbourne’s first two-year-old race of the season on Saturday.The Lindsay Park team took out the A$175,000 Listed Darley Maribyrnong Trial Stakes (1000m) at Flemington with Eurocanto, who is by Per Incanto out of the Savabeel mare Shespending.Eurocanto’s perfect debut came just under three years after the Hayes brothers saddled a...

Plenty of sass displayed in thrilling stakes victory

Quality mare Hi Yo Sass Bomb (Spartacus) showed she is in for another plentiful spring campaign when she exploded over the final 150m to storm over the top of her female rivals and score a stunning victory in the feature race at Hawera on Saturday, the Gr.3 Grangewillim Stud Breeders Stakes (1400m).Kim Reid’s now seven-year-old daughter of Complacent has fashioned a top-class record over the past two years including a runner-up finish behind Snazzytavi in the Gr.1 Livamol Classic (2040m) ...