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Part 2 of the Messara interview now online

The second part of Susan Archer's extended interview with Arrowfield Stud managing director John Messara at the NZTBA Auckland awards dinner is now online here: John Messara interview: Part 2. In this part of the transcript John tells the story of why and how he bought Redoute's Choice; considers the future of shuttle stallions; and shares his thoughts on pedigree theory, horse genetics and the controversial topic of artificial insemination. - ...

Impressive Irlanda collects TBS bonus at Feilding

Thoroughbred Bonus Scheme (TBS) prizemoney has been won right across the country during the past week. Three-year-old filly Irlanda was most impressive winning her second race, and second TBS bonus in two starts, at Feilding on 4 November. In doing so, she added $5475 to the excellent base prizemoney of $18,750. Her sire O'Reilly comfortably leads the list of New Zealand sires by number of winners and wins this season, with twenty-one winners of 28 races, including two new stakeswinners, two-y...

Dorabella delivers delight for Peter & Nancy Izett

"Life couldn't get any better." That's how Peter Izett describes his feelings after Dorabella (Postponed-Caserio by Kaapstad), the filly he bred and races with his wife Nancy, won yesterday's CJC New Zealand 1000 Guineas 1600m G1 from Princess Coup (AUS) (Encosta De Lago) and Velvet And Satin (Carnegie). The victory also gives Dorabella the lead in the New Zealand Bloodstock-sponsored NZ Filly of the Year series with 12 points. Peter & Nancy Izett's NZ 1000 Guineas G1 wi...

Milestone Melbourne Cup quinella for Japan

The magnificent one-two finish by Delta Blues and Pop Rock in yesterday's $A5 million VRC Melbourne Cup 3200m G1 confirmed the international status of the race and the place of Japan among the world's major breeding & racing nations. The thoroughly resolute DELTA BLUES (red cap) holds out the courageous POP ROCK in a finish as thrilling as any seen in a Melbourne Cup. PHOTO: Racing and Sports The rise of Japan's thoroughbred industry is news only to those...

Brilliant Efficient tidies up Victoria Derby

Three-year-old Kiwi-bred gelding Efficient (Zabeel-Refused The Dance by Defensive Play) yesterday's VRC Victoria Derby 2500m G1 in a manner rarely seen in a major race at Flemington. In doing so, he gave the New Zealand breeding industry its 12th Victoria Derby win since 1980, and its first since Amalfi in 2001. He also provided champion sire Zabeel with his 35th Group One winner, and his first Victoria Derby winner. Michael Rodd salutes the judge on EFFICIENT (NZ) after the 20...

Efficient quinella adds to sunny (NZ) spring

Wild weather has made spring 2006 less than pleasant in New Zealand, but across the Tasman the sun has been shining on Kiwi-bred horses. EFFICIENT (NZ) becomes the 104th stakeswinner for champion sire Zabeel in Saturday's MVRC Moonee Valley Vase G2 PHOTO: Gary Wild/NZ Thoroughbred Marketing Three-year-olds Efficient (Zabeel-Refused the Dance by Defensive Play) and The One (O'Reilly-The Grin by Grosvenor) were clearly superior to the rest of the field in Saturday's MVRC ...

TBS offers a feast of summer bonus racing

Owners, nominators and trainers of Thoroughbred Bonus Scheme-qualified runners have plenty of bonus races to aim for over the summer. A total of seventy-three TBS bonus races have been scheduled for them around the country from 1 December to 31 March 2007. Twenty of these carry $15,000 "A" Bonuses, and the remaining 53 races carry $7500 "B" Bonuses. The full schedule for the next five months can be found here: TBS Races. TBS administrator Sally Cassels-Brown says, "Now that the Scheme is in fu...

Fields Of Omagh makes Cox Plate history

Nine-year-old gelding starts in his fifth Cox Plate, after winning it three years ago. His owners announce it will be his final raceday appearance and he's given the honour of leading out the field, but hardly anyone expects him to lead it back. Paying $19 on the tote, he misses the start and sweeps home from the back to win the race by a nose. Yeah, right. Yesterday it all happened at Moonee Valley. FIELDS OF OMAGH (No. 2) defeats El Segundo & Pompeii Ruler in the 2006 Cox P...

TBS pays out more than $35,000 this week

Thoroughbred Bonus Scheme prizemoney won by ten horses since last Wednesday totals a very healthy $35,475, with owners and trainers clearly targeting races carrying TBS bonuses. This was especially evident yesterday when a Saturday-quality field lined up in the Rating 83 race over 1670m at the Counties RC meeting held at Paeroa. The race carried a $15,000 A Bonus, the four most heavily backed runners were TBS-qualified, and they filled the first four placings. The race was won by the highly pr...

The John Messara interview

The first instalment of John Messara's 50-minute interview by Susan Archer at the recent NZTBA Auckland Awards dinner is now online: The NZTBA Auckland interview with John Messara, Part 1 Topics in this part of the interview include: Industry reform and taking Redoute's Choice to the world Danehill overload and big stallion books Broodmares & super-dominant stallions Selecting & standing stallions - ...

Mary Lynne Ryan: farewell & thank you

A sombre week in New Zealand racing was further darkened by news of the death at the weekend of one of the industry's most valuable contributors, Mary Lynne Ryan. Tony & Mary Lynne Ryan, at Jeanette Broome's 70th birthday party, April 2006 Her funeral today at St Peter's Catholic Church, Cambridge, was led by the Most Reverend Bishop Denis Browne and attended by a large number of New Zealand racing people, including NZTBA chief executive Michael Martin and treasurer Jo...

Cambridge celebrates Melbourne Cup-winning heritage

Thirteen Melbourne Cup winners bred in the Cambridge area were honoured yesterday when the 2006 Emirates Melbourne Cup travelled to the Waikato for an unprecedented celebration of New Zealand's success in Australia's greatest sporting event. The impressive line-up of Melbourne Cup-winning owners, breeders, trainers, jockeys and family members at Cambridge Stud yesterday. At Cambridge Stud Sir Patrick & Justine, Lady Hogan hosted owners, breeders, studmasters, jocke...

NZTBA website gets results for members leasing horses

The Horses for Sale & Lease section of the NZTBA website has been extremely active lately and has received very positive feedback from members who have successfully placed racing prospects or broodmares. Waikato member Bob Pollock has just leased a two-year-old filly we listed for him at the end of August. "The NZTBA service worked really well for me and generated contacts who were definitely interested, not tyre-kickers. I had one response from Melbourne, and one from a local owner who ha...

Waikato Stud heads owner-breeder success at Hastings

Waikato Stud continued its tremendous run of success in Group One company when Legs (Pins-River Century by Centaine) and Kerry O'Reilly (O'Reilly-Pegarah by Grosvenor) filled the first two placings in the $1 million HBRI Kelt Capital-sponsored Ormond Memorial S. 2040m G1, held in near-perfect Hawke's Bay spring weather on Saturday. Waikato Stud 2001 Ltd bred and races Legs, and stands both Pins and O'Reilly. Garry Chittick has won the New Zealand Breeder of the Year title for the past two year...

Kelt Capital attracts best possible field

New Zealand's richest race, the $1 million Kelt Capital-sponsored Ormond Memorial 2040m G1 at Hastings tomorrow has attracted the best possible field, missing only Darci Brahma, who has now embarked on an Australian campaign. It's also a field which displays the diversity of New Zealand's breeding industry. Seven of the 15 starters are raced by their breeders, either by choice or necessity: Kristov, Kerry O'Reilly, Pentane, Sculptor, Lilakyn, Seachange and Legs. Five runners (Balmuse, Mikki ...

NZTBA Auckland honours McLaren & Paykel

The NZTBA Auckland branch honoured Don McLaren and David Paykel with major awards at its highly enjoyable 2006 Awards Dinner, sponsored by NZ Bloodstock Insurance, and attended by 170 members & guests at the Ellerslie Event Centre last evening. Don McLaren received the award for Outstanding Contribution to the Thoroughbred Industry, as an owner, breeder, vendor, administrator, sponsor and founder of animal pharmaceuticals company, Bomac Laboratories. David Paykel was named Auckland Breede...

Celebrating Sunline, New Zealand's champion

The "Diva Fever" which swept through Australian racing last year, after Makybe Diva's unprecedented third Melbourne Cup win, may have swept Sunline from the pedestal of Australia's champion, but she remains New Zealand's darling. It is perhaps only the long view, 20 or 30 or 50 years from now, that can fairly determine the relative merits of these two extraordinary horses. Time has certainly confirmed Bonecrusher's status, who can now be seen clearly as New Zealand's greatest champion of the 1...

Postponed leads the charge of NZ sophomore sires

New Zealand's second season sires not only stepped up to the mark last Saturday, they also produced the kind of results that help to fill books at this critical stage of the season. Postoned, sire of three stakeswinners from his first crop: NATURO, DORABELLA & POST THYME. Stoney Bridge's Postponed was the weekend's undoubted star among sires with two crops of racing age, producing three-year-old stakeswinners at Hastings and Riccarton P...

Scaredee Cat on The Ford Report, 30 Sep-6 Oct

Waikato Stud's new sire Scaredee Cat features on the upcoming edition of The Ford Report. Programme content for this edition is: * New Stallion: DUBAWI @ Darley Australia, NSW * Proven Stallion: HUSSONET @ Arrowfield Stud * Year Two Stallion: SCAREDEE CAT @ Waikato Stud * Pedigree Subject: TEOFILO FIRST PLAY - Saturday, September 30 @ 7.30am (Digital) SECOND PLAY - Sunday, October 01 @ 11.00am (UHF & Digital) THIRD PLAY - Tuesday, October 03 @ 11.30am (Digital) FOURTH PLAY - Friday,...

Wahid named Taranaki Horse of the Year

Wahid, bred by Trelawney Stud Ltd, was named 2006 Taranaki Horse of the Year at the region's Breeding and Racing Awards, attended by around 120 people last evening in Hawera. WAHID winning the Levin Classic G1 last November. PHOTO: Courtesy NZ Thoroughbred Marketing The awards dinner, organised by the NZTBA Taranaki-Wanganui branch and the Taranaki District Turf Club, was sponsored by Highview Stud, whose managing director, Brent Gillovic, now owns Wahid's dam, Rory'...

The specialness of Seachange

It's two days after Seachange's brilliant third Group One win, in Saturday's Stoney Bridge-sponsored Horlicks Challenge Stakes, and Rick Williams is still buzzing with the "tremendous reception" the crowd at Hastings gave her, and runner-up Darci Brahma, after the race. He's also amazed by the mare's quick recovery. "She's very tough and has just bounced through it. Three weeks between races is probably too long for her. You give her an extraordinary amount of work and she wants more." ...

Third Group One for Seachange

In the wake of heated controversy about the 2006 Mercedes Champion Three-Year-Old award, it was some relief that yesterday's big race at Hastings was decided in the best possible way, by two wonderful horses who offered neither excuse nor quarter to each other. The $150,000 Horlicks Challenge S. 1600m G1, sponsored by Stoney Bridge, Karaka, matched all expectations, with last season's 1000 and 2000 Guineas winners, Seachange (Cape Cross) and Darci Brahma (Danehill), lining up in the straight ...

Young sires stepping up to the mark

First crop sires are the young pretenders of horse-breeding. They naturally attract attention each spring as industry players wait to see whether investment, mating and sale-ring decisions made up to three years ago will be worthwhile. The 17-strong "Class of 2003" has already opened its account with trial winners for Black Tuxedo, No Excuse Needed & Van Nistelrooy; while Pyrus (True Warrior & I'ma Turner) and Strategic Image (Amber Rose) are both represented in tomorrow's juvenile race ...

NZTBA's online catalogue proves very popular

Spring 2006 is proving to be the busiest period ever for the NZTBA's online marketplace, Horses for Sale or Lease. There are probably several reasons for that: the closure of the Friday Flash, with its popular classified section; the Council's decision to accept sale listings, as well as horses for lease; increased entry-level investment in the industry, following this year's long-awaited taxation changes; and the NZTBA site's higher profile, since its re-launch in April. NZTBA chief executi...

NZ-breds attack Australian black type

Strong victories at the weekend by Lad Of The Manor and Estelle Collection took this season's tally of New Zealand-bred Group & Listed wins in Australia to eight. This is one more than our tally at the same stage of 2005-06. A total of 55 black type races have been run in Australia to 16 September. (The NZTBA maintains a complete list of the season's NZ-bred stakeswinners in Australia here.) David Thomas' and Lorraine Smith's home-bred star LAD OF THE MANOR, winning his ...