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Zabeel's triumph in Hong Kong

Champion New Zealand sire Zabeel added a new highlight to his already wonderful season when his sons Vengeance of Rain (NZ) and Greys Inn (USA) quinella-ed the Audemars Piguet Queen Elizabeth II Cup 2000m G1 in Hong Kong this evening. Russian Pearl (NZ)(Soviet Star) completed a great result for the New Zealand breeding industry by running home resolutely for third. Vengeance of Rain (ex Danelagh by Danehill) was bred by K Biggs Enterprises Pty Ltd, Porter St Investments Pty Ltd, R N Russell &a...

NZTBA Member Survey now online

For the first time, NZTBA members can complete their Membership Questionnaire online. And, better still, every returned form received by 6 May 2005 will go in a draw to win a case of Lindauer sparkling wine. This survey has been carried out twice before, in 2000 and 2001, and each time around 50% of members have responded with valuable information about their primary occupations, leisure interests, and the type and level of activity they pursue within the thoroughbred industry. This response r...

Salute to a Champion $8000 prize package to be won this Saturday

Breeders attending this Saturday's Windsor Park Stud Manawatu Breeders' Stakes race-meeting at Awapuni will enjoy the opportunity to inspect reigning New Zealand Horse of the Year King's Chapel. But that's not all - every breeder on-course will also have the chance to win an $8000 breeding package prize. As part of its promotion for this week's $40,000 Listed Manawatu Breeders Stakes, race sponsor Windsor Park Stud is offering breeders the chance to enter a draw to be made on the day to win ...

Big Premier sale for Rodmor at Karaka

The smile on Robyn Rogers' face this afternoon said it all. Well, almost all. The mixture of elation, exhaustion and relief on her husband Russell's face was even more expressive. They had just sold their gorgeous Anabaa filly from the Australian-bred mare Iman at the New Zealand Premier Sale for $310,000. New Zealand agent Stuart Hale was the buyer. Robyn led the filly in the sale-ring and as the bidding escalated her delight became ever more obvious. Thirty minutes earlier Russell had res...

Sale prices delight private breeders

Two of New Zealand's most successful private breeders were among the vendors who received excellent prices for yearlings at today's strong opening session of the 2005 New Zealand Premier Sale. Jo Wilding of Te Mania Thoroughbreds, North Canterbury sold her O'Reilly-Proteaceae colt for $300,000, the highest price she's received in more than three decades of breeding and selling horses. The colt is a grandson of Jo's wonderful broodmare Gone With The Wind, dam of Zonda (ARC New Zealand Derby G1)...

Auckland breeder wins NZTBA feature

Auckland owner-breeders Don & Rochelle McLaren weren't on-course at Ellerslie on Saturday, but their four-year-old mare Calveen was impossible to miss as she sprinted almost five lengths clear of the field in the Counties RC Auckland Thoroughbred Breeders' Stakes G2. She cut out the 1400 metres in 1:22.03 and was chased home by The Island Storm (Hennessy) who fought on well after setting the pace, and Barcelona (Desert Sun). Part of memorable trebles on the day for trainer Lance O'Sullivan ...

NZTBA office refurbishment completed

The NZTBA office in the Derby Enclosure at Ellerslie Racecourse,Auckland ends the year in much better shape than it began 2004. After a tree collapsed on the eastern end of the building in February, repairs were carried out under the terms of the Association's insurance cover. At the same time, the Council decided to refurbish the office interior which had not been updated since the building was opened in 1989. NZTBA, NZTM and Halberg Trust staff moved out of the office while the work was do...

Savabeel's Cox win has a strong Kiwi flavour

Three-year-old Savabeel's brilliant victory in the MVRC W.S. Cox Plate 2040m G1 at Moonee Valley this afternoon won't officially count as a New Zealand victory, but there are enough Kiwi connections for us to claim a fair part of him. He's trained, co-bred and part-owned by a proud New Zealander and one of the sport's more colourful personalities, Graeme Rogerson, whose trans-Tasman stables are rarely without a very good runner or three. They emerge from a large base of horses, maintained by a ...

Best of the Week: Cedar Manor, Our Egyptian Raine & Sunline's foal

Sunline's safe delivery of her filly foal by Rock of Gibraltar at Cambridge Stud on Monday 18 October was nicely timed after a thrilling Caulfield Cup day, and the best raceday for Kiwi-breds in Australia so far this season. Cedar Manor (Oregon; bred by the FairdaleTrust) and Our Egyptian Raine (Desert Sun; Chris Ball, Mal Barratt, Kenny Rae & Nick Rodokal) added two Group wins for the (NZ) team, Pretorius (Volksraad) and Star Of Gretchen (Bahhare) ran second and third in the Coongy Handicap...

Balmuse scores decisively in the Kelt Capital Stakes

Balmuse's victory, rather than Starcraft's defeat, was the biggest story out of yesterday's $1 million HBRI Kelt Capital S. 2040m G1 (or, its registered race name, the Ormond Memorial). That may not have been the impression conveyed by some media reports, but it was definitely what the crowd's reaction indicated when Balmuse swept past Starcraft in the straight. There was no stunned silence, only sustained cheering and yelling for the five-year-old gelding bred by Jim Wallace Senior at Ardsley ...

Breeders vie for prestigious national title

The 2004 Mercedes New Zealand Breeder of the Year will be announced at this evening's NZ Thoroughbred Racing Awards dinner in Auckland. The winner is decided by a secret ballot of NZTBA councillors who consider the relative merits of four finalists: Garry Chittick, Waikato Stud, Matamata Garry, who owns and operates Waikato Stud with his wife Mary, son Mark & daughter-in-law Lisa, is this season's leading New Zealand breeder of Australian Group & Listed Stakeswinners with five individua...

Board unveils plan for New Zealand racing

Feedback from its members has made the NZTBA acutely aware of how domestic thoroughbred racing's poor performance has reduced investment by breeders. That's supported by New Zealand Thoroughbred Racing's latest Annual Report which records falling or stagnant trends in key breeding statistics: registered broodmares, mares covered and foals born. The positive changes at NZTR under Guy Sargent's progressive, energetic chairmanship are signs of a turning tide. Perhaps New Zealand racing as a whole...

Land granted for Thoroughbred Racing Museum

Plans for a new purpose-built museum to house New Zealand thoroughbred racing's past and present treasures took an important step towards fruition yesterday. Agreement was given by the Auckland Racing Club Board to grant land at Ellerslie Racecourse for the proposed building which will include the New Zealand Racing Hall of Fame. The Chairperson of the Museum Committee, Wendy Pye, is delighted that the ARC Board shares her vision for the museum which will be built on land valued at $710,000. ...

Three-way Group One glory for Pompeii Court

The value of Pompeii Court as both sire and broodmare sire was underlined in bold black ink yesterday when his five-year-old son Pomp And Glory won the ARC Easter Handicap G1 at Ellerslie. That was about 85 minutes before Starcraft, from Pompeii Court's daughter Flying Floozie, took out the AJC Australian Derby G1 at Randwick, from the very game Braeloch a son of Prized from Valley Court by - you guessed it - Pompeii Court. Although Pomp And Glory's margin over the fast-finishing Rodrigo Ros...

Tribute to Robert Sangster

Few modern racehorse owners and breeders have had as much success as Robert Sangster who died in London on Wednesday afternoon, 7 April, at the age of 67. Even fewer have appeared to enjoy it as much as he did. I met him very briefly only once at an Australian thoroughbred breeding conference in Melbourne six years ago and found him every bit as charming as I'd been led to expect. He joined John Messara and Patrick Hogan to speak about the three champion sires with which they were each associat...

Dance Hero's New Zealand connections

It was pleasing to see three New Zealand-breds, all of them previous stakeswinners, in this year's Golden Slipper, although neither Burning Sands (8th), Econsul (10th) nor Flying Firebird (last) was considered a strong chance of finishing in the money. The Slipper is a race that has rarely figured on the impressive list of Australian races in which Kiwi-breds have shone over the years. Only two horses bred here, Marauding (1987) and Courtza (1989), have won it, although there have been a coupl...

Lucky Owners caps big month for NZ-breds

Lucky Owners (Danehill-Miss Priority by Kaapstad) capped a tremendous few weeks for New Zealand-breds overseas when he won yesterday's $NZ2.74 million Hong Kong Derby 2000m HK-G1. The four-year-old colt has now won eight of his 13 starts in Hong Kong, most notably December's international Hong Kong Mile G1, and has extended the already fine record of his female family in Australasia. March has been a very good month for Kiwi-breds offshore. Lucky Owners' Hong Kong victory comes after Group &...

NZ trainers frustrated with low-profile Racing Board

Trainers throughout the country are becoming increasingly frustrated with the state of the industry, according to the National President of the NZ Trainers' Association Chris Wood. "We were led to believe that the passing of the Racing Bill and the formation of the NZ Racing Board would be a positive thing for the industry and allow us greater control of our own destiny," said Wood. "Eight months down the track we have heard little from the new Board with regard to the industry's future." The ...

NZTBA moves to temporary offices

The NZTBA's three full-time staff last week moved to interim office accommodation in Greenlane. The Association's own office building was badly damaged when a tree fell on it during the storm that hit Auckland on Sunday 15 February. New Zealand Thoroughbred Marketing's Joe Walls and Andrew Birch, also made the move, along with the staff of the Halberg Trust. Chief executive Michael Martin says that the decision to move out of the 15-year-old office was made to minimise the disruption to the N...

Update on the NZTBA office

The tree which collapsed on the NZTBA office last Sunday 15 February was removed last week and the staff of the Association, New Zealand Thoroughbred Marketing and the Halberg Trust are now back in the building. They can all be contacted on their usual telephone and fax numbers and email addresses. However, all three organisations will soon re-locate to interim offices while repairs are made to the building. NZTBA chief executive Michael Martin says "With only one entrance to the building th...

NZTBA office badly damaged in Auckland storm

The NZTBA's office at Ellerslie Racecourse was extensively damaged during the unusually fierce storm which swept through Auckland and many other parts of the North Island on Sunday evening. A one-hundred-year-old oak tree owned by the Auckland City Council was blown over onto the NZTBA building which is occupied by the Association's three full-time staff members, New Zealand Thoroughbred Marketing's Joe Walls and Andrew Birch, and the staff of the Halberg Trust. NZTBA chief executive Michael...

Velasco's verve delights Victorian owner-breeders

A fifteen-year investment in Australasian racing and breeding yesterday produced its best-ever return for Velasco's Melbourne owner-breeders Julian Sullivan and his wife Julie Andrews. The two-year-old filly by Flying Spur from Vital Curves came with a powerful run from well off the pace to snatch the $70,000 Matamata Breeders' Stakes G2 from Acupuncture (by Pins) and Can't Hackit (by Fasliyev) in the last stride. It was Velasco's first win from four starts and followed her very good debut fou...

Positive pre-sale mood at Karaka

Vendors at Karaka for next week's 78th National Yearling Sales series reported a very busy day on Thursday, with several holding 15 or 16 parades for New Zealand and some Australian buyers. Friday was quieter but steady, with agents and trainers still working through drafts late in the afternoon. Vendors expressed moderate optimism about their prospects for the Premier Sale which begins tomorrow afternoon at 1.00 pm and concludes on Wednesday afternoon. The very strong markets at the Gold Coas...

Second Group One for King's Chapel

King's Chapel (AUS) (King Of Kings-Lower Chapel by Sharpo) yesterday extended the good recent record of three-year-olds in the WRC Telegraph H. 1200m G1 when he held off Sunlaw (Desert Sun) and topweight Sedecrem (Faltaat) by a short head and three-quarters of a length in the frankly unbelievable time of 1:06.80. He is the third three-year-old to win the race in the past decade after Vinaka (2002) and O'Reilly (1997). Before that the Telegraph had not been won by a three-year-old since the filly...

Lambourn Stud's New Zealand Oaks triumph

The New Zealand Oaks 2400m G1, run at Trentham today, is a particularly important race for breeders, not that television viewers would know it from Trackside's jockey-and-trainer-oriented coverage. This year's winner Wharite Princess (His Royal Highness-Regal Visit by Vice Regal) certainly gave a well-deserved victory to jockey Bruce Herd and trainer Lisa Latta, who are personal as well as professional partners. The filly also represents a significant achievement for the Lambert family's Lambo...