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Guy Sargent is new NZTR chairman

Guy Sargent was elected chairman of New Zealand Thoroughbred Racing on Friday, succeeding retiring chairman Murray Acklin. Five of the nine directors voted for him ahead of Southern Region director Brian Kinley. Guy Sargent, 46, comes from a Manawatu farming background, more than fifteen years' experience in various farming businesses and a strong base of participation in New Zealand racing as an owner and administrator. From 1985 until 1995 he worked with Dalstud, the first New Zealand busi...

Election produces a new-look NZTBA council

Elections in all three regions have produced a new-look council for the New Zealand Thoroughbred Breeders' Association, with strong representation from the under-45 age-group. The results, announced at last night's Annual General Meeting in Auckland, were: Northern Region John Thompson, 379 votes Peter Francis 370 votes Mark Chitty 364 votes Nelson Schick 345 votes John Clydesdale, 294 votes, was not elected. Central Region Michael Ormond, 220 votes Bruce Perry, 197 votes Tom Burn, 153 vote...

Onawe Miller becomes an NZTBA Life Member

Former NZTBA Southland branch president and national councillor Onawe Miller was last night elected a Life Member of the New Zealand Thoroughbred Breeders' Association. Her nomination was proposed by current South Island councillor Ray Dennis, and seconded by Life Member and former councillor Robin Archer. Onawe is only the second woman in the 55-year history of the NZTBA to be awarded Life Membership, after the late Pat O'Brien. Onawe Miller's work with the Association began almost 30 years...

NZTBA council election voting closes Friday 20 June

Retiring NZTBA councillor & past president John Aubrey If contested elections are a sign of an organisation's vitality, then the NZTBA is in excellent health. Elections are required in all three regions for the 2003-04 NZTBA council. Five candidates are standing for four available council positions in the northern region. The nominations are Mark Chitty, John Clydesdale, Peter Francis, Nelson Schick and John Thompson. The central region sees three nominations for the two positions. T...

Interview with Golden Flare's breeder

Golden Flare as a foal in 1991 The NZTBA interviewed Golden Flare's breeder Tom Harvey last year after the horse had completed the ARC Great Northern-McGregor Grant Steeplechase double for the first time. We're reprinting the interview now after the eleven-year-old son of Touching Wood and Golden Glow has become the first horse ever to win both racs in consecutive years. Tom spoke with us from his ten-acre property near Hamilton where he lives with his wife Moira: How did you acquire Golde...

Babe honours her breeder Sue Harty

Central Hawke's Bay is a long way from the glamour and excitement of Randwick but on Saturday Honor Babe (Honor Grades-Repremand by Kreisler) completed the journey from one place to the other with a decisive victory in the $A800,000 AJC Sydney Cup. Her breeder Sue Harty watched the race on a neighbour's television and returned home to a pile of congratulatory telephone messages. "You don't realise until it happens how important a Group One win is." Sue manages her own 40-acre property at Pou...

Australian Hall of Fame honours Kiwis too

You may think it strange that the NZTBA celebrates the Australian Racing Hall of Fame. But when you consider the strong Kiwi connections many of the past, present and likely future inductees have, it's not strange at all. Six of the first ten equine inductees were bred in New Zealand: Carbine, Phar Lap, Tulloch, Rising Fast, Might And Power and Sunline. And New Zealand-born Maurice McCarten was among the five trainers inducted in 2002. He won the Sydney premiership four times and trained champi...

Star Way gets 59th stakeswinner

Anyone looking at the Arion Pedigrees statistics for Star Way last week could have been forgiven for thinking that perhaps these were close to the final figures for New Zealand's senior statesman sire. Now 26-years-old, Star Way (Star Appeal-New Way) was entitled to rest on the laurels of well over $30 million progeny earnings, two sire premierships and 58 stakeswinners (5.9% of his live foals and 7.8% of his starters). He had produced only one stakeswinner from his latest five crops of racing...

New Zealand Bloodstock wins internet award

New Zealand Bloodstock was named Best Sales-Related Site at the Wilburtins McDonalds Thoroughbred Racing Internet Awards, announced last week in Sydney. The company was one of only three New Zealand-based organisations among the award nominees (three in each category). Paul Moroney Bloodstock: www.moroney.co.nz was a nominee in the Best Sales-Related category and the NZTBA was a nominee in the Best Organisation Site category. The awards were established by internet entrepreneur David Bernsen ...

Pentire repays faith with a stunning week

When Victorian trainer Robbie Laing came to Karaka in 2000 there was one stallion whose first-crop progeny he was especially keen to see: Pentire. The reason? He greatly admired his damsire, champion racehorse and sire Mill Reef, as well as Pentire's own outstanding race record in Europe. Those first yearlings didn't disappoint him and Robbie ended up buying the Pike family's colt out of Dewamar for $52,500 that year, returning in 2001 to purchase Malcolm McHoull's's colt from the Sir Tristram...

NZTBA website among award finalists again

The NZTBA's website is once again among the three finalists in the Best Organisation Site category at the 2003 Wilburtins McDonald Thoroughbred Internet Awards. The other two finalists in this category are RacingNSW and last year's winner Racing Victoria. The NZTBA site won the inaugural title in 2001 and was also a finalist last year. Only two other New Zealand thoroughbred industry websites are included in the list of finalists for the six categories. They are Paul Moroney Bloodstock (finali...

Racing Industry Forums: last chance to catch the future

Four racing industry forums to be held during February will give all industry stakeholders and participants an opportunity to learn more about the Working Party Report. It may also be the last chance for the industry as a whole to determine and shape its own future in a progressive and democratic manner. The Racing Industry Board, which commissioned the Report, has decided to present the forums after requests from individuals and industry bodies for a full briefing on its content and recommend...

25 NZ Oaks winners, 1969-1993 & their stud records

From the 1969 winner Mayo Gold until the 1993 winner Miltak (the most recent Oaks winner to produce named foals), the New Zealand Oaks at Trentham provides a group of 25 fillies whose subsequent race and stud careers make very interesting reading. The present race has a complex history. Three races at three different courses have at various times carried the Oaks title. It was not until New Zealand's national three-year-old classics were finally established in 1974 that the New Zealand Oaks be...

Oaks triumph for Shinko King, small breeders & the Manto tribe

Ashwell Farm's sire Shinko King got his first stakeswinner today when his strapping daughter Bramble Rose (ex Images by Gleam Machine) won the New Zealand Oaks 2400m G1 at Trentham. Shinko King (Fairy King-Rose of Jericho by Alleged) was a Group One-winning sprinter in Japan with a record of eight wins from 27 starts over four seasons, testament not only to his ability but also his physical and psychological soundness in a very tough racing scene. He shuttled from Japan for three seasons, 1998...

Fayette Park Stud adds to outstanding Group One record

Studmaster David Benjamin was a happy man at Ellerslie yesterday after Hail completed a notable Group One double for Fayette Park Stud, Matamata by winning the weight-for-age Zabeel Classic over 2000 metres. The stud also bred Wednesday's Lion Red Auckland Cup winner Bodie in partnership with Kevin Mischefski. Both horses are by resident Fayette Park sire Stark South who is steadily compiling a respectable record as a source of quality stamina and excellent temperament. Established 15 years ago...

Jillings & Yuill lead Ellerslie Carnival trainers' list

Eight wins gave Colin Jillings and Richard Yuill a comfortable win on the trainers' table at the four-day Lion Red Summer Carnival. Sedecrem contributed two of those victories including the Highview Stud Trophy G2; Marcurous added the Novotel Ellerslie Newmarket Handicap LR before running third in the Sky City Railway Stakes G1; and Foxette took out the $150,000 Mercedes Super Bonus Fillies Prelude. Sir Kinloch, Critic, Diamond Hill and Dragon Tiger completed a very satisfying week of premier ra...

O’Sullivan, Rutherford, Childs take honours at Lion Red Carnival

Lance O'Sullivan had the top of the jockeys' table at Lion Red Summer Carnival all to himself with eight wins, including Egyptian Raine's G1 Railway Stakes victory, and the G3 Eclipse Stakes on Ubiquitous. His win on Tricky Dancer in the last race yesterday also broke David Peake's record as the most successful jockey at Ellerslie with 393 wins on the course. He's in second place on the national premiership with 66 wins for the season, eleven shy of Michael Walker whose only Carnival winner, Bei...

Stark South & Zabeel dominate Lion Red Auckland Carnival

With five wins between them, including the three Group One features, Cambridge Stud's Zabeel and Fayette Park's Stark South were the star sires of the four-day carnival at Ellerslie. St Reims and Lafleur, both from Zabeel's 1999 crop, won the Mercedes New Zealand Derby G1 and New Zealand Bloodstock Royal S. G2 respectively, and Westbury Stud's up-and-coming stayer Zafar won impressively over 2100 metres on the first day. Lafleur, from the Green Desert mare Desert Lily, is raced by her breeders ...

Breeders & Sales Records of NZ Derby runners

The runners in today's $500,000 ARC Mercedes New Zealand Derby 2400m G1, listed with their sire and 2002 service fee, breeders, and sale details where available. BANK NOTE Sire: Woodborough, $6,000 Breeder: D.B Bolton Sold: NZ Select $15,000; then NZ Ready To Run Sale $9,000 BOB'S BOY Sire: Lord Ballina, $5,000 Breeder: A.R. Campbell Withdrawn from 2001 NZ Ready To Run Sale; retained by owner-breeder-trainer CHEERINE KID Sire: Gaius, $2,000 Breeders: Glyn & Edwina Morris COUP D'ETAT Sir...

Shannon Taylor wins NZTBA International Management Scholarship

Shannon Taylor, winner of the 2003 NZTBA International Management Scholarship The Auckland branch of the NZTBA is pleased to announce that Shannon Taylor is the recipient of their 2003 International Management Scholarship. The inaugural 2002 Scholarship was won by Grant Bennett, now working at Ashwell Farm, Cambridge. Shannon was educated at Pukekohe High School and gained a bachelor's degree in Business Management from the University of Waikato, with a double major in marketing and human ...

Sheikh Mohammed warns British racecourses

On the evidence of his speech at the Gimcrack Dinner held at York, England on Tuesday evening Sheikh Mohammed bin Rashid al Maktoum would be a philosophical ally of the stakeholder groups pursuing the rocky path of fundamental reform within New Zealand racing. The conflict between UK racecourses and the rest of the industry which Sheikh Mohammed highlighted has recently become evident in New Zealand where reports acknowledging the critical state of racing and recommending major industry chang...

2003 NZTBA Overseas Training Scholarship winners announced

Cathie Heald (left) and Elizabeth Paddy, winners of the 2003 NZTBA Overseas Training Scholarships. Cathie Heald, 24, and Elizabeth Paddy, 23, are the winners of the two NZTBA Overseas Training Scholarships for 2003. They were selected from seven applicants after interviews conducted last week by a five-person panel: Michael Martin & Sally Cassels-Brown (NZTBA National Office), Tom Burn (NZTBA Councillor & Wellington branch president), Geoff Turner and Henry Ward (NZTBA Wellington b...

NZTBA President speaks at Glenmorgan opening

Peter Hutt speaking at the Tuscany Farm opening, with studmaster Brett Jenkins and the Prime Minister to his left. Peter Hutt, the President of the NZTBA, addressed around 400 people at the opening of Glenmorgan Farm's new sales preparation facility, named Tuscany Farm, at Karaka last Thursday. Special guests included the Prime Minister, the Right Honourable Helen Clark and Dr Takamatsu from the Japan Racing Association's Sydney office. The text of Mr Hutt's speech follows: Thank you for ...

2002 NZTBA Wellington Branch Award Winners

The NZTBA's Wellington Branch presented the following 2001-02 awards after the last race on Wellington Thoroughbred Breeders' Guineas day, 26 October, at Trentham Gardens: Breeding Excellence Awards BRYAN KERR St Steven (1994 g. Hula Town-Gabby) Season Record: 9 starts: 4 wins-2 placings Wins incl: 1st Nakayama Grand Jump S., Japan 1st MVRC AV Hiskens Steeplechase – for the second consecutive year 1st MVRC St Steven Steeplechase 2002 Australian Champion Jumper 2002 Mercedes (New Zealand) Jump...

Honor Bound honoured by Te Aroha JC

The Te Aroha Jockey Club will re-name its President's Room the "Honor Bound Lounge" in recognition of the fine racemare Honor Bound who retired earlier this year after winning the ARC EAster Handicap G1. The club has three other rooms named after Group One winners also trained at the course: Barbut Delcia, Battle Heights and Chrisarda. Honor Bound's owner-breeders, NZTBA members Terry & Vicki Pascoe will sponsor a maiden fillies and mares 1600 metre race on 30 October to be named the Honor...