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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...

Lashed makes Group One cut in Zabeel Classic

Australian-bred Lashed (Encosta de Lago-Traffic Watch by Salieri) under-lined last season's Australian three-year-old form with a stylish victory in the ARC Zabeel Classic 2000m G1 on the final day of a most enjoyable Ellerslie Summer Carnival. She defeated New Zealand Group One winner Penny Gem (by Pentire) and the ultra-consistent eight-year-old Group Two winner El Duce (by Lord Ballina) in a time of 2:02.62. Lashed, who returned the race sponsorship and then some to her owner Lady Hogan of...

Group One results at Ellerslie confound commercial reality

Race results have a way of confounding the so-called "commercial realities" of thoroughbred breeding. The outcomes of the first three Group One races at this year's Summer Carnival at Ellerslie certainly support the view that selling yearlings and breeding racehorses are quite often divergent activities. Buyers will look in vain for 2004 New Zealand Premier Sale yearlings by Yamanin Vital, sire of New Zealand Derby 2400m G1 winner Cut The Cake. Actually, he's never had a Premier Sale yearling....

NZTBA Life Member Kel Cameron dies

Mr Kel Cameron, one of the NZTBA's most respected figures, died recently in Tauranga. Mr Cameron became a Councillor of the Association in 1969 and a year later was appointed Treasurer. He held that position for 15 years, retiring from Council in 1985 when he was made a Life Member of the NZTBA. Mr Cameron had a successful accounting practise in Tokoroa during the boom forestry years, and retired to Tauranga in the 80's. He was an outstanding administrator, whose quiet, reasoned but firm ...

Bonus Scheme offers better rewards for owners, breeders, trainers

Thoroughbred owners, breeders and trainers will be the beneficiaries of a nationwide bonus programme that comes into existence next year, the New Zealand Thoroughbred Bonus Scheme (NZTBS). The New Zealand Thoroughbred Bonus Scheme effectively combines two of the major bonus programmes operating across the industry, the NZTBA-managed FAMIS scheme and the NZB-managed Mercedes Super Bonus Series, plus the new concept will be boosted by a significant contribution from the New Zealand Racing Board. ...

Racing Board aims for high-level industry perfomance

Racing Board member Dr Alan Jackson was a low-key participant in yesterday's launch of the Thoroughbred Bonus Scheme, but there is nothing low-key about his description of how the Board sees the industry's future. "We've inherited a new Act and organisation and we have to honour previous commitments. We're then looking to step forward with the rest of the industry and lead it to a higher level." The new Board is drawing inspiration from a wide range of sources. "We're looking at international ...

North vs South results at New Zealand Cup Carnival

No New Zealand race-meeting stirs up such fierce inter-island rivalry as the New Zealand Cup Carnival. This year the South Island-trained team capitalised on the absence of many northern runners and claimed a comprehensive victory with 24 winners from the 31 races held over the three Carnival days last week. However, North Island stallions dominated the winners' pedigrees. North Island-based sires were responsible for nineteen winners; South Island sires claimed eight winners (by The Jogger, T...

A Tribute to Shogun Lodge

SHOGUN LODGE (AUS) Grand Lodge-Pride Of Tahnee (Best Western) b. 25 September 1996 - d. 8 November 2003 Over the years I've gathered, as many racing people do, a large number of the ubiquitous caps favoured by studs, stables, race clubs and sales companies as promotional giveaways. Occasionally I attempt to rationalise my collection, but I always find it hard to throw any caps away, despite having more than I'll ever wear. A few have special value for me: the pale blue, red and yellow Sunline...

Best of the Weekend

Taatletail (Faltaat-Defensive Lady by Defensive Play; bred by Deborah Ho, Macau) gave her sire his third Group One winner when she fought tenaciously down the straight at Riccarton to win the CJC New Zealand One Thousand Guineas G1 on Saturday. Kainui Belle tried hard to give Kashani his first Group One winner, and went down by only half a neck, with Unearthed (Felix The Cat) three lengths away in third place. An excellent Listed Stakes win by Gwen's Rules over 1200 metres at Te Rapa completed...

First New Zealand stakeswinner for Generous

Saturday's Waikato Guineas 1600m G3 win by Philamor (Generous-Plaid by Morcon; bred and raced by the Archer Corporation Ltd) was about much more than the prizemoney. At Glenmorgan Farm Brett Jenkins was "one very happy studmaster" because Philamor is the first New Zealand-bred stakeswinner by champion racehorse Generous, already proven in Europe and North America. Glenmorgan initially shuttled Generous from Japan, then made the decision to purchase him when the JBBA indicated it was willing to...

Pentire & Stravinsky lead Kiwi results at Flemington

New Zealand-breds didn't extend their outstanding record in the Melbourne Cup this year, but there was enough good news to keep Kiwi studs and breeders smiling through the week. Rich Hill's newly risen star sire Pentire and Cambridge Stud's first-crop sire Stravinsky led the way with black type victories on Derby Day and Oaks Day respectively. Zanna (Pentire- Posing by Truly Vain; bred by Peter & Pat Payne) continued her rapid rise through Group company when she scored a convincing victo...

Small Kiwi challenge still capable of taking the Melbourne Cup

The New Zealand-bred runners in this year's Melbourne Cup are: Distinctly Secret (bred by Te Akau Stud, Waikato), Zagalia (Terry Jarvis, Auckland) and Piachay (Don & Rochelle McLaren, Auckland). All are Group One winners with Distinctly Secret carrying the bulk of New Zealand hopes as the only Kiwi-owned and -trained horse in the field. A truly professional competitor, he has a fine chance of improving on his sixth in last year's Cup. The merit of Zagalia's Queensland Oaks G1 win during t...

The Best of the Week

Two splendid front-running performances provided the highlights of the weekend's racing. Mummify and Pay My Bail demonstrated what the Europeans have long known: that out in front is not a bad place to be in a big race. That is, as long as you've got a class jockey and a class horse - or, in Pay My Bail's case, a class three-year-old filly with a generous weight-pull on her older rivals. Pay My Bail (Justice Prevails-Ebony Jane by Three Legs; bred by Graham de Gruchy who also bred and raced Ho...

The Best of the Week - or so

Time to pay tribute to an outstanding Australian racehorse LONRHO, (Octagonal-Shadea by Straight Strike; Woodlands Stud, NSW), stunningly easy winner on Saturday of his second consecutive MRC Yalumba S. 2000m G1 and likely odds-on favourite for the Cox Plate on 25 October. Lonhro has now won 22 of his 29 starts, earned more than $A4 million in prizemoney, has raced almost exclusively in Group 1 and Group 2 company for two years, won eight Group One races, is drop-dead gorgeous and, as a five-y...

The Best of the Week

A new feature on the NZTBA website is a weekend summary of the notable performances by New Zealand sires, studs & breeders from the previous seven days or so. Warmest thanks to the excellent online news and data resources of: Thoroughbred News, Arion Pedigrees, ThoroughbredInternet.com,the New Zealand Stud Book and the Australian Bloodhorse Review We kick off with a week full of good news from both sides of the Tasman: HAAYIL - A trifecta with Jack Duggan, I'm Harry and Cat's Away in a $2...

NZTBA Auckland honours Group-winning breeders

The importance of New Zealand's base of private breeders was very evident at the NZTBA Auckland Awards dinner, sponsored by Bloodstock Underwriters, at Ellerslie on Sunday evening. All but one of the seventeen Group winners honoured on the night were bred by private broodmare owners, although Zagalia's breeder Terry Jarvis was until recently the owner of The Oaks Stud in Cambridge. However, Don McLaren who, with his wife Rochelle, received the branch's inaugural Auckland Breeder of the Year aw...