Photo: Supplied
Waikato equestrian Colette Hosking may not be breeding horses any longer, but she has achieved something every breeder aspires to and that is breed a stakes winner.
Born in England Hosking moved to New Zealand with family when she was 14, and although she had learnt to ride as a youngster it was here that she got her first pony. From there she progressed from pony club, to show jumping, eventing and dressage.
She has worked with a variety of breeds of horses and also spent time at Curraghmore Stud and Henley Park. When the opportunity presented itself Hosking utilised her more than 20 years of experience to set up SG Stud. Here she specialises in breeding services, foaling down mainly sport horse mares, artificial insemination and semen collection.
Hosking bred recent Listed Champagne Stakes (1600m) winner Loch Katrine (Adrossan [AUS] - Cong’er) and is absolutely thrilled with what the filly, who she affectionately named Amy as foal, has achieved.
Well respected in the sport horse industry as the owner of SG Stud in Matangi, on the outskirts of Hamilton, Hosking decided to buy a mare and try her hand at breeding in 2020.
“I thought I would like to break into the yearling market,” said Hosking, a member of the Waikato branch of the NZTBA .
“I bought the mare Cong’er on gavelhouse.com for $700, I was bidding on her and thought I had missed out as she was sold for $900. A couple of weeks later I got a phone call to so say the sale had fallen through and the owner was prepared to sell her for what I wanted to pay.
“I am thrilled with the outcome, and so excited for her new owners, I always thought she (Loch Katrine) was a little star.”
Photo: Trish Dunell
Cong’er, then a resident at Waikato Stud, was in foal to their first season resident sire Adrossan and the resulting filly Loch Katrine is his second stakes winner.
She was a maiden going into the event having only commenced racing a month earlier. She debuted with a second over 1200m at Pukekohe Park and followed that up with a third over 1300m at Whangarei.
Trained by Daniel Miller at Matamata, Loch Katrine must have impressed in form jockey Michael McNab as he was in the saddle when she returned to Pukekohe Park to win the 1600m Champagne Stakes by half a length, with a further three lengths back to the third horse.
Loch Katrine is the fourth foal from Cong’er and her second winner, the other being Pins (AUS) mare Betty Grable. Cong’er (Zenno Rob Roy [JPN] - Conifer Bay) was a winner of five races, including the Listed CRC Karaka Classic on the same course where her daughter was to claim her stakes victory.
Her dam was Group One winning mare Conifer Bay (Virginia Privateer [USA] - Syndare), whose four wins include the Gr.1 ARC Championship Stakes. She was also second in the Gr.1 WRC New Zealand Oaks. She is the dam of 10 named foals, nine to race and six winners including Bahira (by Volksraad [IRE]), the winner of the Gr.3 WRC Thomson Handicap, and dam of the stakes winners Petty Cury (Not A Single Doubt [AUS]) and Rio Fortune (Captain Rio [GB]) who won four races including the Listed ARC Mr Tiz Trophy. Petty Cury also left stakes performers Solar Star and Key Largo.
From the moment Loch Katrine was born Hosking was a declared fan of the of the bay filly.
“Once she got over her baby awkwardness and wonky weanling stage she developed into a lovely yearling,” Hosking recalled.
“She was a lovely filly and she would give her absolute heart, to do whatever is asked of her. I took her up to the sales she was really relaxed and in and out of the box, but it was a terrible, terrible sale.
“She didn’t get a bid in the ring and was bought later for $6000. Then a couple of months later she was sold on gavelhouse.com to her current owners for $1300.”
Unfortunately, due to a change in circumstances Hosking had to sell the mare in late 2021 though she did make a healthy profit despite the fact the mare was not in foal after she was sold for $15,000 during the November auction on gavelhouse.com.
Following her somewhat disappointing foray into breeding, Hosking decided to concentrate on her core business of foaling down sport horses and is proof a good horsewoman will succeed in any discipline. -Michelle Saba, NZTBA
