Photo: Supplied
Hawke’s Bay horsewoman Vicki Wilson’s diverse range of skills and associated success were showcased last weekend across the wide spectrum of equine competition.
On Saturday at Invercargill’s Ascot Park racecourse, Aberlour, a daughter of Wilson’s young stallion Mongolian Falcon, completed a stakes double with a runaway win in the Listed Southland Guineas to go with last month’s Listed Gore Guineas.
The following day Wilson was the toast of the showjumping world when she scooped the pool in the premier event of one of the disciplines biggest weeks at Takapoto Estate, the superb facility on the banks of Lake Karapiro near Cambridge.
In an unprecedented feat, Wilson rode the first two placegetters in the $100,000 Gold Tour Grand Prix Final, taking the $33,000 first prize on her 10-year-old European-bred stallion Daminos TWS and also taking the $20,000 second place on her 10-year-old home-bred mare Millionaire VWS.
The final jump-off round saw Daminos go clear in the time of 47.73 seconds, and that could not be matched as Millionaire was next best of the remaining two to leave all rails intact with a time of 52.31.
“In showjumping so much can go wrong, there’s a fine line between success and failure, so to come away with the first two placings in such a big competition was massive,” Wilson told RaceForm after arriving back at her Havelock North base, Hau Ora Farm.
“The whole week at Takapoto was fantastic – I took four horses and they all came home with ribbons – and then to see Aberlour win another big race for Mongolian Falcon was the icing on the cake.”
Wilson, along with her sisters Amanda and Kelly, have been successful equestrians since their earliest years growing up in Northland. The trio came to prominence a decade ago for their work with Kaimanawa horses that faced major change with necessary decisions to cull them from the Central Plateau of the North Ialand.
That garnered massive publicity and led to a television documentary series, books and lectures on the plight and potential of the unique wild population.
Five years ago Vicki Wilson relocated to Hawke’s Bay and developed her own property to continue her wide range of equestrian involvement. Breeding and moulding horses for showjumping has been core to her business, while she has also become involved in thoroughbred racing, from breeding to training.
Wilson has always been a high achiever, particularly in showjumping, and last weekend’s landmark quinella was a career-high with immense history. Daminos TWS was an ambitious project dating back to his purchase from Europe as a three-year-old colt, success in his initial years competing on the show circuit that was interrupted by injury for three years, and now at 10 years old established as one of the very best.
The Wilson-bred Millionaire VWS is by the Dutch warmblood Emilion from the thoroughbred mare Showtym Girl, whose sire was the former Chequers Stud stallion Green Perfume.
“She was an absolute star,” Wilson says of Showtyme. “She was only 15.1 hands and won everything, including a bareback 1.82-metre puissance. She’s been just as good as a broodmare and every foal out of her stays here.”
Wilson’s immediate target with her champion pair is the Olympic Cup at next month’s Horse of the Year festival at Hastings, while longer term she has her eyes on selection for the Olympic Games – not next year but beyond.
Wilson’s breeding operation covers both sport-horse and racing, with her roster including Daminos at a fee of $2,500 and Mongolian Falcon at $2,000.
She secured Mongolian Falcon, the Gr. 2 Hawke’s Bay Guineas winner by Fastnet Rock, two years ago after he had stood initially at Willow Glen, South Canterbury.
From limited opportunities he has sired a handful of winners and with a headliner now in Aberlour, Wilson is optimistic about his appeal to broodmare owners.
Proven Encosta de Lago stallion Niagara also stands at Hau Ora Farm, while Wilson’s racing team is set to swing back into action after a Cyclone Gabrielle-enforced hiatus. Then there’s stable apprentice Lily Sutherland, a fellow Northlander currently second on the apprentice premiership with 33 wins, another source of pride for her mentor.
“Lily is a super young lady with a very bright future,” she says.
