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Transitioning into the breeding side of thoroughbred racing reignited Olivia Blane’s love for the industry, a passion that was recognised at Entain’s Industry Excellence Awards where she was named winner of the Stud, Stable and Kennel Excellence Award.
Blane leads the yearling preparation team at Waikato Stud, one of New Zealand’s premier breeding operations. Despite holding such a pivotal role, she was caught by surprise when announced the winner on Sunday night.
“I was surprised, but really honoured to be announced the winner,” she said. “It felt great to be nominated and selected as a finalist after years of hard work.”
Entering the industry as a teenager, Blane initially found her place riding trackwork and travelling racehorses, of which she did for well over a decade. Eventually, she was looking for a new direction and found her way to the Matamata nursery.
“I started working in racing when I was about 17, I would go and ride trackwork before school,” she said. “I spent the next 15 years in racing, going to and from Australia travelling with horses, and I worked in Australia for a while.
“I got to the stage where I’d had enough of the early mornings, so I applied for the Night Foaling role at Waikato, just to try something completely different. I did three seasons of that, as well as (yearling) prep, then last year, I got the Yearling Manager position.”
Blane is responsible for 170 youngsters this season, many of which are being prepared for public auction, as well as a team of staff with a range of stud and equine experience.
“I get them when they’re freshly weaned off their mothers, so the whole handling process and teaching them the basics is very rewarding, watching them grow and change,” she said.
“We bring 25 to 30 horses in every week from weaning, to do trimming, rug-breaking, and bit-breaking, and we’ve just completed that for 170 weanlings. They’ll come in again every six weeks, for survey x-rays and truck trips, and they’ll have plenty of time to learn how to live and eat in a box as well so they’re ready for the yearling sales and racing life.
“I have seven to eight people working in the team during the off season, and during prep, we’d have closer to 15 to 17. Some of those people have never touched horses before, so just teaching them everything is pretty rewarding as well.
“My partner, who was previously a heavy machinery driver, decided he wanted to work with the horses and he came in last year, so that was cool to teach him all of the ropes.”
Blane feels a great sense of pride in watching Waikato Stud’s yearlings go through the sales ring or into racing careers and noted a couple of standout moments at Karaka over the past couple of years.
“The year we sold the Chandelier colt for $1 million was my first prep here, that was pretty cool,” she said. “I led one of Garry’s (Chittick) through the ring that made $850,000, a Savabeel colt out of Relentless Desire, that was a highlight as well.
“I really like those yearlings that are just in the mid-range too, they become your favourites and some you just get the impression that they’ll be really nice racehorses.”
Reflecting on her award, which includes a $10,000 prize, Blane expressed her gratitude towards the Waikato Stud management team, particularly studmaster Mark Chittick.
“Mark (Chittick), Mike (Rennie) and Jaimee (Underwood) have helped me a lot,” she said. “This was probably my last-ditch attempt at a horse job, otherwise I was probably going to go into an accounting degree or something like that, but it has really made me love the game.
“I never thought I would be working in a stud, but here I am, and I love it. The variety is great, I still love doing the foaling and breeding, we are on call and can go in if we’d like too. My department is pretty different to the rest of the farm, but we still help out a lot around the place and learn a huge amount.
“I didn’t realise how much goes into breeding a horse, there’s so much to it.”
