This week on Dunstan Horse Feeds’ Meet the Breeder, we caught up with Bill Gartshore, proud breeder of Ohope Wins, who claimed the Group 2 David & Karyn Ellis Fillies Classic at Te Rapa last Saturday.
Tell us the story of Ohope Wins
Ohope Wins is a three year old filly by Ocean Park out of Choux Mania
How did you get into thoroughbred breeding?
It was about 15 years ago when Jim (my brother) and I had been in business most of our working life. Our businesses were construction and joinery manufacturing. These businesses are “full on” and the pair of us were solely focused on them for thirty years. We had often wanted a business that saw us get some time away from the construction businesses and into a much less intense type of business, that was as far away as possible from the construction/ joinery business.
About 15 yrs. ago Jim had a good mate, Tim Preston, who happened to be going over to Waikato Stud to have a look at a new stallion they had acquired and took Jim along with him. Jim thoroughly enjoyed the day and was impressed with the various options the racing industry offered. So on the Monday morning we had a bit of a chat about getting into racehorses as a more passive side line business that allowed us to shift our focus from time to time, away from our construction and joinery business.
We agreed we would give the racing and breeding of horses a crack. So we went back over the hill to Matamata to catch up with Gary and Mark Chittick to see if we could get a few pointers on how we might get involved in the industry.
Both Gary and Mark turned out to be the most humble ambassadors of the industry you could ever meet. Their openness, encouragement, and willingness to guide us through the industry, as we built our portfolio of horses was invaluable and still is today. Gary’s style is very much grass roots, his advice is generally a one liner and straight to the point, and that makes decision making, for a couple of chippie, a hell of a lot easier than studying books.
How many mares do you breed from?
Currently we have four mares.
What else do you have in your bloodstock portfolio? (foals, racehorses, stallion shares etc)
Currently, we have six foals , four racehorses, four broodmares and we also obtain stallion shares with Ocean Park.
Do you seek advice on your breeding decisions?
As mentioned above we seek advice from Mark and his team at Waikato Stud, in particular Mike Rennie of late.
Best breeding advice you have received?
This one’s easy, on one of Jim’s and my first visits to Waikato Stud we met with Mark and Gary for about an hour and a half……..when Jim and I were about to get into our vehicle to head back to Tauranga, Gary Chittick walk over to us and said “now remember, this is a great game played slowly” That has stuck with Jim and I for over 15years
What do you love about the thoroughbred breeding industry?
The people, the challenges, the setbacks, and of course the horses
What advice would you give someone entering the industry as a breeder?
Introduce yourself to a respected stud master, be upfront about what your aspirations are, you’ll be amazed at the response you get. Most people in the industry are passionate about what they do, as such they generally love talking about it.
Proudest moment as a breeder so far?
Winning our first group 1 race with Savy Yong Blonk (Savabeel/ Ampin)
If you could breed any past or present mare and stallion, who would they be?
Currently it would have to be Ocean Park to Choux Mania.
