Photo: Grant Peters
Marie Leicester was popping the bubbly on Saturday evening when celebrating another stakes success as a breeder, this time with Cellarmaster (Bivouac) in the Gr.3 Winx Guineas (1600m) on the Sunshine Coast.
Awapuni gelding Platinum Pantheon looked to have the race sewn up after he found the front out wide with 200m to go, but the Tom Charlton-trained Cellarmaster sprouted wings and flew home late to nab the Kiwi on the line.
While many Kiwis’ hopes were dashed, there was some consolation in defeat as the only New Zealand-bred horse in the field claimed the Group Three crown, much to the delight of Leicester.
“I was in seventh heaven on Saturday night,” she beamed.
By Bivouac, Cellarmaster is out of Leicester’s Tavistock mare Moet Belle, who is a half-sister to 14-time Group One winner Melody Belle, and hails from the famed Belle family, which Leicester has had so much success with.
“It (Belle family) just goes on and on,” Leicester said. “My parents first sent a mare to stud in 1937, and the mare didn’t get in foal that year, so they sent her back the next year to Foxbridge and got in foal, and we have been breeding from that family ever since.”
The victory continued a great season for Leicester, who also bred fellow three-year-old Romanoff, who claimed elite-level success in the Gr.1 New Zealand 2000 Guineas (1600m) at Riccarton last November.
“In the current three-year-old crop I have had a Group One winner (Romanoff) and now a Group Three winner. For an old girl I am doing alright,” Leicester quipped.
While Romanoff was the last foal out of the late Tsarina Belle, Leicester has plenty to look forward to with Cellarmaster’s dam, Moet Belle, who is a rising nine-year-old.
Out of broodmare gem and 2019-20 New Zealand Broodmare of the Year Meleka Belle, Moet Belle just had the two starts following a stable accident, and was subsequently retired and sent to stud, with her first mating being with Darley Stud stallion Bivouac.
Cellarmaster was the resulting foal and Leicester said he was a striking individual from a young age.
“He foaled here (New Zealand) because she (Moet Belle) was heading down to Per Incanto,” Leicester said. “He was a lovely foal, I can remember that he loved having his backside scratched. He was always a good-looking horse.”
The Magic Millions buying bench agreed, and trainer John O’Shea and bloodstock agent James Bester had to go to A$260,000 to secure him at the 2024 Gold Coast Yearling Sale.
“They told me that the Bivouacs were all a very mixed bag and he was a good-looking horse, and he still is by the look of him,” Leicester said.
O’Shea and Bester’s judgment has been vindicated this season, with Cellarmaster winning two races before placing in the Gr.2 Phar Lap Stakes (1500m) at Rosehill in March prior to his crowning glory on Saturday, with his earnings having now surpassed A$342,000.
Moet Belle has also left a Per Incanto filly, who was purchased out of Haunui’s 2025 Karaka draft by Star Thoroughbred and Randwick Bloodstock Agency for $180,000, and an Anamoe colt, who was purchased out of Haunui’s draft at Karaka earlier this year by Laurel Oak Bloodstock for $300,000.
Moet Belle is currently in foal to former Waikato Stud stallion Super Seth, who has subsequently been acquired by Coolmore, and she has a date with an emerging Cambridge Stud sire this coming breeding season.
“She is in-foal to Super Seth, so wasn’t it good timing? And she is going to visit Sword Of State this coming season,” Leicester said.
Leicester is currently breeding from seven mares and she said they are her passion in life.
“I have got seven mares in foal, and I will be mating the seven mares,” she said. “I love them all. I enjoy what I do and my life revolves around my horses.”
