Decorah digs deep for cup success

3 January 2016

Pins mare Decorah was a brave and deserved winner of the Gr 3 City of Auckland Cup at Ellerslie on New Year’s Day. The six-year-old was in front at the top of the straight and she answered every call from Opie Bosson for the seventh win of her career.

Trained by Murray Baker and Andrew Forsman, she went into the feature staying event off the back of her third placing under 60kg in the Gr 3 Waikato Cup. “She had been working very well and she doesn’t mind a bit of rain,” Baker said. “I’ve got a lot of admiration for her – she’s only small, but she’s got a big heart.”

Decorah is nominated for the Gr 1 Auckland Cup, but Baker said the mare’s future may be determined by the handicapper. “She does go very well at Ellerslie and we’ll have to see what sort of weight she’ll get.”

Tivaci’s Movie Night steals the show at Newcastle

A sister to the Gr.1 ATC Flight Stakes (1600m) winner Never Been Kissed, the Waikato Stud-bred and raced Movie Night (NZ) was rewarded for her consistency, breaking her maiden with an all-the-way win over 1400m at Newcastle for trainer Tom Charlton.

9 July 2026

Oilman’s stud stake could change course of NZ breeding

Eighteen months ago, Texas oilman Nelson Bunker Hunt walked through the lush Waikato pasture of Matamata’s Balcarres Stud and announced he wanted some just like it for his own.

Today he has-360 acres about a mile down the road which has been transformed from a dairy farm to one of New Zealand’s leading horse and cattle breeding establishments.