Savabeel’s cup hope continues winning role

17 September 2016

Savabeel’s progressive son King Oberon is chasing down a third New Zealand Cup for his trainer and part-owner Raymond Connors. The exciting five-year-old took another winning step toward the Group Three feature when he triumphed at Hastings this afternoon.

The gelding travelled well behind the pace before he was shuffled back, but he needed little encouragement to take a rails run in the straight. “I thought we were going to need luck and we got it so I’m thrilled,” said Connors, who races King Oberon with his father Mark. The same combination celebrated consecutive wins in the New Zealand Cup with Blood Brotha in 2011 and 2012.

King Oberon has now won four of his six starts and he will make one more appearance before he heads to Christchurch. Apprentice Shaun McKay, who is unbeaten in three rides on the horse, is in no doubt that King Oberon can cope with the 3200 metres of Riccarton feature on November 12. “He was better on top of the ground today than on a wet track,” he said. “He’s still looking for more ground as well.”

McKay had King Oberon loping along behind the pace on the fence, but he was worried when runners began circling the field 800 metres from home and they were hemmed in. “I was hoping a gap would open up and we got the dream run,” McKay said.

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.