Curtain falls on top graduate

Time has been called on the racing career of decorated Waikato Stud graduate Tiptronic.

Co-trainer and part-owner Graham Richardson made the call to retire the durable nine-year-old following recent below par performances.

The Matamata conditioner purchased the son of the late O’Reilly out of the Matamata nursery’s 2015 New Zealand Bloodstock Premier Yearling Sale draft for $100,000.

Of Tiptronic’s fifty-two starts, thirty-one were at stakes level. He won eight races, including top honours in the G1 Herbie Dyke Stakes at Te Rapa and the G1 Zabeel Classic at Ellerslie. He has also placed at the elite level in the Herbie Dyke, New Zealand S. and the Captain Cook S.

Richardson said the stable favourite retires healthy and sound and will enjoy the rest of his days at
his Matamata property.

“There is nothing wrong with him. He is just doing things a bit upside down on race day and he is a nine-year-old.

“He has been an amazing horse for us and I don’t want anything to happen to him.

“I am building a paddock in the backyard for him and, when that’s done, he will have a home for the
rest of his life.

“We have had some great times with him and there is going to be a big gap now.”

Tiptronic is out of the Pins mare Tiptoes, who is a sister to the two-time Group 1 winner Legs, and she has an unraced juvenile Sacred Falls filly and produced a colt by Savabeel last season.