Group three honours for savabeel filly

5 June 2011

Legsman Eyes Top Staying Prize

Gallant front-runner Legsman is likely to be spelled after his brave Listed Winter Cup victory at Rosehill and return with for a Gr 1 mission in the spring. The bold son of Pins set the course alight when he opened up a big break on the field and held a strong gallop in the straight to win the 2400 metre feature with authority.

“I just let him get into stride and had him travelling comfortably within himself before I put the pressure on from the five (1000m),” successful rider Jim Cassidy said. “Tough stayers like him are hard to run down if they keep running the sectionals this horse can do.”

Legsman is trained at Randwick by John O’Shea who bought the gelding out of WS’s 2007 Premier Sale draft for $105,000 and is out of the Centaine mare Snobbish who has produced six winners including the Gr 2 performer Prickle. The mare descends from a crack WS family being a sister to the multiple Gr 1 winner Slight Chance and the pedigree also features another stakes winning product of the Matamata nursery in Sharp Princess.

O’Shea’s stable foreman Bryce Heys said Legsman was now likely to be rested and possibly be set for the Gr I The Metropolitan on his home track in the spring. “He’s the type of horse that keeps owners in the game because he always runs a good race,” Heys said. “He’s maturing into a good stayer.”

Legsman won by a length from Savabeel’s son Tullamore who continued his excellent run of form with another honest performance. Trainer Gai Waterhouse will see how the four-year-old recovers from the race before deciding on a crack at next weekend’s Brisbane Cup for the four-year-old.

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.