Happy days for filly

4 January 2019

Happily To Be (NZ) ridden by Damien Thornton wins the Kellys Country Homes Maiden Plate at Seymour Racecourse on December 30, 2018 in Seymour, Australia. (Brett Holburt/Racing Photos)

Well-related filly Happily To Be looks a three-year-old with a bright future in Australia for Waikato Stud.

The well-related filly has been lightly-tried by Flemington trainer Danny O’Brien and has made an encouraging start to her career.

The daughter of Pins placed in two of her first three starts before breaking her maiden at Seymour last time out.

Bred and part-owned by the Matamata nursery, she is a daughter of the O’Reilly mare Merrily.

She is a half-sister to the stakes winner Glad and the family of the champion mare Black Caviar.

Happily To Be is also a half-sister to the Stephen Marsh-trained Exuberant.

A $160,000 Karaka yearling, the son of Savabeel won the Listed Wellesley Stakes on debut.

Baker and Clarke uncover another Super Seth standout

Shirley’s Tribute, a $225,000 Super Seth filly, impressed on debut at Bathurst for Bjorn Baker and Clarke Bloodstock (FBAA), surging from the back to score easily and notch her sire’s 44th winner.

15 July 2025

Kiwi Chronicles: Far from finished

Written by Lloyd Jackson, ANZ Bloodstock News on 15 July 2025 The older brigade knows that time is unstoppable and not just for we humans. Thoroughbreds are not immune and Waikato Stud’s Ocean Park (Thorn …