Hera strikes in Australia

6 November 2014

New Zealand mare Hera is on the board in Australia following her success at Rosehill on Saturday. The O’Reilly mare showed significant improvement on her resuming effort last month when she opened her account for Broadmeadow trainer Kris Lees.

The four-year-old began her career with Roger James at Cambridge and was the winner of the Listed Great Northern Foal Stakes at two. She bloomed in her classic season to add the Group Two victories in the Eight Carat Classic and the Sir Tristram Fillies’ Classic to her record. She was subsequently sold to Australian interests and a fourth placing in the Gr.3 Carr Stakes had been her previous best effort across the Tasman.

Purchased by James for $28,000 from WS’s Select Sale team in 2012, Hera is out of the unraced Centaine mare Corsica. She is from the family of the former champion juvenile and multiple Group One winner Ballroom Babe.

The Corner with Garry Chittick

It would appear I now have to continue my weekly Corner with the amount of rumblings at the start of our new racing season. I have been around long enough to know we can never please all; my tenure as Chairman of the Racing Board was subjected to as much vitriol as subsequent Boards have had to bear, so what’s different this time, or is it different.

5 August 2026

First foal for Waikato’s Group 1 winner Skew Wiff

Group 1-winning Savabeel mare Skew Wiff (ex Starvoia), known affectionately as ‘Wiffy’, foaled a filly by Super Seth in the early hours of Wednesday, 5 August.