Icing on the Tauranga cake

17 November 2013

WS’s successful day at Tauranga was capped off when Costume downed fellow farm graduate Etoile Filante in the Rating 75 metric mile. Their quinella followed the earlier success of the No Excuse Needed mare I Do in the open sprint.

Bred and raced by Garry Chittick, Costume is trained by Graeme and Debbie Rogerson and continued her impressive progress with her third win at her 12th appearance. By Savabeel, she is out of the O’Reilly mare Disguised and is from an international family that features the Gr 1 King’s Stand Stakes winner and successful sire Godswalk.

Etoile Filante was bred by the farm with David Williams, who now races the mare out of Peter and Dawn Williams’ stable. The daughter of Pins and Etoile Du Nord has three wins and two placings from her seven raceday appearances.

The Corner with Garry Chittick

Well, I got a bit behind last week, with Friday slipping by without realising it; hence no Corner. I have said on too many occasions that negative messages are of no help to anyone, and yet there seems so often a reason to be concerned. Clearly, this week the well-constructed Guerin Report on the threatened downgrade of our Group 1 races demands our attention.

21 October 2026

Vale Ohope Wins, Ocean Park’s tough, kind and courageous daughter

Long before her Oaks double, Ohope Wins’ greatest victory belonged to the Waikato Stud staff and Matamata Veterinary Services vets who saved her as a desperately sick foal. Taken far too soon at Caulfield, her remarkable story is theirs too.