In-form Frankly chasing stakes start

7 August 2014

John Bary was left to rue a missed black type opportunity with Frankly at New Plymouth and now he’s looking forward to another chance at Awapuni. The Hastings trainer had expected the Pins mare to be competitive in a recent Listed feature sponsored by WS.

“I was very confident for the Opunake Cup, but she couldn’t get off the ballot,” he said. “I was very bullish that week and we had to regroup. I think she’ll be better over a mile or 2000 metres so we’ll have a look at the Merial Metric Mile with her.”

Bred and raced by WS, Frankly again showed she was ready for the challenge of better company when she scored an impressive win at Hastings this afternoon in the hands of Miranda Dravitzki. “She just bided her time and then came out – that was a 10 out of 10 ride,” Bary said.

Frankly has now fashioned the tidy record of four wins and nine placings from 15 appearances to further a strong family record. Out of the O’Reilly mare O’Really, she is a half-sister to six winners including Keano (Listed Lightning Handicap).

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.

9 July 2026

WS graduate Honour Roll out to add stakes success at Otaki

Waikato Stud will be cheering on one of its promising graduates on Friday when Honour Roll contests the Listed John Turkington Forestry Castletown Stakes (1200m) at Otaki. The WS-bred son of the late Champion sire …