Jeroboam Breaks Duck In Style

28 December 2011

Matamata trainer Graham Richardson’s purple patch of form continued at Ellerslie today with a promising O’Reilly graduate of WS. The three-year-old Jeroboam turned his luck around with the opening victory of his career over 1600 metres.

The gelding had been luckless when fifth on debut at Tauherenikau in November and was then forced to cover extra ground before placing at Ellerslie earlier this month. He finished a creditable third behind subsequent Gr 2 Eight Carat Classic placegetter Silent Achiever (O’Reilly).

Raced by breeders The Centurion Partnership and Mark Chittick, Jeroboam holds a nomination for the Gr 1 New Zealand Derby and has a pedigree to strongly suggest he will be ideally-suited to 2400 metres. He is out of the Centaine mare Sexy, who was a middle distance winner, and she is in turn out of a mare by the mighty Sir Tristram.

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.