Kashmir takes first winning step

25 March 2013

She’s bred to be good and at Matamata today Kashmir gave the first indication she can live up to her pedigree. The WS-owned daughter of O’Reilly and the stakes winner and multiple Gr 1 performer Vedodara was an effortless winner for trainer Roger James.

Spelled after two runs in the spring, the three-year-old showed a fine turn of foot from the top of the straight when asked for an effort by rider Opie Bosson. She quickly put paid to her rivals and coasted the post with a length and a-quarter to spare.

Kashmir is a half-sister to the Gr 1 Avondale Gold Cup winner Sharvasti, the dual Gr 3 King’s Plate and Cuddle Stakes winner Bhandara and the Gr 3 Hawke’s Bay Guineas winner Shastri. Gr 1 Easter Handicap runner-up Balmacara is another well-perfofmed member of the family.

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.