Kelly does it for O’Reilly

22 November 2014

Kelly O’Reilly provided champion WS stallion O’Reilly with his latest black type credit when she rallied strongly to claim today’s Gr.2 NRM/Auckland Thoroughbred Breeders’ Stakes at Avondale. Out of a Pins mare, she is trained at Cambridge by Tony Pike for his parents Wayne and Vicki.

“She’ll obviously be going to stud at some stage so a win like this is very special,” Pike said. “I was hoping she would hold on for second and then she stuck her head down and came back.”

Kelly O’Reilly rallied bravely in the closing 100 metres under rider Leith Innes to score by a head. “I thought there would be plenty of speed in the race and Leith rode her perfectly,” Pike said. “She really deserves this – she’s a good, honest mare.”

She has now won seven races and is likely to progress toward the Christmas meeting at Auckland. “She can’t handle too many runs on firm tracks, but there will be a nice race for her over the Ellerslie carnival,” Pike said.

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 …