Melbourne on radar for Emerald Queen

19 December 2014

The connections of the well-performed Emerald Queen (NZ) (O’Reilly) might look offshore next year to further the mare’s black type record.

She has already fashioned a tidy record at stakes level and Australian options are under consideration for the O’Reilly five-year-old.

“We might look at Melbourne in the autumn and see if we can pick off a race there to bolster her pedigree,” said Shane Kennedy, who prepares Emerald Queen at Riccarton with Anna Furlong.

“There’s plenty of fillies and mares races there every week that would suit her.”

Emerald Queen has won six races, including the South Island Breeders’ Stakes and the Canterbury Belle Stakes at Listed level.

She also has Group Three placings in the Eulogy and Lowland Stakes and in the Listed Ray Coupland Stakes on her record.

Most recently, Emerald Queen finished eighth in the Gr.2 Coupland’s Bakeries Mile at Riccarton where she fought on well after racing three wide without cover.

“She’s freshened up well since cup week and is going really well,” Kennedy said.

Emerald Queen will resume in Friday’s Brent Read Retirement Home Open 1400 at Ashburton, where she has a couple of wins and a placing to her credit.

She will be ridden by the stable apprentice Doni Prastiyou, whose two previous rides on the mare have resulted in an open handicap success at Riccarton and a fourth.

Kennedy said next month’s Listed Timaru Stakes was also on Emerald Queen’s domestic programme

Oaks Day glory for Waikato Stud-bred Sulek

Waikato Stud enjoyed a special moment on Oaks Day at Flemington on Thursday, when the New Zealand-bred gelding Sulek – by Super Seth out the O’Reilly mare Tiff And Co, saluted on one of the biggest days of the racing calendar and in front of an international crowd. Bred by the farm in partnership with the Dowager Duchess of Bedford, Sulek took out the A$500,000 Cirka Melbourne Cup Carnival Country Final (1600m) for the third and most lucrative win of his career.

5 November 2026

The Corner with Garry Chittick

And so, another Melbourne Cup has been run. Regretfully, Mary and I were not there. I have no idea how many we attended up until COVID, and I miss the Cup week. Victoria prides itself as the sporting capital of Australia; it may be, they certainly know how to create an event.