No Excuses Needed For This Winner

1 September 2011

Hastings trainer John Bary has a lofty goal set for an exciting son of WS stallion No Excuse Needed. Commett won at the first time of asking at Waverley today and has a spring campaign aimed at a feature three-year-old classic ahead of him.

“I’ve got a high opinion of this horse and I’ve entered him in the 2000 Guineas – that’s how much I think of him,” Bary said.

“He’d had two jump-outs at home and won them both.” Commett is a half-brother to the winner Heredity and a grand-son of the Listed Canterbury Breeders’ Stakes winner and Gr 1 placed Half Cut.

Also sharing in Commett’s debut success was comeback jockey Jason Waddell who picked up the ride after Jonathan Riddell was sidelined earlier in the programme. “I feel sorry for Jonathan but I was in the right place at the right time,” Waddell said.

“He’s a lovely horse and relaxed well and came back on the bridle across the top and the race was pretty much won from there.”

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.