O’Reilly 3YO Tops In Gr 2 Guineas

23 October 2011

O’Reilly’s progressive son President Lincoln made the impressive jump out of maiden company to claim today’s Gr 2 New Zealand Bloodstock Wellington Guineas and might be aimed even higher next month. Awapuni trainer Lisa Latta is giving serious thought to raising the bar to Gr 1 level with the three-year-old if conditions suit.

“He’s a big, strong boy and he is nominated for the Levin Classic but I’ll just be keeping an eye on the tracks,” Latta said. “It was an after-thought really and he likes wet tracks and doesn’t pull so we put in the late nomination (for Wellington).”

President Lincoln settled off the pace on Saturday but when rider Kelly Myers pushed the button the gelding surged to the front and raced clear to score by two and a-half lengths. “It was a super effort from him and it was pretty easy in the end,” she said. “I was a little bit worried and thought his greeness might be his undoing with the step from 1200 to 1500 metres but he did it like he’s been doing it all his life,” Myers said.

President Lincoln is raced by John and Linda Street under their Lincoln Farm banner and they bred the three-year-old who is out of the winning Pentire mare Pinot Gris. She is a daughter of the outstanding mare Covered N’ Grey who was the winner of no less than 24 races and twice landed the Gr 2 Travis Stakes and earned multiple Gr 1 placings.

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.