Paco Boy makes his mark at Karaka

30 January 2014

The Karaka buying bench warmed to the stock of the former WS shuttle stallion Paco Boy on day two of the Select Sale this afternoon. The Matamata farm enjoyed excellent results with a trio of the multiple European Group One winner’s colts.

The star of the show was the handsome son of the No Excuse Needed mare Victoria’s Reign who was knocked down to Victoria’s Aquanita Racing for $105,000. The colt’s dam is a half-sister to the Gr 1 New Zealand Derby and Gr 1 Waikato International Stakes winner Great Command and the family of the Gr 3 Rough Habit Plate winner The Hombre.

Earlier in the session, two Paco Boy youngsters in the WS draft fetched $80,000 apiece with the first a son of the unraced Pins mare Palin, a sister to the Gr 3 Victoria Handicap winner Stickpin, going to Waikato Bloodstock. Matamata trainer Graham Richardson followed suit when he secured the colt out of the O’Reilly mare Romancing. His catalogue page features the Gr 3 Hawkesbury Gold Cup winner Somepin Anypin (Pins) and the Gr 1 Goodwood Hanidcap winner Centisle (Centaine).

Meanwhile, trans-Tasman trainer John Sargent signed for a daughter of O’Reilly for $57,500. The filly’s dam is the Centaine mare Saveke, the winner of three races, and a direct female descendant of the Gr 1 Australasian Oaks winner Centaurea.

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 …