Pedigree to fore in Hastings opener
A classic Waikato Stud cross powered Sagunto to victory in the opening 2200 metre event on today’s Hastings program.
A son of the late O’Reilly, the bold front-runner is out of a Savabeel mare and he travelled well under Shaun McKay at the head of affairs. They slipped the field into the straight and held on effortlessly to score by 3l.
“When he gets to the lead he’s happy and they left me alone. He kicked strongly and held on really well,” he said.
Sagunto’s win, the fourth of his career, was a family affair as he is raced by McKay’s parents Peter and Kim with his father also doing the training.
“He might get 2400 metres the way he is racing. He got out in front and stepped it out and it was a good ride,” Peter McKay said.
A $120,000 New Zealand Bloodstock Yearling Sale graduate, Sagunto is out of the Listed Northland Breeders’ S. winner Queen Sabeel, who has produced four winners and delivered a filly last year by Sacred Falls.
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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.
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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.
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