Pins 3YO Mackintosh on Derby Mission

11 January 2016

The James Bridge stable is confident that Mackintosh has the pedigree to back his Gr 1 New Zealand Derby claims. The three-year-old is on target for the autumn classic after winning for the second time in three starts when he was successful at Ellerslie today.

“We’ve got aspirations for the Derby for him so let’s hope he keeps on improving,” said Bridge’s father John, who shares in the ownership of the gelding. “He’s quite a big, lean horse who has taken some time to mature and you can’t beat the breeding.”

A WS graduate, he is a son of Pins and the Generous mare Lolly Scramble and the family of the Gr 1 Australian Derby winner Headturner. Mackintosh was bought out of the farm’s 2011 Weanling Sale draft for $11,000.

Mackintosh was given an economical run behind the leader today by Samantha Collett and they were in control of the race over the closing 200 metres. His performance saw his Derby odds cut to $16.

Sav’s final resting place

“I’ve got a couple of very special bottles of wine that I’ve had for a number of years, and usually they would have been opened on a celebration, but I thought it was very pertinent, and well, it was a celebration, it was a celebration of his life,” Mark Chittick told The Straight.

19 June 2026

Savabeel: 2001—2026

Savabeel walked through our gates in 2005 and never stopped giving. Twenty-one years on, we said goodbye to our old friend, a horse who didn’t just shape a breeding industry, he defined one. There will never be another quite like him. Rest easy, Sav.