Pins Filly Flys On Debut

22 June 2011

A successful WS family was to the fore at Ruakaka this afternoon when the well-related Shanstar delivered at the first time of asking. The Garry Chittick-bred filly was on debut for Pukekohe trainer Richard Collett and mounted a sustained finish in the straight under leading jockey Leith Innes to add another notch to the family belt.

A daughter of Pins, the three-year-old is out of the unraced O’Reilly mare Bling who is a sister to the Group performed Irish Nova. The second dam Night Star (Centaine) has produced four winners including the Listed Eagle Farm Stakes winner Plaudits (Danasinga) and is herself a sister to the Gr 3 Gold Trail and Lowland Stakes winner Starcent who was also the Gr 1 runner-up in the NZ 1000 Guineas and Bayer Classic.

She also distinguished herself at stud as the dam of multiple winner and Gr 1 performer Ambitious (Last Tycoon). The pedigree also features the Gr 2 Expressway, Shannon Quality and Peter Pan Stakes winner Sportsman and the Gr 2 Tea Rose Stakes winner Prisoner Of Love.

Shanstar was purchased by Collett out of WS’s 2009 Premier Sale line-up for $60,000 on behalf of the Shand brothers who have been long-time clients of the stable. The filly had hinted at her ability by placing at both her trial outings before her debut performance at Ruakaka.

The Word Is Out – Banquo Has His First Winner!

Improving from his debut second, the Kris Shailer trained Justin Case headed to his home track of Matamata on Friday to break his maiden in impressive fashion, becoming the first winner for his sire. Controlling …

23 January 2026

The Corner with Garry Chittick

Well, here we go again, this is the fifty-first consecutive sale Mary and I have been a vendor. My first auspicious entry was not at the Trentham Premier Sale, no, it was a couple at Waikato. They were underdone; the Indian Order, I think, sold for $1200, the Holy Smoke went up in smoke. A complete lunatic, it was suggested we remove him from the grounds and return when close to sale in the hope we could secretly drop him on some unsuspecting enthusiast.