Pinzano strikes on debut

4 December 2013

Pinzano looked a potential black type candidate with a smart performance to win on debut at Pukekohe Park this afternoon. Bred by Garry Chittick, the daughter of Pins had won a trial in the spring before she was put aside to further develop.

“This filly has always showed plenty, but she’s had some growing issues which is why she hasn’t raced until now,” trainer Stephen McKee said. Pinzano came from off the pace will a well-timed run for rider Sam Spratt and a victory achieved in surprise fashion. “I thought she’d fly the gates, as they usually do for Sam, but she finished off really well,” McKee said.

Pinzano was an $18,000 Karaka purchase out of WS’s Select Sale draft for Albert Bosma’s Go Racing Syndicate. She is out of the Centaine mare Martini, who won four races and is a three-quarter sister to the South African Group One winner Taupo Retreat.

Fellow WS graduate Sono Veloce completed a Pukekohe double with a runaway maiden victory. “He’s a pretty fair horse and we’ve always had a high opinion of him,” trainer Nigel Tiley said. A son of No Excuse Needed, he is out of the Volksraad mare Sarah Little, who was a six-time winner.

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 …