Rhythm Returns for Ballymore Stables

12 November 2015

Babllymore Stables writes: It had been a while in between drinks for the unlucky Rhythm To Spare who rewarded connections for their patience with a dominant victory at Flemington on the final day of the carnival.

Dropping in class having contested the Toorak Handicap (trapped wide from an outside gate) and the Sale Cup (chasing a tearaway leader), Rhythm To Spare finally had things go his way.

Aided by a “masterful” ride by Damien Oliver, Rhythm To Spare proved 1 3/4 lengths too strong for his rivals in the $100,000 Antler Luggage Handicap – the win his seventh from 26 starts, increasing his prize money tally to $419,309.

Whilst the plan was to either sit just off the leaders or go back, depending on how the race was run, Oliver showed great initiative to instead take the lead when “nobody else wanted to go.”

Jumping well, Rhythm To Spare sat outside the first two in running in the very early stages but when the lack of pace became obvious Oliver made what turned out to be a winning move, taking his charge to the front.

And from there he dictated terms, picking up the pace from the 600m and getting clear early in the straight – the others chasing but unable to get any closer to Rhythm To Spare as they neared the line.

“He got into a good rhythm in front,” Oliver reported, adding that he was always going to prove hard to run down – “I knew I had a very fit racehorse under me and he did a great job to hold them all off.”

Michael Moroney was delighted to see Rhythm To Spare back in form, the talented six-year-old sidelined by injury prior to this campaign.

“He did a good job under the 60kg,” he said, noting that “he has had decent excuses for his last three runs.”

Whilst Rhythm To Spare progressed to the 2000m Eclipse Stakes after racing at Flemington last spring, he will be kept to the mile this time around with the Kilmore Cup “a good race for him.”

Raced by a big group led by R&C Legh Racing, Rhythm To Spare is a New Zealand bred son of Pins and the Group One placed Zabeel mare Stanica.

Purchased at the 2011 Karaka Premier by Paul Moroney, he is a half-brother to the smart gallopers Stanica Star and Makarska from a strong US family which produced the eight times Group One winner Game On Dude.

Tivaci’s Movie Night steals the show at Newcastle

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.

9 July 2026

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.