Rudyard in top form for Group 3 test

Horses at Waikato Stud

Ever reliable four-year-old Rudyard produced a flawless dress rehearsal for an upcoming
stakes challenge with victory at Pukekohe Park on Saturday afternoon.

The Tony Pike-trained son of Charm Spirit was successful in the open sprint over 1300
metres, initially dead-heating for first before he was awarded the race on his own after a subsequent inquiry.

Rudyard settled midfield off the fence for apprentice Lily Sutherland and finished strongly in the run home, despite being inconvenienced by a wayward runner on his outside.

“He’s gone to a new level this preparation and we were looking at going down to Trentham, but stayed closer to home and he’ll run in the Easter Handicap (G3, 1600m) in a fortnight,” Pike said.

He has now amassed four wins and five minor place finishes from his nine runs this time in.

Part-owned by Waikato Stud, Rudyard is a son of Savabeel’s dual Group 2-winning daughter Lady Kipling and was purchased by Pike for $280,000 out of Windsor Park Stud’s draft at Karaka.

Recent News
28 October 2025

The Corner with Garry Chittick

I keep on proposing my retirement from the burden of a weekly Corner. I make the excuse it is hard to be credible, hard to let the two of you know about anything in our sport that hasn’t been covered before.

Read More
27 October 2025

WS-bred On The Lash scores at Sha Tin

Twenty-four hours following the final WS Cox Plate meeting run on the Moonee Valley track of old before it shuts for two years to make way for a new precinct, the race’s 2004 winner, Savabeel, continued his roll of runners, and this time it was via five-year-old On The Lash (ex Candelabra) at Sha Tin.

Read More