Savabeel tops HK bill
Dances With Dragon completed a notable Hong Kong double on Sunday evening for champion Waikato Stud stallion Savabeel.
The Casper Fownes-trained representative was the star of the show with a runaway win at Sha Tin in the G3 Premier Plate.
It was his fourth victory from his last six starts and the 11th of his well-travelled career.
As Hall Of Fame, he won the G1 Levin Classic in New Zealand from the Te Akau stable of Jamie Richards and Stephen Autridge.
He began his Hong Kong career with Peter Ho, but a change of stable has seen him back to his best for Fownes.
Dances With Dragon was originally a $230,000 Karaka purchase for David Ellis and is out of the Galileo mare Around The Clock.
It is most notably the family of the dual Group 1 winner and sire Nothin’ Leica Dane.
Earlier on the card, Savabeel’s son Regency Master opened his account for Group 1-winning trainer Danny Shum.
Placed at his previous appearance, he was too good for his class four rivals over 1600 metres.
A $500,000 Karaka Ready To Run Sale buy, Regency Master is out of the High Chaparral mare Lady Chaparral.
She won the G3 Tauranga S. and is a half-sister to the G1 New Zealand Oaks winner Bramble Rose.
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.
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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.
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