Smart Giant Continues March To The Top

31 October 2011

Smart Giant’s half-sister was a triple Gr 1 winner and the Hong Kong-based four-year-old is moving stylishly closer to earning his stripes at the top level. At Sha Tin last night he was a runaway winner over 1800 metres to confirm his standing as one of the colony’s rising stars.

The son of Pins is out of the O’Reilly mare Spring whose daughter Daffodil carried the WS colours to victories in the AJC Oaks, New Zealand 1000 Guineas and the Hawke’s Bay Challenge Stakes. It is also the family of the Gr 1 Ellerslie Sires Produce Stakes winner Good Faith.

Smart Giant, whose July victory sealed last season’s Hong Kong premiership for trainer John Moore, was a winner on his return to racing last month and then finished runner-up when conceding five and a-half kilos to Turf Express. He was dynamic last night when clearly superior to his class two rivals when again giving away up to six and a-half kilos in weight to take his record to five wins and four placings from nine appearances.

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.