Smart Pins mare warming toward more black type

31 August 2017

Flamingo

Flamingo will be kept to her own grade in the immediate future before sterner tests are put to the talented daughter of Pins. The aptly-named mare created a good impression last season when she won her first two starts and was then given a break after finding the line strongly from the back to finish third in the Gr.3 Cambridge Breeders’ Stakes.

Flamingo is trained by David and Emma Haworth for her breeder, Waikato Stud principal Mark Chittick. “There are no big plans for her just yet,” Emma Haworth said. “We’ll have a talk with Mark and some decent races will be on the cards for her later this year.” Chittick also bred and raced Flamingo’s mother Bird, who won the Listed Warstep Stakes from the Haworth stable in 2009 in a victory that earned her the NZ Bloodstock Southern Filly of the Year title.

As long as she gets conditions to suit, Flamingo will make her four-year-old debut in Saturday’s Hastings – Heart of Hawke’s Bay 1300. “We won’t be going anywhere if it’s wet,” Haworth said. “We’re not in a hurry with her, she’s ready but we’re not racing her for the sake of it.”

Flamingo furthered her spring preparation at last week’s Foxton trials where she finished third in an open heat over 1000m under Rosie Myers, who has been booked for the mount at Hastings. “It was very wet so we told Rosie to take it easy and let her run home under her own steam,” Haworth said. “Rosie was very pleased with the mare.” Flamingo will be opposed at Hastings by stablemate Profile, who also finished third at the Waverley trials.

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.