Snowdrop sizzles on return

29 October 2015

Snowdrop has a lot to live up to on pedigree and she hasn’t disappointed so far. The four-year-old collected two wins and a placing from her last four-start preparation and she resumed on a top note at Ruakaka this afternoon.

Trainer Tony Pike had her primed for a bold first-up showing when she led all the way to put away a handy field of Rating 75 sprinters. “They went pretty quickly and she really kicked on well,” rider Leith Innes said. “She’s a tough little filly and I love her.”

A daughter of Pins, Snowdrop is the first foal of the stud’s triple Group One winner Daffodil (NZ 1000 Guineas, Windsor Park Plate, AJC Oaks). It is also the family of the former crack two-year-old and Group One winner Good Faith (ARC Sires’ Produce Stakes).

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.

9 July 2026

WS graduate Honour Roll out to add stakes success at Otaki

Waikato Stud will be cheering on one of its promising graduates on Friday when Honour Roll contests the Listed John Turkington Forestry Castletown Stakes (1200m) at Otaki. The WS-bred son of the late Champion sire …