Solid opening day at Sydney

10 April 2013

WS made a strong impression on the opening day of the Sydney Easter Sale with a Pins colt secured by the Hong Kong Jockey Club for $A360,000. The youngster is out of the winning O’Reilly mare Lucida and is a half-brother to the multiple winner and Gr.1 VRC Oaks placegetter Placement (Savabeel) with their grand-dam the former leading three-year-old filly, Starcent.

The Matamata farm’s other lot on day one was the O’Reilly filly out of a half-sister to the Gr 1 Ellerslie Sires’ Produce Stakes winner Good Faith, who made $A120,000. From the family of No Excuse Needed’s champion three-year-old Daffodil (Gr 1 NZ 1000 Guineas, Gr 1 Australian Oaks, Gr 1 Windsor Park Plate), she was purchased by respected Queensland bloodstock agent John Foote.

The Corner with Garry Chittick

It would appear I now have to continue my weekly Corner with the amount of rumblings at the start of our new racing season. I have been around long enough to know we can never please all; my tenure as Chairman of the Racing Board was subjected to as much vitriol as subsequent Boards have had to bear, so what’s different this time, or is it different.

5 August 2026

First foal for Waikato’s Group 1 winner Skew Wiff

Group 1-winning Savabeel mare Skew Wiff (ex Starvoia), known affectionately as ‘Wiffy’, foaled a filly by Super Seth in the early hours of Wednesday, 5 August.