Stud Glad To Gain Black Type Credit

21 January 2013

A patient approach with Glad was rewarded with black type at Trentham this afternoon and the prospect of further honours next weekend. Carrying the colours of Waikato Stud, the Pins mare passed her sternest test to date when successful in the Listed Anniversary Handicap and a performance that also cut her Gr.1 Thorndon Mile quote from $31 to $10.

“She’s only lightly-raced and as a three-year-old she was slightly frail and didn’t have much luck in in two stakes races last term,” Matamata trainer Jason Bridgman said. “She was three wide in both the Manawatu Classic and the Sunline Vase so I told Matt (Cameron) that whatever you do don’t get caught three wide.”

Glad, who had finished third and fourth respectively in those stakes events, jumped to an ideal position just off the speed and forged to the front in the straight. The mare was up for the fight when favourite Sangster challenged and prevailed by a neck with Estrato a brave third. Out of a winning Rory’s Jester mare from the family of the great Black Caviar, Glad has now won four of her 10 starts and today’s success added significantly to her future broodmare value for the Chittick family.

The stud had further reason to celebrate in the following event when the O’Reilly mare O’Fille came from well back in the field under a typical Noel Harris ride to land the Gr.3 Trentham Stakes. It was just reward for the Wayne Marshment-trained mare who had been luckless last preparation placed in both the Gr.2 Travis Stakes and the Listed Manawatu Breeders’ Stakes. She carried 53kg today and will drop a kilo in the Gr.2 Wellington Cup, in which she is now quoted as an $8 chance. “She’s a top horse and will keep me going for another year,” Harris said.

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.