The Solitaire Notches 54th SW for O’Reilly

7 February 2012

O’Reilly notched his 54th individual stakes winner on Saturday when his 4YO daughter The Solitaire denied all in the Listed Dunedin Gold Cup (2400m).

The ½ length black-type breakthrough followed a previous start win in the Gore Cup and represented the 5th of this variety for owner/breeders Tony, Ray, Marton and Joe Dennis.

All told, the Dennis Brothers-raced mare has achieved NZ$63,225 in earnings and has been a consistent performer for trainer Steve Anderton, with top two placings coming in six of her last seven starts.

The Solitaire is a daughter of The Dazzler, who is a half-sister to the Dennis brothers’ Gr.1 O’Reilly mare The Jewel. It follows then that Saturday’s winner is a ¾ in blood to the said Gr.1 winner.

The Solitaire also represents the 12th Stakes winner bred on the O’Reilly (s), Centaine (ds) cross and is a strong advocate of the cross’ 64.6% Winners-to-Runners ratio.

The Corner with Garry Chittick

The two of you will be aware of my ongoing concern as to the future of our sport. You could argue I have a vested interest; well, I did have, but my interest now is to give the future generations the opportunity my generation had. Now I can tell you, hand on heart, there were many financial thin times. 1975 was my fledgling start with five mares on 130 acres that occasionally flooded with the well-bred, non-race-winning Super Gray.

12 August 2026

Classy Debut Victory For Major Beel’s Brother Savagram

From a pedigree known all too well by the Gai Waterhouse and Adrian Bott stable, 3yo Savabeel colt Savagram (NZ) kicked off his race career in the best possible way, highlighting himself as a potential black-type performer.