Top family fires at Gisborne

23 September 2013

A famous WS family was to the fore at Gisborne yesterday when Frankly struck for the first time. Victory was both expected and deserved as the John Bary-trained mare had been in the frame in all three of her previous starts.

The O’Reilly four-year-old had placed in her only start in Victoria earlier this year before returning to New Zealand. She finished runner-up in both her Taupo outings before opening her account over 1350m on Sunday.

Frankly is out of the Centaine mare O’Really, who is a daughter of the Golden Slipper winner Courtza and a three-quarter sister to the Group One winner Critic. O’Really is also the dam of the stakes winner Keano (Pins), the Group performer Be Delicious and Aroon, whose son Take the Rap won at Group Three level in Australia. The family also features Frankly’s sire O’Reilly and the three-time Group One winner Our Pompeii.

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.