Trial watch: Ardry’s two-year-old Don Giuseppe

Arawa Park hosted 25 trial heats on Tuesday, with the morning’s standout performance coming from two-year-old colt Don Giuseppe, who raced away on the Heavy 10 surface to win by 5.5 lengths.

Trained by Peter and Shaun McKay, the colt was bought by Peter and Kim McKay from Elsdon Park at the 2026 NZB Karaka Yearling Sale for $40,000 (pictured below as a yearling – click to view). He is the first living foal of the Savabeel mare Ciccina, and the Ardrossan–Savabeel cross has also produced the multiple stakes winner Saltcoats.

A son of Redoute’s Choice, Ardrossan enters his eighth season at stud, and from limited opportunities in his early days is producing phenomenal results. He strikes at 8% stakes winners to runners; to place this in perspective, Savabeel‘s was 10.9% while in Australia, the 2025/26 Champion Australian Sire, Zoustar, is 6.6%.

Ardrossan has had to prove himself the hard way retiring to stud as the COVID-19 pandemic and economic uncertainty was hitting. In 2026, his yearlings sold for up to $450,000, with 60% of his NZB Karaka Book 1 offerings secured by international buyers. In Hong Kong, he strikes at 61% winners to runners, and with a book of two-year-olds totalling 128 and another book of 108 yearlings being offered in 2027, Ardrossan’s star will continue to rise.

Ardrossan stands for $20,000 plus GST in 2026.