Victory Crowns Comeback

13 June 2011

The touch of master trainer Bart Cummings was again evident when Rigging successfully returned from a lengthy break at Kembla Grange yesterday. The WS-bred and sold son of No Excuse Needed was back on track after nearly a year off due to injury to win first-up over 1200 metres.

Raced by the legendary horseman and Dato Tan Chin Nam, the five-year-old was making just his seventh appearance and had weighed in on four previous occasions. He was purchased by Cummings for $290,000 out of WS’s Premier draft in 2007 and is out of the Danasinga mare Windsong who is a half-sister to the Gr 2 Surround and Tea Rose Stakes winner Glenview. It is also the family of the Gr 1 South African Derby winner Timber Trader.

Meanwhile in Hong Kong, former stud resident Danasinga went close to providing the Matamata farm with a quinella at Sha Tin where Big Winner Again was a class five winner with Sammy’s Fortune claiming third money. The former, bought out of WS’s 2007 Premier Sale line-up by the Hong Kong Jockey Club for $160,000, is a brother to the multiple winner Striptease and the feature names in his pedigree are the Gr 1 winners Anacheeva (Caulfield Guineas) and Headturner (Australian Derby). Sammy’s Fortune, a $190,000 buy for the HKJC from WS’s draft in 2006, is a sibling to six winners including his Gr 2 Waikato Gold Cup winning sister Singing Star.

Oaks Day glory for Waikato Stud-bred Sulek

Waikato Stud enjoyed a special moment on Oaks Day at Flemington on Thursday, when the New Zealand-bred gelding Sulek – by Super Seth out the O’Reilly mare Tiff And Co, saluted on one of the biggest days of the racing calendar and in front of an international crowd. Bred by the farm in partnership with the Dowager Duchess of Bedford, Sulek took out the A$500,000 Cirka Melbourne Cup Carnival Country Final (1600m) for the third and most lucrative win of his career.

5 November 2026

The Corner with Garry Chittick

And so, another Melbourne Cup has been run. Regretfully, Mary and I were not there. I have no idea how many we attended up until COVID, and I miss the Cup week. Victoria prides itself as the sporting capital of Australia; it may be, they certainly know how to create an event.