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.

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.