Waikato Stud Stallions on Parade this Saturday

26 April 2011

Snow Excuse Debuts In Style

No Excuse Needed made his presence felt at Ellerslie on Easter Monday when he was represented by an eye-catching debut winner. Two-year-old Snow Excuse had impressed in two lead-up trials and he delivered on that promise for Cambridge trainer Ralph Manning with victory at the first time of asking.

The gelding settled well back in the field before rider Michael Coleman angled him into the clear early in the run home. They swept down the outside of the track with a well-timed finish to land the DJ O’Sullivan Salver by a head.

“He was a bit slow to move but was travelling well and when we got to the outside he kept coming home nicely,” Coleman said.

“He always felt like he was going to get there.”

Snow Excuse was purchased as a weanling by Manning at WS’s unreserved auction at Karaka in 2008 for $4500. He is out of the stakes-winning Mighty Avalanche mare Kirkberg and is a half-brother to three winners, including Johnny Knoxville who won nine races in New Zealand and Australia.

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.