WS stallions in Gr 1 frame

8 April 2013

WS stallions were in the thick of the Group One action on both sides of the Tasman on Saturday. O’Reilly’s daughter Silent Achiever was narrowly denied victory in the BMW Stakes at Rosehill where she finished powerfully to just miss another top-flight title to go alongside her New Zealand Derby success.

Savabeel’s four-year-old son Sangster, already a three-time Group One winner, also put in a strong performance to finish third in the BMW. That concluded a highly profitable campaign which had previously netted him wins in the Auckland Cup and the Darci Brahma International Stakes.

Meanwhile on the domestic front, Diademe again showed her quality with a game effort for third at Te Aroha in the New Zealand Thoroughbred Breeders’ Stakes. The Garry Chittick-bred Savabeel mare has made impressive progress this preparation and last month won the Gr 3 Westbury Classic at just her eighth raceday appearance.

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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.

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WS graduate Honour Roll out to add stakes success at Otaki

Waikato Stud will be cheering on one of its promising graduates on Friday when Honour Roll contests the Listed John Turkington Forestry Castletown Stakes (1200m) at Otaki. The WS-bred son of the late Champion sire …