September means spring and the beginning of the new breeding season. It is also the time when stallions can make a late impression and perhaps help breeders to narrow down and finalise their broodmare matings. One beneficiary is Cambridge Stud’s Almanzor (Wootton Bassett) whose Rise At Dawn and Positivity on Saturday formed the quinella in... Read More

Such an understatement from rider Craig Grylls upon dismounting from Bonny Lass (Super Easy) following her strong win in Saturday’s Foxbridge Plate (Gr 2, 1200m). Grylls can take much of the credit for the win as he saved ground (and not in the best of the Heavy 9 track conditions) until the 600 metres then... Read More

First run in 1991, the Northland Breeders’ Stakes has delivered a number of top-class performers. The most notable, of course, is 1998 winner Sunline (Desert Sun), a champion in every sense of the word. In Sunline’s case, her win was at two as the race then was for two-year-olds, staged late in the season. It... Read More

Riccarton’s Winter Cup (Gr 3, 1600m) got the new season off to a heart-stopping start when Jay Bee Gee (Complacent) got the judge’s nod by the narrowest of margins, a judge that clearly had a much clearer image than we the public were provided. It sure looked like a dead-heat. Winning jockey Kelly Myers also... Read More

A gala evening celebrating the annual breeders’ awards named Lilahjay (Tavistock), dam of Mr Brightside (Bullbars) as the NZTBA Eight Carat New Zealand Broodmare of the Year, the most historical award of the evening. First awarded in 1953 to Broieveine (Broiefort), dam of champion Dalray (Balloch), Lilahjay joins a line up of famous producers, several... Read More