We've had a great start to the new season with Hill Of Kings winning the Pakuranga Hunt Cup! We were delighted with King's incredible performance, he's been a stable-favourite right from the start, a kind horse that always tries hard. Shaun's instructions to Jay Kozaczek were to jump the outside panels of the hurdles due to the track being so heavy, it was a daring plan and a bold ride by Jay but they got the fresh ground and his uninterrupted run paid off and he was eased down to win by just under 3 lengths.
This win marks a welcome change of luck for Shaun, who had previously lined up horses for this race twice — first with Bay Rocker, now retired as a huntsman’s horse in Rotorua, and more recently with Pacheco, who went amiss last season. Pacheco has since been rehabilitated and slowly brought back over the past 12 months, having his first outing back on the racetrack at the start of the month. He’s been in excellent form lately, finishing third twice in open flat races and being beaten by only a short head in his most recent start at Ellerslie.
Playinasandpit just missed out on getting her maiden win at Te Rapa on the 9th of August, she is showing to be a nice, progressive filly (by Niagra) and seems to be relishing these wetter tracks. We've turned her out now as she'd had a long prep and she will come back into work at the end of Summer with fresh legs. She will be hard to beat over ground next winter.
Notabadspillane seems to have come back in this prep with plenty of upside, on his first start overground he ran a good race, he had no luck in running and did a bit wrong by over-racing but it was pleasing to see him storming home strongly for third. At the time he was paying $61 for the New Zealand Cup (3200). Since, he has had two further starts at Te Rapa over 2200m and 2100m, showing us what we've always believed he can do and put his best hoof forwards to win both. He's been a late maturer and has had his quirks along the way, Shaun has done a super job with him and has been very patient to get these results.
He has pulled up in excellent order and all being well, he'll fly down to Riccarton to contend in the Cup on the 15th November. (currently paying $12).
Notabadspillane was sourced by Shaun and Elen at the NZB Karaka Yearling sale, from Ardsley Stud. We took a liking to him, he was very athletic and light on his feet. Although he wasn't the biggest type he had a lot of presence about him with a good walk. Jim Wallace spoke to Shaun about a half sibling that he had at home that 'went good' so that sealed the deal and we took him home. The sibling did 'go good' indeed and turned out to be Pennyweka who won the NZ and Australian Oaks. We were thrilled for great friend and long-time owner; Chris Faulker alongside his friend Hugh Chapman to come in on the ownership - which is where the name was born from their time together in association with the Spillane Cup. Elen's father Brad Nicholas also took a share so that's very special to us as it's his first taste in racehorse ownership.
Chur Nibble left our stable a maiden after showing plenty of promise last season, he's lightly raced son of What's The Story. He was a late starter and has only had one campaign in NZ where he had 5 starts, finishing 2nd in 3 of them. We were approached by trainer Travis Doudle in Adelaid who thought he would be a good type to go over there and we were happy to try out that option with him. The training facilities look incredible, he's a lucky horse! He seems to have settled in well and we look forwards to watching his aus debut.
Click the link below to have a look at the beautiful facilities where the horses are able to work.
The Apprentice Premiership is currently being led by our stable apprentice; Elen who's in a great vein of form and enjoying being back in the saddle. We're very lucky that so many wonderful trainers are supportive of her riding as our racehorse team is very small for us at the minute - we only have three(!); Hill Of Kings, Pacheco and Notabadspillane.
Hopefully Pacheco can pull it out the bag on his next start which is likely to be at Taupo over 2600m in the Poverty Bay Turf Club Cup. The extra distance will suit him very well. The fact that all three of these horses have either won or run 2nd on their latest couple of starts is testament to Shaun's attention to detail and horsemanship skills.
The rest of the horses at the stables are mostly pre-trainers which are Hong Kong owned and will be educated here before going to start their careers in HK. Universal Patch and Infinity Patch are the most recent to trial, they both had an educational day out at Rotorua where they were perfectly mannered and handled the occasion very professionally. They've both shown a nice amount of ability and we're excited to follow their careers.
We also have a nice Sweynesse filly who's just waiting for a little bit of a better track (aren't we all?!) before she heads to the trials.
Coming up in November are the NZB Ready to Run sales on the 12th & 13th of November, please get in contact with Shaun if you would like to register an interest in taking a share.
These sales are world renown and a great opportunity to purchase a racehorse who's already been educated, we're also very lucky that we're able to get an opinion from the jockey's who've breezed them up as well.
