Month: June 2020

Stardome winning at Eagle Farm on Saturday. Photo: Grant Peters Savabeel gelding Stardome (NZ) picked up his fourth winner’s cheque when successful at Eagle Farm on Saturday over 2200m. Stardome took good form into the race, having placed in his last two starts over 1400m and 1600m, however, Go Racing Syndication Manager Albert Bosma said the biggest concern was the big step-up in distance on Saturday. “It was a really good win, but he was stepping up from 1600m only 10 days ago,” Bosma said. “The only question mark we…

Lot 2 – Reliable Man x Lady Zafira. Photo: Supplied Lady Zafira (NZ) (Iffraaj) caught Paul Yesberg’s eye when she won the Listed Pegasus Stakes Handicap (1000m) in 2016, so much so that he bought her and is now offering her Reliable Man yearling through New Zealand Bloodstock’s South Island Sale on plus.gavelhouse.com. “The reason I bought the mare was that she won the race that I sponsor at Cup week – The Yesberg Insurance Pegasus Stakes,” Yesberg said. “She’s a beautiful yearling and was going to go to Karaka…

The Ministry for Primary Industries (MPI) has completed testing all adult horses considered at risk of contracting Theileria equi infection through association with an infected imported thoroughbred mare at Cambridge Stud. All 263 tests have returned negative results. The horse concerned was imported to New Zealand for breeding purposes in February 2019 and was found to be infected with Theileria equi as part of standard export certification prior to onward shipment to Australia. The horse has not displayed any signs of illness in its time in New Zealand. Ministry scientists…

Chris and Rosanna Luoni. Photo: Supplied Chris Luoni, one of the driving forces behind the establishment of the New Zealand Racing Hall of Fame and a past chairman has passed away in Hamilton overnight after a battle with illness. Luoni, an accountant by profession, had been an avid racing fan since his teenage years following the fortunes of his father George’s high-class racehorse of the 1970s, Happy Union. He experienced success as a breeder and owner with horses such as stakes winners Ma Danseuse and Oliverdance, and he also raced…

Temyia Taiaroa winning on Satin Belt at the Foxton trials on Thursday. Photo: Peter Rubery (Race Images Palmerston North) Promising rider Temyia Taiaroa is proud to be the third-generation of her family to become a jockey. The Central Districts apprentice has been riding since before she can remember and she is pleased to be following her dream career and her forebearers footsteps. “My Granddad, Arnold Taiaroa, he was a jockey, as well as my Dad (Evan), he is riding amateurs at the moment,” Taiaroa said. “I have been riding ponies…

Preferment will stand for $9,500+gst this coming breeding season. Photo: Trish Dunell Brighthill Farm have come up with a unique offering for breeders leading into the new breeding season. In response to the COVID-19 pandemic, the Waikato farm has elected to reduce the service fees of all three of their stallions and offer two payment options to breeders. “We are all looking at the times in front of us and everything is uncertain,” Brighthill Farm principal Nick King said. “Our primary thinking behind it was really to help people keep…

A colt by Highly Recommended from the family of Melody Belle is one of a four-strong draft offered by Clearview Park Stud at the South Island Sale which is being conducted online through Gavelhouse Plus. Photo: Supplied Timaru-based Clearview Park Stud will offer four lots at the New Zealand Bloodstock South Island Sale, which is being conducted online for the first time in its history due to COVID-19 disruptions. The sale, which concludes on Sunday, is hosted on gavelhouse.com’s new online platform, Gavelhouse Plus and Clearview Park’s Aaron Tapper said…