Waikato-bred racing star
Ocean Park has been named Waikato-bred horse of the year.
The announcement was made at Friday’s Waikato Thoroughbred Breeders’ Cathay Pacific Awards at Hamilton’s SkyCity.
Bred by Trelawney Stud’s Brent Taylor, Ocean Park won five Gr I races this season and fended off 13 other Gr I winners bred by members of the Waikato branch of the New Zealand Thoroughbred Breeders’ Association to take the supreme award.
Thorn Park stallion Ocean Park’s five Gr I wins were the Makfi Challenge Stakes (1400m) at Hastings, the Gr I Underwood Stakes (1800m) at Caulfield, the Caulfield Stakes (2000m), Cox Plate (2040m) at Moonee Valley and the New Zealand Stakes (2000m) at Ellerslie.
Trained by Gary Hennessy, Ocean Park has since been retired to Waikato Stud.
The other Gr I winners honoured were Ferlax (bred by John Thompson, Alan Galbraith and Scott Williams), Fleur de Lune (Ada Parnwell), Gondokoro (Trevor Delroy), Historian ( Irene Meade), More Than Sacred (Dato Yap Kim San and Yap Kian Tat), Mufhasa (Colin and John Thompson), Norzita ( Marc and Sarah Devcich), Recite (The Oaks Stud), Rumya (Sheikh Mohammed bin Khalifa Al Maktoum), Sacred Falls (Waikato Stud), Solzhenitsyn (Grande Vue Lodge Syndicate), Veyron ( Alastaire and Isabel Barker).
Retiring Waikato Racing Club chairman David Smith was recognised for his contribution to racing and breeding when he was named Mills Reef personality of the year, while Windsor Park Stud’s Calum Jones was named Mary Lynne Ryan Young Achiever and Tim Welch named as the BNZ Quiet Achiever.