Grant Peters
Brent and Cherry Taylor are no strangers to the feeling of success, 40 Group One races have been won by horses bred, raised or sold by Trelawney Stud since the Taylor family purchased the iconic property in 1993.
The rush of emotion from a win never dampens, no matter the number of victories on the tally, and last Saturday was no exception.
Brent and Cherry made a last-minute decision to travel to Brisbane to attend the Doomben meeting and were on hand to witness a Group winning double by horses connected to the farm and a further Group Three placing by Igraine (Galileo – Iota) who runs in the farm’s silks. A domestic double at Rotorua added to the red-letter day.
“You can’t beat being there on the day,” Brent Taylor said. “It was a wonderful experience.”
“We had only decided on the Thursday to go over. Having our own mare Igraine racing was the primary reason but having others we were associated with and friends over there watching them was an influencing factor as well.”
Purple Sector (Pins – Eden Valley) kicked off celebration when he delivered in the Gr.3 Rough Habit Plate (2000m). The three-year-old colt, who has now been sent for a spell, was bred by Trelawney Stud and purchased as a yearling by bloodstock agent Duncan Ramage through the farm’s 2017 New Zealand Bloodstock draft.
“Purple Sector was impressive,” Taylor said. “We actually bred and sold his dam Eden Valley though we did sell her at the May Sale last year. We have kept her daughter Vinevale who has won six races and she will probably go to Shamexpress this season.”
Three races later the merriment was in full swing after The Bostonian (Jimmy Choux – Keepa Cheval) raced his way to victory in the Gr.1 Doomben 10,000 (1200m). The Tony Pike-trained gelding was born and raised at Trelawney Stud for breeder-owner David Archer who operates under his Archer Equine Investments Ltd banner.
“Bostonian was destined for the sales, but he had an X-ray issue which wouldn’t have been well-received,” Taylor said.
“He was always a lovely colt, very athletic, and it’s turned out to be a pretty good decision to have kept him.”
The Bostonian is out of Keeper mare Keepa Cheval, a half-sister to Archer’s 10-time Group One winner Mufhasa. A winner over 1200m herself, Keepa Cheval has had three foals to race for three winners.
NZ Racing Desk
The Taylors have a tried and tested practice of importing mares to race before they retire to the Trelawney broodmare band. German-bred mare Igraine is one such venture and was selected and purchased at the December Tattersall’s Breeding Stock Sale for 65,000 guineas through bloodstock agent Paul Moroney.
“It was probably our only chance of owning and racing a Galileo mare,” Taylor said.
“We bought her as a breeding prospect but the brief to Paul was to try and get something that might also be able to race.”
Race she did, winning four races to date since arriving in the southern hemisphere, including the Gr.3 Counties Cup (2100m). The Robert Priscott-trained mare was making her Australian debut on Saturday and was more than up to the task finishing runner up in the Gr.3 Chairman’s Handicap (2000m) by a whisker.
“We have imported and raced a few,” Taylor said. “There was Stella Livia, the dam of Spieth, who we brought down and she won a couple for us. There are others but nothing with the success that Igraine has given us.”
Igraine, who is likely to have another start in Brisbane in a fortnight, is a daughter of Gr.1 Preis der Diana winner Iota (Tiger Hill) and is a half-sister to the Gr.1 Grosser Preis von Berlin winner Ito (Adlerflug).
On the home front graduates of Trelawney Stud’s New Zealand Bloodstock yearling draft capped off an already stellar day with a double at Rotorua.
Nordic (Ocean Park – Queen Cha Cha) made easy work of his rivals in the first race, while Campari (O’Reilly – Lillet) was equally impressive later in the day.
The well-related Nordic was bred by Dominic Li under his IDL Racing banner and purchased by Bruce Perry for $260,000 in 2017. He is half-brother to dual Group One winner Suavito (Thorn Park) and Group Three winner Sultan Of Swing (Bachelor Duke).
Campari was bred in partnership by Trelawney Stud and Faith Taylor, and later sold as a yearling for $100,000 when purchased by syndicator Go Racing in 2016.
The Trelawney Stud broodmare band currently stands at around 35 and the Taylors will continue to improve the pedigrees, giving their progeny the best chance of success.
The proof is in the results, three stallions will stand at stud this season that were bred and sold by Trelawney Stud.
“It is fantastic to have the horses out there with their raceday performance reflecting your belief in their pedigree, and for other people to be able to share that,” Taylor said.
“We will definitely be breeding back to Ocean Park this season. We will be supporting Grunt in Australia and we are yet to find a mare for Spieth but that could happen.”
For Taylor the perfect result would be producing the quintessential Trelawney product.
“The ultimate is to breed a Group One winner out of a mare that we have bred, by a stallion we have bred. Hopefully that will happen one day.”
With the bloodlines that grace the famed Waikato pastures of Trelawney Stud it should only be a matter of time. -NZTBA