Photo: Trish Dunell
David Paykel celebrated an unexpected award last week after his homebred mare So Wicked was recognised by the Australian Turf Club as the horse who won the most races on ATC tracks during the 2020/2021 racing season.
“I’d never heard of that award and apparently a number of racing commentators had never heard of it either,” Paykel said from his Takapuna home. “But there it was and I will take it. Five wins in the greater Sydney area is pretty impressive.”
So Wicked, who was born and raised at Trelawney Stud for Paykel and wife Angela, had 17 starts last season, winning five and placing a further four times out of the stable of Chris Waller. Her five wins came at 1800-1900m.
A daughter of Street Cry, So Wicked is from a family Paykel established when purchasing her grandam Pristine Kristine.
Pristine Kristine was sourced from the United States by Paykel’s bloodstock adviser Michael Otto and produced nine foals, including So Wicked’s Dam – Gr.2 SAJC Queen of the South winner So Pristine.
Paykel, the son and nephew respectively of Fisher & Paykel whiteware manufacturing founders Maurice Paykel and Sir Woolf Fisher, and Trelawney Stud’s Taylor family have a long-standing relationship. Paykel’s bloodstock first took up residence at Trelawney Stud around 10 years ago when David Benjamin was scaling down Fayette Park prior to it being put on the market.
“We’ve known the Paykel family for many years now and David and Angela first came to us to help with their bloodstock interests around ten years ago,” Trelawney Stud’s Brent Taylor said. “We’ve been involved in both their breeding and sale ring ventures and they have had some great success with both.
“They are life-long friends and wonderful people that deserve every success they get. Like many, they’ve had disappointments in the breeding and racing game so it is nice to see that balanced with the good.”
Photo: Trish Dunell
Paykel echoed these sentiments and highlighted Zarzuela as a standout horse produced from the paddocks of Trelawney.
“We have been with Trelawney for a long time,” Paykel said. “I was getting a few mares around me and they were with David Benjamin but he was going to move on so I was looking for somewhere else and settled on Trelawney Stud.
“We have had a very amicable and worthwhile relationship with them.
“The most memorable one was breeding Zarzuela, she was a Zabeel out of Star Satire.”
Paykel purchased Star Satire as a yearling and she went on to become one of the top three-year-old fillies of her year in New Zealand. A winner of five races, Star Satire’s biggest victory was in the Gr.1 Otaki-Maori RC WFA Stakes.
She produced eight foals, all winners including Zarzuela whose four wins included the Gr.2 Great Northern Guineas, Gr.2 Championship Stakes and Gr.3 Waikato Guineas.
It is a family that Paykel holds with great affection and one that still features prominently in his bloodstock portfolio today.
“You couldn’t help but get very fond of Star Satire,” he said. “She was such an individual in her own right. There was only one thing she wanted to do and that was beat the others.
“Zarzuela was totally endeared to us as well with her attitude and what she did for us.
“I have some granddaughters and great-granddaughters of Star Satire still. Since I bought her I have retained some of the family and they have gone on and done well for us.”
The legacy will live on in Finepoint, a Pins three-year-old filly out of Zarzuela who is nearing her raceday debut.
“She will be coming into Chris Waller’s stable any day now,” Paykel said. “She is a lovely filly and has shown quite a bit. She could be racing before Christmas all going well.” -Amie Best, Trelawney Stud