Group 1 Winner Number Ten for NZB

The Waikato Racing Club's Premier Race Meeting on Saturday provided New Zealand Bloodstock with its tenth individual Group 1 winner when MacO'Reilly led all the way in the $200,000 Group 1 Whakanui Stud International Stakes.

In what could be described as a tough front-running performance, on a scorching 29 degree Celsius Hamilton day, MacO'Reilly (O'Reilly - Double Babu, by Centaine) served it up to his rivals with a mid-race move to lead Sir Slick (Volksraad), who handed up surprisingly given his defeat in the race to Mission Critical (Fantastic Light) last year after employing similar tactics.

Jockey Hayden Tinsley led by some three lengths at the half way point in the race, and then the pair refused to flinch in the straight where three-year-old Tell A Tale (Tale of the Cat - Cheeky Veronica, by Sir Tristram) looked the only danger right up until the winning post.

Winning trainer David Howarth travelled all the way from Foxton to secure the Group 1 victory for owners Peter Cutts, Kevin Donovan, Bruce McCarrison and Gordon Powley.

"He's as tough as they get this bloke, and every time he gets in a dog fight he loves it. It's a great result for the stable, as we all work very hard. We were going to sit two lengths off Sir Slick, but Hayden went for Plan B when the pace slackened and it worked out."

MacO'Reilly - now a winner of eight of his 29 starts - was purchased at the 2005 Karaka Select Sale by David Howarth for $40,000 from Ardsley Stud. An Elusive City half-sister to MacO'Reilly was sold for $60,000 by Ardsley Stud at the recently concluded Karaka 2009 Select Sale, with David Howarth again the purchaser.

Their dam, Double Babu, is a daughter of New Zealand Filly of the Year Plume (Crested Wave), a winner of twelve races including the Group 1 New Zealand 1000 Guineas amongst her nine stakes victories.

MacO'Reilly's Whakanui Stud International Stakes was the first of two Group 1 races on Te Rapa race card, the second also raced under weight-for-age conditions.

New Zealand's very own 'big brown' Mufhasa (Pentire - Sheila Cheval, by Mi Preferido) scored his second Group 1 in the $200,000 Waikato Draught Sprint (1400m), his first attempt at weight-for-age racing.

Sam Spratt sat the gelding just off race leader Ruud Van Slaats (Van Nistelrooy) throughout running before the fireworks exploded just after the home turn. Mufhasa let go with his powerful burst over the 1400m just as he did at his previous start over 1200m to land victory comfortably by one and a quarter lengths from the fast finishing Gaze (Cape Cross).

The son of Pentire now aims for Australian spoils, with the A$2,000,000 Group 1 Doncaster Handicap (1600m) at Randwick on April 18 his next major aim. His trainer Stephen McKee is familiar with the race having won it twice with the great Sunline (Desert Sun), and his charge will now go to the paddock for a week to freshen for further glory.

Mufhasa is owned by David, Natalie and Simon Archer, and Diane Wright, who are expected to race Mufhasa's full brother whom they purchased from Rich Hill Stud at Karaka 2009 for $100,000, double the price they paid for Mufhasa from the same draft at the 2006 Karaka Select Sale.

Both Mufhasa and MacO'Reilly are two of the ten individual Group 1 winners this season produced from the Karaka sales ring. The ten Group 1 winners this season thus far range from the $150,000 paid by Lyndhurst farm for Group 1 Spring Champion Stakes winner Sousa (Galileo) as a weanling to the $20,000 paid by Paul Moroney for Group 1 Levin Classic winner Altered Image (Strategic Image) as a yearling. The average price for a Karaka Group 1 winner this season is just $68,800.

Click here for a full list of New Zealand Bloodstock's Group 1 winners this season.