NZ’s Lyndhurst Farm Celebrates A Notable Weekend Of Success
Three celebrations on Saturday were capped by a Group One highlight with the John Size-trained Mr Stunning in the Group 1 Hong Kong Sprint (1200m) at Sha Tin on Sunday evening.
Mr Stunning is one of their many pin-hooking success stories, the couple having bought the son of Exceed and Excel in Melbourne for $A110,000. They subsequently sold him the following year during the Premier Sale at Karaka for $250,000 to Magus Equine, the Hong Kong operation of Willie Leung.
Mr Stunning had won an Avondale trial in June 2015 before heading to Hong Kong, where his record now stands at 10 wins and three placings from 16 starts.
He won the Group 2 Hong Kong Sprint Cup (1200m) last April, was then runner-up in Gr.1 Chairman’s Sprint Prize (1200m) and he has now won his last three starts, beginning with the Group 2 Premier Bowl (1200m) on October 22 and continuing with the Group 2 Wealth Management Jockey Club Sprint (1200m) last month.
“I was up there with Danny Rolston, from New Zealand Bloodstock, promoting the Ready To Run Sale when he won the Premier Bowl,” Mark Treweek said. “I got to meet his owner and was even taken down to the parade ring to be in the winning photo. It was good to see him (Mr Stunning) again.”
When purchasing the aptly named Mr Stunning as a weanling, the Treweeks were taken by his presence and movement.
“He was really attractive, not very big, but he had really good movement,” Treweek said. “He is out of an English mare and was bred by Tony Santic, Makybe Diva’s owner, and was part of a dispersal sale.”
The Treweeks have followed Mr Stunning’s fortunes in Hong Kong and were thrilled to see him break through for the Group One win.
“He’s always shown so much,” Treweek said. “He’s been the highest rated horse in Hong Kong all year.”
Size now plans to target the Group 1 Centenary Sprint Cup (1200m) in January and Group 1 Chairman’s Sprint Prize (1200m) in April with Mr Stunning.
Even before Mr Stunning’s biggest moment of glory, the Treweeks had plenty to celebrate the previous day.
The couple’s daughter Nicole turned 29 last Saturday and the occasion was marked with an Ellerslie win by the Treweek’s promising galloper Magic Chai. On the same Auckland programme, the Treweeks were involved in the quinella in the open sprint when Volpe Veloce narrowly defeated Heroic Valour
Volpe Veloce is yet another of the horses they have pin-hooked, having bought the daughter of Foxwedge for $A120,000 in Melbourne and on-sold her to Matamata trainer Graham Richardson at Karaka the following year for $240,000.
The Treweeks involvement with Heroic Valour is as members of the Te Akau 2015 Breeding Syndicate, who race the Fastnet Rock four-year-old.
“It’s the first of the Te Akau syndicates we have been in and we’re having a lot of fun,” Treweek said. “We wanted him to win, but to run second to Volpe Veloce was the next best thing.”
“She’s a top mare and she’s going to the Railway and Heroic Valour could be there, too, so it’s going to be exciting for us.”
“Heroic Valour has already done well winning the Group 1 (Sistema Diamond Stakes) at Ellerslie as a two-year-old and being placed in the 2000 Guineas.”
New Year’s Day at Ellerslie promises to be a big day for the Treweeks. As well as the Sistema Railway (1200m), the programme includes the Group 2 Laser Plumbing Te Puke Avondale Cup (2400m) and the Dunstan Feeds Stayers Championship Final (2200m).
“We could have runners in all three races,” Treweek said. “Kachhi, a mare we bred and race, is being aimed at the Avondale Cup and if she doesn’t run in that she’ll start in the Dunstan Final, which is the race Magic Chai is going for. They’re the only three horses we are racing at the moment.”
“Kachhi is the last foal of our mare Barija. She died a couple of hours after having her and Kachhi was raised on a foster mare.”
Highlights the Treweeks have experienced as owners include the Group 1 New Zealand 2000 Guineas (1600m) with Atlante, the Group 1 Manawatu Sires’ Produce Stakes (1400m) with San Luis and the Grand National Hurdles (4200m) with Cool Water.
This year, they had a double interest in the 2000 Guineas with Ever Loyal (third) and Te Akau Shark (fourth) being horses they prepared for sales.
Their Lyndhurst Farm operation was the leading vendor by average at last month’s New Zealand Bloodstock Ready to Run Sale and, in total, they have sold 10 Group One winners and at least 25 stakes performers.
It is very much a family concern with Mark and Shelley being joined in the day to day operation by their son Dylan, 25, while Nicole helps out during sales time.
Lyndhurst Farm will have a 13-strong draft in Book One at Karaka in 2018 with many of the leading sires represented, including Tavistock, Fastnet Rock, I Am Invincible, Written Tycoon, Sebring, Reset, Hinchinbrook and Iffraaj. Ocean Park and other young sires Charm Spirit and Brazen Beau complete the line-up.
“Most of them are our own, but we also have some for clients,” Treweek said. “It should be a good sale.”