Mapperley Stud

Brutal, So You Think and Dundeel. Mapperley Stud has three active Gr1 winning stallions standing in Australia and they are just the beginning of a long list of incredible graduates off their rolling Waikato hills.

This article is from the November/December edition of Bluebloods, Subscribe to BLUEBLOODS

“It is very rewarding for us at Mapperley to see three stallions that were raised on our farm doing great things at stud,” said Simms Davison. “Our 2021 draft had a great result with Leedox winning the Listed Auckland Futurity Stakes at his second start as a two-year-old. The team at Andrew Forsman really rate him and they’ve set him for the 2023 Karaka Million 3YO Classic. We also have stakes placed Westwood from that draft who’ve just turned three, while earlier drafts include group winner Llanacord, Reliable Team, Age of Chivalry, Listed winner Campionessa, Star of Bombay, Our Boy Ritchie and Talaria.” Throw in Gr1 placed Le Villi and Mongolianconqueror, and the list of quality racehorses coming from Mapperley continues to grow.

With fourteen yearlings in book one and another seventeen in book two, things are busy at Mapperley Stud for the 2023 New Zealand Bloodstock National Yearling Sale.

“We are very excited to present seven yearlings by our stallion Contributer. He started his stud career really well with Gr1 Randwick Guineas winner Lion’s Roar, and has had two stakes winners in the last six weeks, which is great timing leading into Karaka. He’s a young emerging sire who was the Champion Second Season Sire, and his winners to runners strike rate is the best for any young sire in the country.”

Contributer (High Chaparral-Serisia, by Exit to Nowhere) was a dual Gr1 winner in Australia, winning the Gr1 Chipping Norton Stakes (beating Hartnell), and the Gr1 Ranvet Stakes. At stud, he has left Gr1 Randwick Guineas winner Lion’s Roar, Gr2 winner Llanacord, Listed winners Campionessa and Elizabeth Rose, as well as six other stakes placed winners from only 100 runners to date.

Lot 290 is a full sister to Gr2 Lowland Stakes winner Llanacord (Contributer) and she is out of a winning half-sister to Gr1 winner Ad Alta and Listed winner Posing. From the family of dual Gr1 winner Mo’Unga comes Lot 613, a colt out of Mo’unga’s dam’s full sister Update. “A lovely well balanced colt backed up by an extremely strong New Zealand family.”

A colt, Lot 615, is out of winning mare Valley of Pentire who has left two winners and is a half-sister to dual Gr1 winner Hail. “He’s an out and out athletic type who looks like he’s going to run. A beautiful moving horse.”
Lot 28 is a colt out of the mare Altachine and is another standout in the draft.

“He’s a striking colt, a strong individual with a great hindquarter. He’s one that could go a little earlier and turn into a nice 3yo Guineas horse.

Other stallions represented in this draft are: Ace High, Ardrossan, Complacent, Dubious, Epaulette, Microphone, Ocean Park, Puccini, Tarzino, and Turn Me Loose.

“We have six yearlings in this draft by Tarzino who is an exciting young sire doing a fantastic job. The standout is the Mapmaker filly. She’s a stunner and will attract the Australian buyers as she’s an earlier maturing type being out of a Volksraad mare.

Out of Gr3 placed winner Mapmaker, Lot 335 is a Tarzino Filly, whose half-brothers are both winners at a mile. Her dam is a half-sister to Listed winner Hippopus and her first three dams are all stakes class racemares.

“It’s a nice well-balanced draft with a range of stallions, we have lovely colt by champion two-year-old Microphone who profiles to be an exciting first season sire”

Lot 45, a colt by Microphone, is a half-brother to Listed winner and Gr2 placed Star of Bombay (Atlante).
When assessing breeding which influences/key horses do you mainly look for?

“Type first and foremost. It’s all about getting the right type. It’s easy to go online and get a good cross for your mare, but for us we first look at matching physical types as we are trying to produce a racehorse. We want to get as close as we can to the perfect athlete.”

“This is our main goal and we think our environment gives us a head start with our rolling hills and good pasture. All our breeding and preparation is about trying to produce athletes that we can present to our buyers. It’s our main focus, and we believe that is why our horses go on to win big races.”

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