Karaka’s First Seal Crowned NSW Champion Horse of the Year

The New South Wales Racehorse Owners Association celebrated Racing’s Night of Champions last night with Karaka graduates First Seal (Fastnet Rock), Lucia Valentina (NZ) (Savabeel) and kiwi-bred Criterion (NZ) (Sebring) all in the spotlight and presented with a total of five premier awards.

First Seal crowned NSW Champion Horse of the Year.

Group 1 winning First Seal was voted at the top of both her categories; NSW Three-Year-Old of the Year and Queen of the Autumn, before being crowned NSW Champion Horse of the Year.

Racing in the colours of China Horse Club, First Seal flew to Group 1 glory in the Group 1 Flight Stakes with a three-length victory and has been on the cusp of winning at the elite level on a further three occasions in the Group 1 Spring Champion Stakes, the Group 1 Coolmore Classic and the Group 1 Vinery Stud Stakes.

Winner of four races in her three-year-old season, three of those wins were at stakes level for trainer John Thompson, earning over A$835,000 in prizemoney from her 11 starts.

Bred by Cambridge’s Raffles Farm, the daughter of boom sire Fastnet Rock was purchased by Bart Cummings at the 2013 Karaka Premier Sale for NZ$700,000 from Gordon Cunningham’s Curraghmore draft, and is now raced by China Horse Club Racing Pty Ltd, Think Big Stud, Westcode Pty Ltd, Mr J S C Chua and Raffles Thoroughbred Racing.

Awarded the NSW Provincial Champion Horse of the Year was Lucia Valentina, over fellow nominee, and Karaka graduate, Famous Seamus (NZ) (Elusive City), taking her turn to accept the accolade after Famous Seamus nudged her out for the award last year.

The NZ$60,000 Karaka Premier Sale graduate triumphed in the Group 1 Turnbull Stakes for trainer Kris Lees, her second Group 1 success after victory in the Group 1 Vinery Stud Stakes as a three-year-old.

Purchased by Bruce Perry Bloodstock as a yearling at the 2012 Karaka Premier Sale from breeder Blandford Lodge, the now five-year-old mare is owned and raced by Lib Petagna and has earned A$1,233,349 in prizemoney.

Kiwi-bred Criterion claimed the title NSW Middle Distance Horse of the Year last night, a second successive award at the NSW Racehorse Owners Association Racing’s Night of Champions after last year’s prize of NSW Three-Year-Old of the Year.

Criterion returned to this year’s The Championships at Royal Randwick winning the Group 1 Queen Elizabeth Stakes, following his Group 1 Australian Derby triumph the year prior for owner and breeder Sir Owen Glenn.

The son of Sebring had a very active season as a four-year-old, racing between Australia, Hong Kong and the United Kingdom, placing in seven stakes races, five at Group 1 level.

For more news and information from New Zealand Bloodstock visit www.nzb.co.nz.