Vaquera Scores More Kiwi Stakes Success at Newcastle

The well-bred Karaka graduate Vaquera (NZ) (High Chaparral) celebrated her first stakes win in the Group 3 A$126,100 Tallwoods Tibbie Stakes (1400m) at Newcastle yesterday.

Trainer Gai Waterhouse produced the daughter of Group 1 Avondale Cup winner The Mighty Lions (Grosvenor) in a fresh-up state, having run third in the Group 1 Queensland Oaks behind Gondokoro (NZ) (Zabeel) at her last start on 1 June.

The four-year-old High Chaparral mare was ridden by stable jockey Tommy Berry to narrowly win by a nose in a crowded finish. She was produced wide in the straight and got to the front in the dying stages of the race to overhaul her rivals.

Having her second start on the track, previously winning as a three-year-old at Newcastle, Vaquera delivered her first stakes win following two black-type placings at the end of her last campaign in Queensland. She has now won three races from ten starts and earned A$182,280 in prizemoney.

“It really was a tenacious effort, that of a mare who is going places,” commented Gai Waterhouse. “She could not have been more impressive and I have nominated for all the major races in the Spring.”

“As a yearling, she was a lovely scopey filly with plenty of size and length, who really stood out at the Karaka Sales.”

Her owners, Mr D A Henderson, Mrs R J Henderson, Mr L C Henderson, Mr A J Henderson, Mr J D Henderson & Mrs J P Henderson, are well accustomed to success with the progeny of High Chaparral having raced dual Group 1 winner Descarado (NZ), carrying the same colours Vaquera to win the 2010 Caulfield Cup.

Vaquera’s Group 1 winning dam, The Mighty Lions, is a half-sister to two stake performed horses,  with Vaquera purchased as a yearling by Gai Waterhouse at the 2011 Karaka Premier Sale for $280,000 from her breeders Windsor Park Stud.

In all, New Zealand Bloodstock graduates won three of the four black-type races held at Newcastle’s two-day feature spring carnival with Vaquera’s win complemented by Winning Glory winning the Group 3 Newcastle Cup, along with the win of Savvy Nature (NZ) (Savabeel) in the Group 3 Spring Stakes the previous day.