Well Written Claims Top Honours at New Zealand Horse of the Year Awards

Sunday evening’s New Zealand Thoroughbred Horse of the Year Awards in Auckland capped a big weekend for unbeaten superstar NZB graduate Well Written (Written Tycoon), who was named Horse of the Year and Champion Three-Year-Old for the 2025-26 season.

Just over 24 hours earlier, the freakish chestnut had added a seventh win to her unblemished career record with a first-up victory in the Group One Proisir Plate (1400m) at Ellerslie.

Well Written was offered by Brighthill Farm during the 2024 NZB National Online Yearling Sale on Gavelhouse Plus. She was bought by Stephen Marsh Racing and Dylan Johnson Bloodstock for a sale-topping $80,000.

In her award-winning three-year-old season, Well Written had six starts for six wins and $2.61m in stakes – more than 32 times her purchase price. With her winning four-year-old debut in Saturday’s Proisir Plate, that record now stands at seven starts, seven wins and $2.84m.

It has all happened incredibly quickly for Well Written, who made her raceday debut less than 12 months ago. Her first start was in a 1200-metre maiden at Ellerslie on September 20 last year, which she won by three lengths against a field that has produced nine other subsequent winners.

From there, Well Written went on to add the Group Two Soliloquy Stakes (1400m) by six and three-quarter lengths and the Group One New Zealand 1000 Guineas (1600m) by two and a half.

After returning from a brief freshen-up with a tight win in the Group Two Auckland Guineas (1400m) on Boxing Day, Well Written delivered arguably the performance of the season when she romped home by six lengths against a strong field in the $1.5m Karaka Millions 3YO (1600m) in late January.

Her standout season culminated in the $4m NZB Kiwi (1500m), where she scored a narrow win over next-start Sydney Group One Vinery Stud Stakes (2000m) winner Belle Cheval (NZ) (Savabeel).

Well Written is trained by Stephen Marsh for a big syndicate of owners, including majority shareholder Yulong, who bought into the ownership before the 1000 Guineas.

Well Written is the only New Zealand Champion Three-Year-Old this century to be unbeaten at three, with every other titleholder having been beaten at least twice.

The other NZB graduate honoured during Sunday night’s awards was the recently retired standout mare Legarto (NZ) (Proisir), who was named Champion Middle-Distance Horse.

In the early part of her final season on the racetrack, Legarto finished sixth in the Group One Proisir Plate (1400m), fifth in the Group One Howden Insurance Mile (1600m), fourth in the Group One TAB Mufhasa Classic (1600m), third in the Group One Zabeel Classic (2000m) and fourth in the Group Two Thorndon Mile (1600m).

But then she returned to her brilliant best and signed off her career on a high with a Group One double in the Herbie Dyke Stakes (2000m) and Bonecrusher New Zealand Stakes (2000m).

Those were the fourth and fifth Group One wins for Legarto, who was trained by Ken and the late Bev Kelso for a syndicate headed by Ancroft Stud principals Catherine and Phillip Brown. She had previously won the New Zealand 1000 Guineas (1600m), the Australian Guineas (1600m) and the 2024 edition of the Herbie Dyke.

Legarto was offered by Highline Thoroughbreds in Book 2 of Karaka 2021, where Ancroft Stud bought her for $90,000. She finished her career as a 12-time winner from 24 starts, with another five minor placings, and earned $3.16m in stakes. She later sold for A$2.8m as a broodmare prospect.

The NZTR Award for Outstanding Contribution to Racing went to the Williams family, represented by three generations of the family, including Sam and Dame Catriona Williams, Richard “Buzz” and Susie Williams, and Tom and Gay Williams. Their involvement in Thoroughbred breeding and racing spans three generations and more than 85 years, with Little Avondale Stud now home to Champion sire Per Incanto, who won both the Dewar and Centaine Awards for the 2025–26 season.

The late Savabeel (AUS) (Zabeel) was named the 2026 recipient of the NZTR Award for Outstanding Global Achievement, recognising an extraordinary legacy on the track and at stud. A dual Group One-winning three-year-old in Australia, he first made his mark with victories in the 2004 Spring Champion Stakes and Cox Plate. He went on to become a champion stallion at Waikato Stud, producing 36 individual Group One winners and 159 stakes winners, with his progeny achieving Group One success in Australia and helping him become Hong Kong’s leading sire by winners in 2018–19. Savabeel was named New Zealand’s champion sire ten times, while his progeny collected 16 Horse of the Year equine category awards.