As far as quirky family connections with past racetrack greats go, they don't come much better than Wigley's great grandfather Ken Austin, the auctioneer who sold Phar Lap (NZ) (Night Raid {NZ}) at the 1928 Trentham Yearling Sales.
"We still have have the catalogue, including Phar Lap's page with my grandfather's hand-written notes in it," Wigley said.
Austin did more than just play a part in New Zealand's greatest ever racing export, he was co-founder of the New Zealand Breeders’ Association, played a key role in establishing the country's first national yearling sale and bred and raced numerous Group 1 winners of his own.
"We still have have the catalogue, including Phar Lap's page with my grandfather's hand-written notes in it." - Gus Wigley
Austin is remembered as one of New Zealand's most successful breeders, standing influential colonial sire Defaulter (NZ) (Defoe {GB}) at Inglewood Stud in North Canterbury.
Inglewood Stud
Back in the family
The stud farm was out of the family's hands for a period, but Wigley's father re-established it with great success in the 1970s, standing successful sire Beaufort Sea (USA), before breeding and racing the wildly popular mare Canterbury Belle (Beaufort Sea {USA}).
Despite that long family history in breeding, after the stud's operations were scaled back to that of a small broodmare farm Wigley moved away from racing upon leaving school, or at least he tried to.
"I liked breeding and racing, but I didn't know what I wanted to do," he said.
"I went off to university and got a graphic design degree and still didn't know what I wanted to do." – Gus Wigley
"I went off to university and got a graphic design degree and still didn't know what I wanted to do."
Like many with racing in their veins, the magnetic pull of the sport couldn't be resisted.
Gus Wigley with Kevin Hickman
"I caught up with Michael Martin, the head of the Breeders' Association and asked if there were any jobs going and a few months later he got back to me," Wigley said.
First was a job selling ads for an A to Z of thoroughbred business directory and then marketing for stud farms before Wigley became editor and eventual co-owner of racing weekly The Informant.
"I loved working in media, I got to meet a lot of great people, but I missed the hands-on aspect of working with horses and we moved back and took over the stud in 2012. It was the horses that pulled me back in," he said.
Inglewood Stud
Stallion success
Wigley and his wife Bianca moved back home from Auckland with the intention of again standing sires at the stud and ramping up its broodmare numbers which had dropped to six.
The Wigleys soon proved to be astute judges, buying into Zacinto (GB), who has produced five stakes winners, including 2016 G1 2000 NZ Guineas winner Ugo Foscolo (NZ) and recent G3 Desert Gold S. winner Secret Allure (NZ).
Zacinto
Inglewood Stud part-owned Zacinto with Valachi Downs, where he now stands for NZ$15,000, and the same partnership has purchased former Coolmore miler War Decree (USA).
"Zacinto was very successful for us, but he outgrew the South Island a little bit." – Gus Wigley
"Zacinto was very successful for us, but he outgrew the South Island a little bit," Wigley said.
"He has gone to Valachi Downs and served more than 100 mares last season so he has been a great success. We have bought into War Decree and he has been popular.
“We are only small, we are only 90 acres and we keep it tight as far as the business goes. We are definitely what you would call a boutique farm and we focus on quality over quantity."
War Decree
South Island success
Wigley's wasn't an orthodox path to becoming a stud master, but Inglewood isn't exactly a conventional stud, at least not geographically.
Still based at Ohoka on the same ground Austin founded Inglewood Stud in 1938, it is one of the few South Island vendors at Karaka.
Just as Wigley sees his time away from the sport and in media as beneficial, giving him insight into media and marketing, he believes being away from the mainstream provides a few positive points of difference, including even the sometimes bitterly cold weather.
"We are renowned for breeding tough horses, with the colder winters down there they seem to be hardy horses.” – Gus Wigley
"We are renowned for breeding tough horses, with the colder winters down there they seem to be hardy horses,” he said.
“He wasn't from our farm, but Who Shot Thebarman from White Robe Lodge is a classic example of a South Island horse."
Who Shot TheBarman is a classic example of a South Island horse
Inglewood Stud is a long way by float and ferry from the established breeding districts, but the farm has found a way to make the best of its situation.
"We send a lot of mares across to Australian stallions for matings.” – Gus Wigley
"It's a long way for us to send a mare up north, but we are only 20 minutes from Christchurch Airport. We send a lot of mares across to Australian stallions for matings," Wigley said.
"It can take more than a day to get our mares to some New Zealand stud farms, but it's a direct flight to Sydney and we can get our mares to the Hunter Valley stud farms in one morning. We still support the Waikato region and we support our own stallion as well."
A diverse draft
The inventive trans-Tasman approach has created an interesting mix of pedigrees within Inglewood's nine catalogued lots that includes yearlings by So You Think (NZ) and Showcasing (GB), plus first-season sires from leading studs, Kermadec (NZ) and Pride Of Dubai.
Lot 246 is by Pride Of Dubai and from the family of the farm's champion mare Seamist (Beaufort Sea {USA}).
"That really is our foundation family," Wigley said. "She was a great race mare, but she has been a fantastic broodmare as well and has left four black-type horses, including Aotea Lad."
Lot 246 Pride Of Dubai x Mystique (NZ)
Wigley also has plenty of time for Lot 688 by Zacinto from a solid family.
"This is the best-looking Zacinto colt I have seen since Ugo Foscolo, who we bred ourselves here," he said. "He is just a natural running colt and we really like him."
