The Karaka-based nursery is home to stallions Belardo (Ire) and Ribchester (Ire), both multiple Group 1 winners, and standing at NZ$10,000 + GST and NZ$15,000 + GST respectively.
TDN AusNZ: You must be thrilled with the start Belardo has made to his career in the Northern Hemisphere with his daughter Isabella Giles recently posting a runaway first stakes success?
Mark Chitty: We’re absolutely delighted to see him crack it with a first Group winner at the end of summer in the UK is fantastic. The manner in which she did it was just as exciting, she was very dominant. It’s always good to know you have a sire that can leave them to that level.
TDN AusNZ: Why was Belardo such a major attraction?
MC: There were a combination of factors really, looking at our roster over the last decade we haven’t shied away from European horses. We believe they offer something that Australians don’t in terms of value. We like horses that come a bit early and like to see 2-year-old form in Europe and horses that race close to the speed, when it comes back to the Southern Hemisphere racing tempo is a big thing.
He won time-honoured races like the G1 Dewhurst S. and the G1 Lockinge S. and the fact that he trained on. He won those two Group 1s and got beaten in two by champions in Solow (GB) (Singspiel {Ire}) and Tepin (USA) (Bernstein {USA}) and so Belardo was a genuine Group 1 horse and that was indicated by his Timeform rating of 126.
TDN AusNZ: What else makes him a top prospect for Australasian conditions?
MC: For a New Zealand-based start, he is out of a Danehill (USA) mare and from that Lope De Vega (Ire) and Shamardal (USA) sire line. Both those stallions had only five and four years in Australia and did a particularly good job so he’s well-suited.
We have structured it like we did with Iffraaj (GB) and have partners in the horse that guarantee a certain number of mares for four years and they participate in the success of the horse. Breeding hasn’t been easy and probably the dividends out of the horse haven’t possibly been as good as one would like, but they will get a hell of a lot better if he continues to have days like he did on Saturday.
Belardo (Ire) | Standing at Haunui Farm
TDN AusNZ: Ribchester is another exciting newcomer to the farm in 2020, how has the response to him been?
MC: To have two Group 1-winning age group champions standing for NZ$10,000 and NZ$15,000 that rated 126 by Timeform or greater, I couldn’t wish for anything else. Stallions come from anywhere, but to have horses of that quality is outstanding – the most inherent trait is the ability to run so I’ll take them. It’s very challenging at the moment and I am a breeder myself so I understand it. I am very comfortable with the two we’ve got.
Belardo is tracking along really nicely and with Ribchester, people are starting to appreciate the quality of racehorse he was. There is recognition of Iffraaj, with Coolmore buying Wootton Bassett (GB) who was Iffraaj’s first Group 1-winning son and has started off immensely well. The research Coolmore do with stallions is significant, so having had Iffraaj and being able to replace him with Ribchester, arguably his best performed son, is very encouraging.
Ribchester (Ire) | Standing at Haunui Farm
TDN AusNZ: Looking ahead to the next few years, are there any changes to your business model you're planning?
MC: You have to keep re-evaluating and we treat number one and horse number 150 the same on the farm. You have to be mindful of the cost, it’s cost versus return and we all know here in New Zealand the racing model is compromised. The cost to have a horse in training has gone significantly up and the stake money level isn’t reflective of that cost. We all get into racing to have some fun and enjoyment, but we need it to pay for itself and the 65-plus rated horse has to be able to pay its way and that’s not evident.
Australia has got that model right and hence the world wants to play in Australia. Thankfully, Australia is only three hours away and we’ve got opportunities to be able to perform there. From my own business model, we have to keep trying to improve the stock that we deal with and continually try and upgrade our mares. "
"We have to keep trying to improve the stock that we deal with and continually try and upgrade our mares. " - Mark Chitty
TDN AusNZ: What are biggest challenges facing the New Zealand industry?
MC: I think its stake money and parochialism with people living in the past and talking about yesteryear. History will help to shape your future, but you should also learn from it as well. The halcyon days of racing are no longer applicable, they are possibly only on the big days. The way we live our lives now are completely different to those days and we are definitely stuck in a parochial world, especially in our racing environment and we have to move forward.
The Messara Report is absolutely the way forward. I have gone on to the Counties Racing Club and sat there as chairman and the reality is that to put on a race meeting is expensive. Most racing clubs were first created in the country and clubs such as ourselves and Ellerslie, Avondale and Te Rapa have seen cities come to them. The country clubs are still very much as they were, but for the city clubs it’s quite different. We have to utilise our assets way better than we are and we have to come together, if racing is to survive we have to race for better money.
We need to think quite differently and move our business forward and I think amalgamation is important in certain regions, no question. We have to sell our industry more to the politicians and the worth of our industry and as a significant employer.
Our horses are very good – Verry Elleegant (NZ) (Zed {NZ}) in Australia and Beauty Generation (NZ) (Road To Rock) in Hong Kong as examples and so are our people, Chris Waller and James McDonald etc. so we are good at what we do. We’ve very lucky with Winston Peters, who has showed the desire to bring it forward, but he might be under pressure at election time and we need more politicians to understand we are a vital cog in the New Zealand economy.
Winston Peters
TDN AusNZ: Who have been the major influences on your career?
MC: Obviously my father Ron. I am a veterinarian so I never really went out and worked for anyone from a thoroughbred stud perspective. I have always admired Sir Patrick Hogan for his showmanship and pride in his product and that was something I looked up to and Cambridge is a legendary farm.
From my veterinarian point of view, I have a real penchant for broodmare reproduction and young foals and I trained under Dr Charles Roberts, who died earlier this year, and Andrew Grierson. I admired their work ethics and they were very supportive of me and I learned a lot from them and have been able to apply it into the Haunui business. I find nothing better than the challenge of getting a mare in foal that hasn’t had a foal for a couple years, that’s something I enjoy.
TDN AusNZ: Who is the best stallion physical you have ever seen?
MC: I suppose it would be Zabeel (NZ), as a stallion he obviously threw quality and you could see his influence in stock whether it was by Zabeel or out of a Zabeel mare. He was a big step up in terms of type compared to his father and imparted that and as the champion sire, I was always in awe of him.
The late Zabeel (NZ)
TDN AusNZ: Is there a particular conformation trait that impresses you most?
MC: You have to be forgiving and racehorses come in all shapes and sizes. For me it’s that thing called presence or aura, something that drags you into a horse. I think you have to live with what you like and not particularly what someone else likes. You have to look after it and pay the bills until they go to the races and prove themselves. I’m certainly forgiving of faults because they all have them - maybe the perfect physical horse is one without a big enough motor!
TDN AusNZ: Which four people, within the industry or outside it, dead or alive, would you invite to a dinner party?
MC: My wife would be alongside me and it would be about fun and enjoyment. I’d have Muhammed Ali, Bart Cummings and Michael McIntyre, they all had or have amazing wits and very quick one-liners.
Through COVID-19, I watched a couple of interviews of Muhammed Ali with Michael Parkinson and they were absolute classics. Bart had the one-liners and I watch Michael McIntyre regularly and been to a couple of his shows in New Zealand and he’s an absolute card with never a vulgar word.
