In 2013, when the British-bred Reliable Man (GB) went to stud, his breeder Sven Hanson said that New Zealand was a very good home for the horse. The grey stallion has sired 199 winners in the Southern Hemisphere, and his stakes winners number 10 and counting.
Stationed at Westbury Stud in the southern spring, Reliable Man is the sire of G1 VRC Oaks winner Miami Bound (NZ) and G1 New Zealand Oaks winner Sentimental Miss (NZ). His daughter Inspirational Girl (NZ) won the G1 WATC Railway S., while his son Hypnos (NZ) is a multiple Group-winner and still going.
Gallery: Some of Reliable Man's (GB) Group winners
Last weekend, two very good results added to this tally.
Annavisto (NZ) won the G3 Frances Tressady S. at Flemington and, at the same meeting, Inspirational Girl won the G2 Blamey S. They were a handy pair of victories ahead of Karaka 2022 this week, even if Westbury Stud won’t feel the immediate kick.
“We haven’t got a heap of Reliable Man horses in the draft this year,” said Russell Warwick, general manager at Westbury Stud. “We’ve got only about half-a-dozen, which is just the way it’s fallen this year. Some might end up going to the Gold Coast and some are entered for the Ready to Runs, so we’ve spread them around a little bit this time.”
At this week’s New Zealand Bloodstock National Yearling Sale, Reliable Man has four yearlings in Book 1, with a further 15 in Book 2. They come from Westbury, but also from Te Runga Stud, Kilgravin Lodge and Mapperley Stud, among others.
Reliable Man (GB) | Standing at Westbury Stud
“From the stallion’s point of view, it was nice to see him get those results at Flemington,” Warwick said. “There’s not too many stallions siring two big winners on a day like Australian Guineas Day, let alone a New Zealand stallion doing it, so it was very rewarding.”
Group gets
Across Flemington last Saturday, the three Group-race results were spread between stallions Maurice (Jpn), who sired the G1 Australian Guineas winner Hitotsu, and Reliable Man, who clinched the other two.
Inspirational Girl’s win in the G2 Blamey S. downed both Zaaki (GB) (Leroidesanimaux {Brz}) and the in-form Corner Pocket (Toronado {Ire}), both of whom had significant and consistent records behind them heading into the race.
The 6-year-old mare Inspirational Girl, owned by Bob Peters, is trained by Danny O’Brien after kick-starting her good career with Grant and Alana Williams in Western Australia. She’s now a winner of 10 races in 15 starts, and will likely be next seen in The All Star Mile before a tilt at the Doncaster in Sydney.
Annavisto, after her Frances Tressady win, is shaping as a G2 Emancipation S. option on March 26 for co-trainers Mick Price and Michael Kent Jnr.
The 4-year-old mare is a winner of six races now in 13 starts, and the race added to her Listed Bendigo Guineas win this time last year. She was also third to Flying Mascot (NZ) (Tavistock {NZ}) in the G3 Tesio S. last spring.
“They’re both top-class mares and the kind that will be looking for a very good autumn,” Warwick said.
“They’re (Inspirational Girl and Annavisto) both top-class mares and the kind that will be looking for a very good autumn.” - Russell Warwick
With this run of good fortune with his fillies and mares, Reliable Man is kicking plenty of goals in that older-horse department.
“He traditionally doesn’t leave 2-year-olds,” Warwick added. “He’s a son of Dalakhani out of a Sadler’s Wells mare, and that in itself tells you they’re going to be 3-year-olds and upwards, and when you get them they tend to get better and better as they get older.
“Even your likes of Miami Bound, even though she’s been mature enough to win a VRC Oaks as a spring 3-year-old, she trained on to win the Moonee Valley Gold Cup and was third in a Sydney Cup. These horses fit that mould of the New Zealand stallion where they mature, get better and are effective over a reasonable journey.”
Russell Warwick | Image courtesy of NZ Racing Desk
Opportunity knocked
Speaking to TDN Europe in 2019, after Sentimental Miss landed her New Zealand Oaks, breeder Sven Hanson said he never doubted that Reliable Man’s stock would turn out as it has.
“He was a very positive horse, and most of his offspring are like that,” Hanson said. “They want to work. He breeds them strong.”
“He (Reliable Man) was a very positive horse, and most of his offspring are like that. They want to work. He breeds them strong.” - Sven Hanson
When Reliable Man entered stud in 2013, it was off the back of his fetching G1 Queen Elizabeth S. win at Royal Randwick, downing Dundeel (NZ) by 2.5l. It was a victory that stamped his impression on Australasia, and it came after a winning career in Europe that included the G1 Prix du Jockey Club at Chantilly.
Reliable Man had two starts for Chris Waller in Sydney. He was sixth to Pierro in the G1 George Ryder S. before the Queen Elizabeth, and it was during these months in Sydney that the Hansons sold 30 per cent of the horse to three Australians, one of which was Andrew Ramsden.
Later on, Gerry Harvey announced that he had acquired the horse, who was injured and retired after the Queen Elizabeth, for Southern Hemisphere duties at Westbury Stud
Reliable Man (GB) when racing | Image courtesy of Sportpix
“It was an opportune time as Gerry saw it, and he thought the horse would be well-suited to New Zealand,” Warwick said. “Reliable Man was supported well from the start and he’s got a great bunch of shareholders around him, and we’ve supported him with numbers of mares too.
“He’s always covered books of 80 or 90 up to 170 mares every year, so it’s getting to a point where he’s got good numbers out there, and we’re just starting to see some of his daughters retiring to stud.”
“It (buying Reliable Man) was an opportune time as Gerry (Harvey) saw it, and he thought the horse would be well-suited to New Zealand.” - Russell Warwick
Reliable Man served around 103 mares at Westbury Stud last spring before shuttling back to Europe. He has stood in both France and Germany in the Northern Hemisphere seasons, and this European spring he’s back at Gestüt Röttgen in Cologne.
In 2017, he was the leading first-season sire in Germany from much smaller books where his Derby-producing sireline, which has been responsible for five consecutive generations of Derby winners, has been very popular.
“He’s been fantastic in that respect because he’s shuttled every year since he’s gone to stud, and he’s never had an adverse reaction to that,” Warwick said. “He’s had a couple of nice horses in France, and Germany and France are probably the two countries that he’s gravitated to up there. Sven and Carina Hanson have mares up there, so it’s obviously an advantage for them to support their horse in their own territory.”
Sven Hanson | Image courtesy of Tattersalls
Karaka stock
The quartet of Reliable Man progeny in Book 1 of Karaka included Lot 261, a half-sister to the Group 2 winner Mascarpone (NZ) (Shooting To Win). This filly’s dam is herself a half-sister to the multiple Group-placed Sydney horse Cocky Raider (Testa Rossa).
While Lot 261 was passed in, Westbury Stud sold Lot 411 for NZ$100,000.
The grey filly from Midtown Manhattan (High Chaparral {Ire}) has a strong Sydney family that includes the G3 Percy Sykes S. winner Missrock (Fastnet Rock), herself a daughter of the Group 3 winner Miss Judgement (Strategic).
Lot 411 - Reliable Man (GB) x Midtown Manhattan (filly), purchased by Vandyke Racing and Hughes Bloodstock for NZ$100,000 | Image courtesy of NZB
“Lot 261 is from a lovely Australian family, and she’s probably a bit more precocious than some of them,” Warwick said. “She looks like she’ll get up to 1400 metres and upwards, while the half to Mascarpone is much more a Reliable Man that will take a bit of time. She fits that mould of his three- and 4-year-olds.”
