ZEDWILLDO in action – breaking Maidens – Mornington 6th December – Will Gordon aboard
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Fortuna Annual Owners Day 2025 Date – Sunday 9th February
Venue – “The Gazebo” – Matamata Racecourse
Time – 1pm – 4pm
Our very popular annual event where we celebrate the year’s successes, enjoy the conviviality of each others company and we parade all of the Fortuna horses based at the Matamata Stables
Refreshments served throughout the event
It is important that you register for this event if attending – you can do this by emailing jessica@fortuna-nz.com – please note that if you had registered for the Owners Day in December, it is important that you re-register for the new date – we need this for catering purposes
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Headline News
Fortuna will be active at the Inglis Classic Sale in Sydney 9th – 11th February
NZTR appoints new CEO
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Fortuna has no runners this week – but Leaderboard, Colour Sergeant and Our Paramour go to the jumouts at Cranbourne on Monday and Mitre Peak trials at Avondale Tuesday
Fortuna will be active at the Inglis Classic Sale in Sydney 9th – 11th February
With just one purchase for us from Karaka 2025 (the Savabeel Filly – Lady Tatia Filly we are now setting our sights on the above sale. Mark Walker is attending this sale and has been through the whole catalogue and he and I have put our heads together identifying the individual lots that we are looking at
Mark headed over yesterday to conduct inspections and will be liaising with David Ellis before drawing up a final “buy list” – Fortuna will be buying just one horse at the sale and we are focusing on a type that will be an early runner to be trained at Cranbourne – so we have identified the specific Stallions we are looking at
Our criteria is as follows
From Stallions that throw early runners
Physical characteristics will be an early running two year old type that could also have the scope to develop into a three-year-old
Firm budget in place and we won’t be paying a lot
The Inglis classic sale is famous for throwing up “bargains” and there are many examples, but a very good one is the two year-old Filly, Within The Law. who won the Inglis Two year-old Nursery, a Listed race, at Flemington on Champions Day last November for a A$500,000 stake and two starts later, she won at Randwick in the Inglis 2yo race, also a listed event for A$500,000. She was purchased at this sale last year for just $30,000 by Darby Syndications. If one does one’s “homework” very capable types can be identified and acquired “below the odds” – for example we bought at this sale a couple of years ago a Filly by More Than Ready out of a half sister to the NZ Champion 2yo of her year, Ruud Awakening – she is Mitre Peak, who has won a couple of races in New Zealand from a handful of starts and while she’s been off the scene for a while due to an injury setback, she is now almost ready to resume racing shortly – we paid A$60k for her
Coming back to Within The Law she is eligible to win the A$2m bonus if she can now win the Inglis Milleninum (Listed) and the Inglis Sires (Group One) in the coming weeks – Yearlings bought at this sale are eligible for the Inglis Race Series which has different components – two of those are featured below
Any purchase we make at this Sale is eligible to be nominated to run in any of the events below and the first of these races (The Banner) is held in November 2025 and the second (The Nursery) is held in December 2025
And as well as the prize money and the bonuses on offer for the above races, which are obviously won by the elite 2yo’s, there is also the bonus series below which is essentially 50 Maiden races right across all states of Australia run throughout the season with $100,000 bonus to the winner.
INGLIS XTRA BONUS SERIES
$5,000,000 Bonus Series that will see 50 Maidens incentivised with a $100,000 bonus to the winner.
So the plan that Mark and I have come up with is to buy at the sale keep the horse in Australia to be trained to Cranbourne that saves a Tasman airfare and then target one of those A$100k maiden races and obviously if our purchase was good enough, then to target some of those higher value stakes races as well and note that only horses bought at the Inglis sale are eligible for any of these
I am sure that readers will agree that this is a pretty good plan. We are very targeted in our approach and I’m sure that we can secure a nice two-year-old off our list for not a lot of money. I’m expecting that when we offer our purchase for syndication it could be very popular so what you were able to do at this point as register your interest in being involved this does not present you with any sort of obligation. It just means that by being on the expression of it interest list you get to see the opportunity first to inspect all of the material, the photo, the parade video etc and then make a decision if you wish to proceed – in other words that means you are “1st in the queue” if we do get overrun with inquiry – to register your interest just email me HERE
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NZTR appoints new CEO
NZTR Chair Russell Warwick and newly appointed CEO Matt Ballestey. Photo: Supplied
New Zealand Thoroughbred Racing (NZTR) is pleased to confirm the appointment of Matt Ballesty to the position of CEO, effective 5 March 2025. Ballesty is a highly respected senior executive who has more than 30 years’ experience in high performance leadership as well as strategic commercial development and execution.
“This is a homecoming,” said Ballesty of taking on the new role.“I’ve been passionate about racing for a long time as both an enthusiast and an owner and I can’t wait to get stuck into the hard work of further developing thoroughbred racing in New Zealand.”
Ballesty has a vast commercial career, and although a New Zealand-Australian citizen, has held a number of senior executive roles internationally across Australia, Macau and Canada. Matt has also undertaken studies at the New Zealand Institute of Directors and was a board member with Heart of the City Auckland
NZTR Chair Russell Warwick said Ballesty’s unique skill set makes him ideal to lead the organisation.
“The racing industry is going through a period of significant change and Matt is the perfect candidate to ensure that every person contributing to the industry continues to play a key role in the future,” Warwick said.
“This appointment is about securing the legacy of the racing industry in the long term. We could not be happier to have someone of Matt’s calibre holding the reins at this critical point.”
In addition to his impressive corporate background, Ballesty has also demonstrated his strength in connecting key stakeholders across every part of the businesses he has worked in.
“The success of the racing industry has always been built on the hard work done at a grassroots level by generations of Kiwis,” said Ballesty. “What excites me most is the opportunity to meet the people around the country who contribute to making the racing industry what it is today. Everyone from the breeders, trainers, owners and jockeys, right through to the clubs, play a critical role in creating a vibrant community and sport that continues to excel on the global stage.”
The arrival of Ballesty was also welcomed by Dean Shannon, the Chief Executive for Entain Australia and New Zealand, a key strategic partner for NZTR.
“Matt is a genuinely good human who’s fully committed to ensuring that the racing industry reaches its full potential in New Zealand,” said Shannon. “We can’t wait to see what he brings to the table in the coming years.”
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Guest Selector – Des Coppins
Greetings John and your readers
We’ve unashamedly been spoiled with quality racing in recent weeks and Legends Day at Te Rapa will elevate the excitement yet again. Despite the non appearance of Snazzytavi the Herbie Duke oozes quality and with Derbies, Oaks and Kiwi slot races just around the corner the three year old action also looks intriguing while Telegraph star Grail Seeker will ensure the big BCD sprint has all eyes on it!
Here are 3 horses I’m feeling positive enough to suggest they’ll play a hand in the finish at nice each way odds.
Utopian Wine, race 3
She took on a stronger field last time at Trentham and after getting on heels at the 1600m when the pace slackened she battled on well enough to run midfield but less than three lengths off the winner, Whangaheu, a player in the Herbie Dyke. Utopian Way’s trainer Bill Thurlow is having a good season.
She looked clearly above average when winning two prior to the last start lapse.
Bourbon Proof, race 7
He’s in great nick. He doesn’t know how to run a bad one; has never been further back than 4th and his form is around sheer quality with horses like Damask Rose, Tuxedo, Checkmate and Hinekaha.
He’s a huge chance.
December, race 9
This is a black type horse in waiting. It took a very special galloper to beat December first up for the season and from all accounts he’s trained on well since. His 3 unplaced runs last term in a limited campaign came in group 2 and 3 races. He was never far away in any of these and one really good moment was finishing less 5 lengths from Crocetti from a wide draw in the Cambridge Stud Trophy at Ellerslie.
