The measure of a thoroughbred stud’s prowess is the year-by-year consistency in turning out high-quality winners over a long period.
Matamata’s Mapperley Stud has achieved that level of excellence, and its reputation is well-earned, but it has also raised the bar for a medium-sized thoroughbred breeding operation by producing three champions in the past ten years, two of which are already proven quality stallions at stud.
Ten-time Group One winner and globetrotting star So You Think, Champion Three-year-old and six time Group One winner Dundeel and last year’s Gr.1 Doncaster Handicap (1600m) winner Brutal were all raised on the stud’s 600 acres of rolling Matamata hill country.
Mapperley’s rich history of producing top-class performers commenced in the mid-seventies when Simms Davison’s father, Mark, stood the highly successful Linacre sire Long Row which set Mapperley off on the path to success.
Since that time, the Stud has reared, bred or sold no fewer than 18 Group One winners which have included another Group One producing stallion in Nom De Jeu as well as names like Sangster, Sir Slick (six Group One wins), Descarado, Thee Auld Floozie, Gondokoro, Clint (Singapore Derby) and Triple Honour.
The honour roll at Mapperley also boasts a significant number of group and listed winners which include this season’s Gr.2 Auckland Thoroughbred Breeders’ Stakes (1400m) winner, Yearn, who was Group One placed in Saturday’s Thorndon Mile (1600m), and six times Hong Kong and Group Two winner, Rattan.
Mapperley boss Simms Davison has been hard at work building up both the stud’s broodmare and stallion strength, and with the support of a loyal client base, will present a strong commercial draft of 41 yearlings across the three books of New Zealand Bloodstock’s National Yearling Sale, which commences on Sunday.
One such home-bred yearling in Book 1 is Lot 352, the bay colt by second-crop sire Contributer from Mapperley’s Thunder Gulch mare, Thunderchine, and is therefore a half-brother to Gr.1 Wakeful Stakes (2000m) winner Thunder Lady, and also to the dam of the seven times winner and Group Three victor Princess Kereru.
“He is a well-grown colt, that exhibits great presence and is shaping up as one of the stars of our draft,” Davison said.
Contributer made his sales debut at Karaka 2019 which saw his yearlings sell for up to $250,000 and go into a number of leading stables, especially in Australia, providing great opportunity for the highly performed son of successful sire, High Chaparral.
Mapperley’s close association with Victoria’s Rosemont Stud continues this year with five yearlings by Gr.1 VRC Derby (2500m) winner Tarzino in the draft as agent for the prominent Australian stud – four colts and a filly from mares purchased from all over the world especially for mating to the high-class son of Tavistock.
Davison couldn’t be happier with the quality of type within its 19 Mapperley yearlings catalogued in Book 1, as well as having variety for buyers in the draft with 11 different sires represented.
Two fillies on offer by Australian sires which are sure to attract attention are Lot 676, the bay Zoustar filly out of winning stakes-placed German-bred mare It’s All For You, and Lot 381 which is a daughter of Japanese Horse of the Year Maurice, whose first yearlings at the recent Gold Coast Sale sold particularly well.
Mapperley’s newest addition to its stallion roster is the Champion New Zealand Three-Year-Old in Puccini, who is represented by Lot 126 – a bay colt from the twice winning Darci Brahma mare Navy Beach who herself is a half-sister to Gr.2 Matamata Breeders’ Stakes (1200m) winner Te Akau Coup.
A son of Encosta de Lago, Puccini displayed a great turn of foot in winning the Gr.1 Thorndon Mile (1600m) but also having the necessary stamina to record a classy win in the Gr.1 New Zealand Derby (2400m) at Ellerslie.
His oldest are only yearlings, but Mapperley will also offer two outstanding individuals by Puccini on the second day of Book Two – Lots 846, a filly, and 851, a colt, both from winning stakes-placed mares.
The Book 2 Mapperley consignment of 18 includes six yearlings by resident sire Complacent.
The progeny of the Gr.1 Spring Champion Stakes (2000m) and Gr.2 Chelmsford Stakes (1600m) winning son of Authorized have impressed in the sale ring, with his two-year-old colt from Attention Seeker fetching $170,000 at November’s New Zealand Bloodstock Ready To Run Sale.
Stand-out colts by Complacent include Lot 788 from the Volksraad mare Pirie Piper, a half-sister to the Gr.1 NZ 2000 Guineas (1600m) winner Clean Sweep; Lot 1037 – a half-brother to six times winner and Gr.1 Auckland Cup (3200m) placed Rose of Virginia – from the five-win Pins mare Centapin; and Lot 1065 – out of an Encosta de Lago half-sister to the Champion New Zealand Two-year-old in Maroofity – winner of the Gr.1 Ellerslie Sires’ Produce Stakes (1200m).
Mapperley’s Book Two draft also includes a Complacent half-sister to Group One performer Yearn.
