Bullrush
Bradley Photographers
Exciting Sydney galloper Bullrush made it five wins from five starts when he out-toughed his rivals in the last on the card at Royal Randwick on Saturday, a victory that will be celebrated long and hard in the lunchroom at Waikato Stud on Monday morning.
The good-looking O'Reilly gelding is the pride and joy of the tight knit team who are all involved in the ownership of the four-year-old thanks to the generosity of Stud principal Mark Chittick.
"He's a horse that has touched every staff member at Waikato since he was born as so many of them have had some form of involvement with him along the way," explained Chittick.
"He was a late foal who wasn't ready to go through the auction ring as a yearling and was also a little too immature to take to Karaka as a Ready To Run horse either.
"He really has been a long term project and so many of our team have put their heart and soul into getting him to the stage of being a racehorse that I thought the right thing to do was to have everyone here involved in his ownership.
"So one morning I announced to everyone that we would be giving a 10% share to the staff and it couldn't have worked out any better."
Sent to the Hawkes stable in Sydney, the half brother to Group One placed mare Sports Illustrated made a winning debut at Goulburn back in August last year and racked up three further wins before making his city debut at Randwick on the weekend. Forced to sit three wide during the running, Bullrush showed his fighting spirit with a never-say-die effort that saw him hold off all challenges in the straight for a gritty victory.
"I think he may have been everyone's favourite horse even before he started racing and winning," said Bloodstock Manager, Kerrie Cox.
"He was a December foal and needed a fair bit of care early on before he had an accident and split his knee open. Then when he first went into pre-training he got a bone chip in his foot that needed surgery which could have spelled the end for him.
"He is just so tough though and everyone falls in love with him so to see him doing so well is such a thrill.
"We were all so excited when Mark told us about what he was going to do and it's fair to say the horse has a pretty staunch fan club that has his picture plastered all over the morning tea room.
"You can imagine he will be the topic of conversation on Monday morning and we can't wait until takes on the really big time as there will be a planeload of kiwis headed across the Tasman to cheer him on."
Chittick noted that the Hawkes team had advised that whatever the horse does now is a bonus as they expect bigger and better things from him in the autumn next year.
"Michael Hawkes told me he is still at least 12 months away from being the real deal but he has no doubt he can make it to the elite level," he said.
"That is very exciting to hear so it could be a pretty good ride for us all if that can come true." – NZ Racing Desk
The good-looking O'Reilly gelding is the pride and joy of the tight knit team who are all involved in the ownership of the four-year-old thanks to the generosity of Stud principal Mark Chittick.
"He's a horse that has touched every staff member at Waikato since he was born as so many of them have had some form of involvement with him along the way," explained Chittick.
"He was a late foal who wasn't ready to go through the auction ring as a yearling and was also a little too immature to take to Karaka as a Ready To Run horse either.
"He really has been a long term project and so many of our team have put their heart and soul into getting him to the stage of being a racehorse that I thought the right thing to do was to have everyone here involved in his ownership.
"So one morning I announced to everyone that we would be giving a 10% share to the staff and it couldn't have worked out any better."
Sent to the Hawkes stable in Sydney, the half brother to Group One placed mare Sports Illustrated made a winning debut at Goulburn back in August last year and racked up three further wins before making his city debut at Randwick on the weekend. Forced to sit three wide during the running, Bullrush showed his fighting spirit with a never-say-die effort that saw him hold off all challenges in the straight for a gritty victory.
"I think he may have been everyone's favourite horse even before he started racing and winning," said Bloodstock Manager, Kerrie Cox.
"He was a December foal and needed a fair bit of care early on before he had an accident and split his knee open. Then when he first went into pre-training he got a bone chip in his foot that needed surgery which could have spelled the end for him.
"He is just so tough though and everyone falls in love with him so to see him doing so well is such a thrill.
"We were all so excited when Mark told us about what he was going to do and it's fair to say the horse has a pretty staunch fan club that has his picture plastered all over the morning tea room.
"You can imagine he will be the topic of conversation on Monday morning and we can't wait until takes on the really big time as there will be a planeload of kiwis headed across the Tasman to cheer him on."
Chittick noted that the Hawkes team had advised that whatever the horse does now is a bonus as they expect bigger and better things from him in the autumn next year.
"Michael Hawkes told me he is still at least 12 months away from being the real deal but he has no doubt he can make it to the elite level," he said.
"That is very exciting to hear so it could be a pretty good ride for us all if that can come true." – NZ Racing Desk
