FIRST THOROUGHBRED IN NEW ZEALAND

Greymouth Evening Star, 17 August 1948, Page 7

FIRST THOROUGHBRED IN NEW ZEALAND

A turf historian has discovered among old-time records the name of the fns_ thoroughbred horse bred in New zea la J Watts, of Wellington, first conceived the idea of bringing a thoroughbred horse to NeW Zealand, and his choice was Figaro, who was bred m New South Wales in 1838. A thoroughbred daughter of Emihus was imported from England shortly afterwards, and she was mated with Figaro to produce I' Barbiers, the first thoi oughbi ed horse produced in the Dominion. In January, 1843. the Hon. Henry Petre founder of Wanganui, imported the stallions Aether and Riddlesworth from the Homeland, and these were the first English-bred stallions to be brought here. A few years later, Mr Henry Redwood, the accepted Father of the New Zealand Turf, further boosted breeding in this country when he brought that great stallion Sir Heicules over from Australia, and also a 26-vear-old mare, Flora Mclvor who was destined to play an important pait in breeding in the Dominion. Flora Mclvor was mated with Sir Hercules and produced in successive years the fillies Io and Waimea, who founded two of the greatest families of New Zealand bloodstock.