THE WAIKANAE STUD.

New Zealand Illustrated Sporting & Dramatic Review, Issue 1529, 14 August 1919, Page 14

THE WAIKANAE STUD.

The Wellington province is fortunate in having such an enthusiastic breeder as Mr. I. G. Duncan, who is the proprietor of the select Waikanae Stud of thoroughbred mares and stud horses, the largest in the Dominion at the present time. The stud is a fine advertisement for Wellington and

for New Zealand, and it is well-known that the thoroughbreds there receive the greatest possible care and attention.,The mares on the estate, whether the property of the proprietor or visiting the stud, are well fed, and no yearlings are put on the market in better order than Mr. Thomas Handley, the manager, turns them out. In securing imported Kilbroney at the break-up of the stud of Mr. J. B. Reid, for 4000 guineas, Mr. Duncan

showed a determination not to allow a proved good sire to leave the country, and not only bought that successful sire, as he was a racehorse, but some of the fine mares Mr. Reid had collected. Moreover, he had used Kilbroney for some of the Waikanae mares prior to the sale. Kilbroney was himself a great stayer, as his fine record over long distances proclaimed

him, and he beat in England in Royal Realm in the Goodwood Cup (2 miles 5 furlongs), at weight for age, a horse who is making a great name as a sire in England this year. The New Zealand Turf Register from year to vear has told us of the success of Kilbroney’s stock until he has reached third place in the list of winning sires, with nineteen winners of place money amounting to £14,395, which is a proud position even allowing that he has had great opportunities, when it is remembered that over two hundred sires were represented in New Zealand last year. The winnings of Kilbroney’s stock during the past four seasons amounts to £27,219, and may be expected to average more in the present season. His yearlings last season, numbering 13, sold at auction, realised an average of £420 each. Boniform, by Multiform from Otterden, is also at the Waikanae Stud. Otterden is an imported daughter of the great stayer Sheen and dam Oi Martian, leading sire in New Zealand for the past five years, and whose stock have won in the region of £130,000 in ten years since he first went to the stud. Boniform’s average has been a consistently good one year after year, and his opportunities have not been so good as some sires —his half-brother Martian, for instance —for the reason that breeders were' looking for strains away from the Musket line or had so many with Musket strains to divide their patronage amongst. Boniform’s average of winners during nine seasons has been about sixteen, and his progeny have won approaching £57,000, an average of about £6300 a year, and they have included classic race winners and at least one champion over hurdles and steeplechase country in the dual Derby winner Bon Reve. Boniform, like Kilbroney, is limited to 20 outside mares, and breeders with high-class mares cannot afford to overlook proved horses.