South Australian Plan for Contributer Filly

Media Release - Monday April 12

Exciting filly Llanacord is giving trainer and part-owner Stephen Nickalls the ride of his life and he is hoping that will continue in Australia in the coming month.

Group One performer Llanacord will be bound for Australia after racing at Te Rapa this weekend. Photo: Race Images

The daughter of Contributer won the Gr.2 Lowland Stakes (2100m) at Hastings last month before running third to Amarelinha in the Gr.1 New Zealand Oaks (2400m) at Trentham.

Buoyed by her success, Nickalls, along with his mother and stepfather, Dianne and Kevin Hopson, who share in her ownership, have elected to test her talents across the Tasman.

“The plan is to go to Adelaide and we will line-up in the Australasian Oaks (Gr.1, 2000m) and then a fortnight later there is the Fillies Classic (Gr.3, 2500m),” Nickalls said.

“She is going to fly out on Wednesday next week to Melbourne and get on the transporter to Adelaide.

“We are going to base ourselves at Ryan Balfour’s place, he has stables at Morphettville.”

Nickall’s became acquainted with Balfour through fellow Central Districts trainer Bill Thurlow, and he said Balfour has been very helpful with the logistics of getting his filly to Adelaide.

“Ryan has been brilliant helping with everything in getting over there and what we have to do, changing feeds and that sort of thing,” Nickalls said.

“Bill Thurlow put me onto him, he met him when he was in Australia. He said he was in Adelaide and is a really good guy so I should give him a ring.

“I rang him and asked him a couple of questions and before I knew it he said to come and stay with him.”

With a trans-Tasman travel bubble coming into effect on April 19, Nickalls will head to Adelaide himself to oversee Llanacord’s final preparation.

“The plan is for myself to go,” he said. “We are working out a few things at home, we have got other horses and we do it all ourselves. We have just got to make sure we can make that all work.”

Nickalls is looking forward to the trip, his first time campaigning a horse in Australia, but said there are some nerves that come with that.

“It’s both exciting and a little nerve-wracking,” he said.

Advertisement

“I was talking with (Wanganui trainer) Kevin Myers the other day and he said it is no different than going to the South Island, it is just further away.”

With the Queensland Winter Carnival returning this year after its COVID-19 enforced hiatus last year, Nickalls is hoping a number of top fillies will head to the Sunshine State for their Classics.

“Ryan was saying the main lead-up (Gr.3 Auraria Stakes, 1800m) is this Saturday, so it will be interesting to see what horses go there,” Nickalls said.

“With Queensland there are a few others (trainers) that like to go up to the Sunshine State for a holiday, so he said it was a good opportunity to go and have a crack.”

Nickalls has been pleased with Llanacord since her placing in the Oaks and he said she will have one final hit-out at Te Rapa this weekend before heading to Australia.

“She had a quiet couple of weeks after the Oaks and is very well,” he said.

“With her rating, it has got hard finding a suitable race. We are going to have to drop back to a (rating) 74 mile at Te Rapa on Saturday to give her a hit-out before we go.

“She is going to carry a truckload of weight, but we can’t do much about that, that’s what happens when you win races, they give you points.”

Nickalls said he is having the time of his life and can’t wait to continue the fantastic ride he is having with the filly his stepfather purchased out of Mapperley Stud’s 2019 New Zealand Bloodstock Book 2 Yearling Sale draft for $15,000.

“It’s a hell of a ride so far and you have just got to pinch yourself that you are competing in those kind of races,” Nickalls said.

“We are just a little family stable and it’s amazing to think that we can have a horse like her who is as consistent as she is, and having as much fun as we are.

“It’s an awesome ride.” – NZ Racing Desk

Visit the profile page for Contributer

Contributer in upcoming sales:
Advertisment
More Reading...
MM Gold Coast Horses In Training Sale Links
Tuesday saw the final breeze ups at the Gold Coast for the Magic Millions Horses In Training Sale which starts on Thursday so here’s our links to useful data including the pinhook report, with most lots having been sold previously.
Gimcrack Winner Bred By Cornerstone
THE "BACKSLAPPING" in the backwaters of the Barossa on Saturday afternoon, paled into insignificance when compared to the celebrations of the connections of SHIKI that won on debut!
Everest Runner/New G1 Horse for Hellbent as Invincible Legacy Surges
Hellbent has made a solid start to the new season with 25 winners racking up over $2million in earnings and he will have a runner in the $20million The Everest in two weeks time with Magic Time confirmed for the Inglis slot, while at Randwick last Saturday he added another G1 performer to his tally.
2025 G1 Caulfield Guineas Field and Barrier Draw
A full field plus emergencies have accepted for the $3million Group I MRC Caulfield Guineas (1600m) on Saturday with Golden Rose runners Wodeton, Autumn Boy, Nepotism and Rivellino all engaged.
National Thoroughbred Week invites support through GoFundMe campaign
National Thoroughbred Week (NTW) is calling on the thoroughbred community and broader public to be part of history, with the launch of a GoFundMe campaign to help bring this inaugural celebration to life.
OTI Racing officially enters New Zealand market
OTI Racing is officially going trans-Tasman, with the Australian syndicator becoming a licensed New Zealand syndicator this week.
Pedigree Potential –NZB Ready to Run – Nicks that Click
A quality packed catalogue for the 2025 NZB Ready to Run Sale is now online and in the lead up to the sale we’ll go looking each week for some horses of interest that jump out on pedigree for various reasons.
Aga Khan Homebred 3YO Colt - 2025 Arc de Triomphe Winner
The Group I Prix de l’Arc de Triomphe (2400m) was run overnight at Longchamp and one of the world’s great races produced a thriller with blueblood €1.85 millionsale-topping Frankel filly Minnie Hauk going down by a head to the Aga Khan homebred Sea the Stars colt Daryz.
Sires With Winners - Tuesday October 7
Here is the full list of 25 stallions which had winners throughout Australasia today with winners and result details.
Wootton Bassett G1 Double on Arc Day
The shattering loss of Wootton Bassett (GB) has been highlighted at Longchamp in France on Arc Day where the champion sire added two new Group I winners to his tally in 2YO colt Puerto Rico and the former Aussie owned 3YO colt Maranoa Charlie.