Wild Night Keeps Party Going for Vanbrugh!

Media Release - Monday October 24

Running a time faster than both the winners of the Group II Soliloquy Stakes and Open 1400m events, hugely impressive three-year-old Wild Night (Vanbrugh) announced his arrival in the top echelon of three-year-olds this season when winning the feature Gr.2 James & Annie Sarten Memorial Stakes (1400m) at Te Rapa  on Saturday.

Wild Night is the third SW for Vanbrugh.

The winner of two of his three starts prior to the race, Wild Night looked a forlorn chance when in last position shortly after the field commenced the run home as Academy Award shot to a four-length lead.

However rider Craig Grylls brought Wild Night to the outside to make his run and with several huge bounds he strode into contention before finishing off resolutely to down Academy Award by three-quarters of a length.

Grylls was taken by the closing speed of his charge.

“He is a relaxed type of horse and they went fast enough where I had to niggle at him a little bit, but at the 600m he gathered up underneath me and gee he had a good turn of foot once he balanced up.

“He is a beautiful big horse altogether and when he gets to a mile or further, he is going to relish that”’ said Grylls.

Trained by Mark Walker for Team Te Akau, Wild Night continued the impressive performance by the stock of his sire Vanbrugh (Encosta De Lago), becoming the third individual stakes winner for the Windsor Park-based stallion in the space of just seven weeks.

Represented by just 11 runners to date in NZ this season, Vanbrugh now sits in second position on the Sires’ table however the stallion stallion has a big future given he has an ultra-impressive current stakes winners to runners ratio in NZ of 27%.

Raced by the Te Akau Love To Party Partnership, Wild Night was purchased by Te Akau Racing supremo David Ellis for $50,000 from the Windsor Park Book 1 draft at Karaka in 2021.

Advertisement

Bred too by Windsor Park Stud, Wild Night is the fourth foal of the Falkirk mare Supreme and is the younger half-brother of Gr.2 Eclipse Stakes stakes winner Play That Song who also finished second in the 2020 Karaka Million 2YO and fourth in the Gr.1 Sistema Stakes.

Vanbrugh has sired three stakes-winners in seven weeks!

Vanbrugh, a son of internationally acclaimed sire Encosta de Lago, stands at Windsor Park Stud and is also the sire of last weeks’ Gr.1 Livamol Classic (2040m) winner Mustang Valley along with Sheez Dominant, winner of the Listed Wanganui Guineas (1340m) earlier in the season.
 
Windsor Park Release
Advertisment
More Reading...
Sires With Winners - Tuesday April 15
Here is the full list of 27 stallions which had winners throughout Australasia today with winners and result details.
Cool Aza Beel's Cool Archie Impressive in First Win
Cool Aza Beel’s promising son Cool Archie was already stakes placed but threw off the maiden tag emphatically at Doomben on Wednesday with better races beckoning over the winter.
Bloodstock Brains Behind the Big Stables
The modern world of big business horse training sees all the major players having trusted bloodstock agents as an integral part of their team and in the case of Bjorn Baker that person is Jim Clarke of Clarke Bloodstock.
Pedigree Watch – Euro 3YO - Classic Potential
Interesting racing overnight at Newmarket with a couple of Classic key lead up stakes races for three year-olds and the winners were both first time stakes-winners, one from the family of Sydney autumn carnival staying star Alalcance and the other a homebred Dubawi filly for Juddmonte.
Switzerland To Stand Alongside Fellow Coolmore Stud Stakes Winner Home Affairs at Jerry’s Plains
Following on from a phenomenal year in the sales ring, which saw first crop Home Affairs yearlings sell for an aggregate of more than $31 million, fellow Coolmore Stud Stakes winner Switzerland will join him in the stallion barn in 2025.
Perle De Chocolat Breaks Maiden
Astern two-year-old Perle De Chocolat has always looked a filly with promise and she got the maiden out of the way when winning at Warwick Farm on Wednesday.
Little Avondale Announce Fees - Little Brose New
Little Avondale Stud created a slice of New Zealand racing history when they successfully brokered a deal to stand Little Brose at their Wairarapa farm.
Sires With Winners - Monday April 14
Here is the full list of 20 stallions which had winners throughout Australasia today with winners and result details.
1.4mil Gns Record at Tattersalls Craven Breeze Up - St Mark's Basilica 750,000 Gns
A colt by Acclamation eclipsed the record price for a lot at the Tattersalls Craven Breeze Up Sale when selling to Godolphin for 1,400,000 guineas on the opening day of the sale with a St Mark’s Basilica colt second highest at 750,000 guineas.
Blueblood Pierro Filly Returns a Winner
The John O’Shea and Tom Charlton trained Pierro filly Candlewick is bred to be well above average as a half-sister to Everest winner Classique Legend  and looks set for a good campaign after kicking off with a first up win at Warwick Farm on Wednesday.