Te Akau Season - Stakes' Win 16 (NZ) of 30

July sees the final month of our phenomenal 2023/24 racing season.  

As we like to do at this time of the year, we now reflect every day on our Group/Listed performers of the 'season that was' - and there were plenty!  In fact 30 across New Zealand and Australia, with nine at Group 1 level.

We said previously that this season, Contributer mare Campionessa came of age.  All that was missing from her outstanding CV was that elusive Group 1 glory - she had come tantalisingly close on a number of occasions however.

After winning the stakes' race on Boxing Day 2023 at Wingatui with Kai, the stage was set in the north: lights, camera, action - our grand mare was about to have her day in the sun - claiming her first Group 1!

Richly deserving of Group One honours, Campionessa (6 m Contributer – Bella Carolina, by O’Reilly) won the $450,000 Cambridge Stud Zabeel Classic (Gr. 1, 2050m) on Boxing Day at Pukekohe. 

Having resumed on the course with a big effort to win the Auckland Thoroughbred Breeders’ Stakes (Gr. 2, 1400m) on 25 November, Campionessa was poetry in motion when she raced clear to win the Cal Isuzu Stakes (Gr. 2, 1600m) on 16 December at Te Rapa, and warranted favouritism in the time-honoured event.

Second in both the Herbie Dyke Stakes (Gr. 1, 2000m) and Bonecrusher Stakes (Gr. 1, 2050m) last season, and previous winner of the Metropolitan Trophy (Listed, 2500m), Campionessa certainly laid claims to scoring at the highest level over a middle distance.

Ridden majestically by stable jockey Opie Bosson ONZM, who bagged his 95th Group One victory, Campionessa was given a lovely trip in the trail, however became held in a pocket before pushing out at the 300m and defiantly surging clear of Randwick Metropolitan (Gr. 1, 2400m) winner No Compromise (Pins) over the concluding stages. 

Owned by the Te Akau Campionessa Syndicate (Mgr: Karyn Fenton-Ellis MNZM), she was purchased by David Ellis CNZM for A$60,000 at the 2019 Gold Coast National Yearling Sale, from the draft of Mapperley Stud, where her sire stands.

Her 33 starts have yielded 11 wins, 10 places, and over $1.25 million in prize money. 

“What an incredible mare and to think we were lucky to get her, really,” Ellis said.

“She was passed in at Karaka, and Simms (Davison) took her to the Gold Coast Sale and she was passed in again before I negotiated the purchase.

“She displayed ability right from the start when she won her first two starts and has just continued to get better as she’s matured.

“The zone she’s in now is very hard to beat and the way she won last time at Te Rapa, she had to be a big chance on the back of that performance.

“It’s the ultimate for any horse to win a Group One, but especially a mare and it means the world for her commercial appeal as a broodmare.

“It’s been an incredible day to win five races on Boxing Day at Pukekohe, when the best competition is about, and also the Hazlett Stakes with Kai (Ocean Park) at Wingatui, and another great day for Opie (Bosson) with five wins.

“Also, I’d like to Brendan and Jo (Lindsay), and everyone at Cambridge Stud, for sponsoring this great race and all they do for the racing industry. To have their investment and support, along with the TAB partnering by Entain, and all the other initiatives, I can’t begin to explain how much it means.”

From the first NZ crop of Contributer (High Chaparral), Campionessa is out of the three-time winning mare Bella Carolina, by O’Reilly (Last Tycoon). 

Australian Middle Distance Horse of the Year Contributer (High Chaparral) was a dual Group One winner in the Chipping Norton (Gr. 1, 1600m) and Ranvet Stakes (Gr. 1, 2000m), and Champion Second Season Sire in New Zealand.

His sire, High Chaparral (Sadler’s Wells), won six Group One races including the English and Irish Derbies. 

Dam, Bella Carolina, won three times to 1400 metres and done a great job at stud leaving five individual winners of 26 races, including stakes winners Tennessee (Per Incanto), who won the Wellesley Stakes (Listed, 1000m), and Leedox (Time Test) in the Futurity Stakes (Listed, 1400m). 

In addition, the dam sires in the pedigree of Campionessa are some of the best to ever stand in New Zealand: Champion Sire O’Reilly, and in turn Centaine, and Noble Bijou. While through her sire lines she carries a cross of immortal sire Northern Dancer. 

Campionessa is in training at Matamata, and scheduled to trial on 6 August at Te Rapa.