South Island Horse of the Year Award comes south
Top sprinter Buoyant won the South Island Horse of the Year title at the awards evening in Christchurch on Friday night.
Jamie Searle is a longtime Southland racing writer. For more of his work head to the Southland Thoroughbreds Facebook page.
For the second time Invercargill couple Sabin and Clare Kirkland have owned the winner of the South Island Horse of the Year Award in thoroughbred racing.
Their top sprinter Buoyant won the title at the awards' evening in Christchurch on Friday night. The Kirkland-owned Final Reality was SI Horse of the Year in 2008.
Final Reality's dam, Virtual Reality, is a past winner of the SI Broodmare of the Year title, while the Kirklands also won the SI Three-Year-Old of the Year Award with Eel Win in 2009.
The Kirklands' horses are mostly trained by Sabin but occasionally they are raced out of the Christchurch stable of Michael and Matthew Pitman.
Buoyant's big wins last season were in the Group III $120,000 Stewards' Stakes at Riccarton and Listed $65,000 Hazlett Stakes at Wingatui.
After the Wingatui win in December Buoyant was exported to Australia following his sale to Australian buyers. The KIrklands have retained a share in the ownership.
Buoyant is now trained at Bendigo by Matthew Enright and races under the name of Buoyantsea. He was to have his first Australian start at Bendigo in April but became a late scratching when knocking his head in the starting gates.
He finally made his Australian debut at Moonee Valley in Melbourne on September 9. However, he ran below his best and finished last of six. A post-race examination revealed he had an abscess in a hoof.
Meanwhile, Sabin plans to race two of his team at Gore on Friday. Sea Shepherd will contest the open 1100m as a lead into the Winton Cup at Ascot Park on October 8.
Our Flash Harry, who won for Sabin at the Winton jumpouts last Monday, will have his first start in a maiden event at Gore.
Another promising maiden galloper in the Kirkland stable is Imabuster, part-owned by former All Blacks coach Steve Hansen. Imabuster ran second at the Winton jumpouts last week and will begin a new campaign at Ascot Park on October 8.
Had a 1/3 share in the 1st horse Sabin ever trained and Roger Gill,a plumber from Otautau,now Tasmania,Madagascar.A jumper who fell over in front of stand at Riverton Easter races and got put down.