Lightly raced Kiwi mare Reputation notched her first Black-Type success when she scored a stunning win in the Listed Wairarapa Thoroughbred Breeders Stakes over 1,600m at Tauherenikau Racecourse on the North Island on Thursday, 6 February.
Rising star apprentice Lily Sutherland positioned the daughter of Iffraaj outside the lead until nearing the home turn before the pair burst clear to easily beat Nigella Lane by 2.5 lengths.
Khanshe was a further 2.5 lengths away in third place as Reputation stopped the clock on 1 minute 35.22 seconds to record her fourth win, with two placings, from just 12 starts for Matamata trainer Pam Gerard.
Out of the Zabeel mare Tenacity, Reputation was bred and is part-owned by long-time racing enthusiast Chris Grace.
The five-year-old’s dominant victory boosted Iffraaj’s stud record to 1,223 winners of 3,587 races worldwide, including 101 Stakes winners of 191 Black-Type events.
In the Shaky Isles alone, the former shuttle stallion has sired the winners of 754 races and now has 31 individual Stakes-race winners.
On Saturday, 8 February at Te Rapa, his four-year-old daughter Grail Seeker will be chasing a hat-trick of G1 victories when she contests the BCD Group Sprint over 1,400m.
Currently, in fifth place on the sires’ prize-money list in New Zealand, Iffraaj stands at Darley’s Dalham Hall Stud at Newmarket.
