Champion Cape Cross mare Seachange has been voted Horse of the Year in New Zealand for the second year running.
She sealed a stellar career when fourth in the G1 Falmouth Stakes in the UK in July, having set sail for Dubai then England with seven Group One victories to her name in her native New Zealand. She won the G1 Mudgway Stakes and G1 Horlicks Challenge Stakes within three weeks of each other and then repeated this feat the following year. Her final victory at the highest level came in the Waikato Draught Sprint where she received a champion's welcome from a huge crowd of supporters who knew that it was to be her last run on hime turf.
The seven-year-old is out of the Broad Reach mare Just Cruising, who died recently at The Oaks Stud in Cambridge, where Seachange is due to start her new role as broodmare for her owner/breeder Dick Karreman.Her full-brother Korau Road is a G1 runner-up and Just Cruising has also produced a sister to Seachange, who has just turned two.
The Oaks Stud dominated the New Zealand Thoroughbred Racing Awards, winning five prizes in total. Seachange was voted Horse of the Year and Sprinter of the Year. Her dam was posthumously awarded the Broodmare of the Year title while Dick Karreman was also given the Mercedes Owner of the Year and Mercedes People’s Choice Award.
