St Reims (foaled 9 November 1999 in

New Zealand New Zealand ( mi, Aotearoa ) is an island country in the southwestern Pacific Ocean. It consists of two main landmasses—the North Island () and the South Island ()—and over 700 smaller islands. It is the sixth-largest island count ...

) is a

thoroughbred The Thoroughbred is a horse breed best known for its use in horse racing. Although the word ''thoroughbred'' is sometimes used to refer to any breed of purebred horse, it technically refers only to the Thoroughbred breed. Thoroughbreds are c ...

racehorse Horse racing is an equestrian performance sport, typically involving two or more horses ridden by jockeys (or sometimes driven without riders) over a set distance for competition. It is one of the most ancient of all sports, as its basic pr ...

who won the

New Zealand Derby The New Zealand Derby is a set-weights Thoroughbred horse race for three-year-olds, run over a distance of 2,400 metres (12 furlongs) at Ellerslie Racecourse in Auckland, New Zealand. It is held on the first Saturday in March, as the opening day o ...

in 2002. A million-dollar yearling, big things were always expected of the son of

Zabeel Zabeel (25 October 1986 – 25 September 2015) was a New Zealand-bred racehorse who predominantly raced in Australia. He was retired to stud and became a champion sire. He is a bay son of Sir Tristram (IRE) from the Nureyev mare Lady Gisell ...

, and although he didn't break his maiden until his fifth start he soon started to live up to expectations. A runaway win in the

Avondale Guineas Avondale may refer to: Places Australia * Avondale, New South Wales, a village in New South Wales *Avondale, Parramatta, a heritage-listed former residence and now offices at 25 O'Connell Street, Parramatta, New South Wales * Avondale, Queen ...

at his last start before the Derby ensured that he would start favourite in the Classic, and he didn't disappoint. Given an excellent ride out in front by

Greg Childs Gregory Stuart Childs is a British Children's Media consultant. Career He was the producer of the British television show, ''Record Breakers'', for ten years from 1988 to 1998. In 1998 he launched the first internet services for Children's B ...

, the colt was never headed and scored a narrow but authoritative win. After the Derby his career went downhill. After disappointing performances in an autumn Sydney campaign, St Reims failed to win a single race as a four-year-old and looked to be a shadow of his former self. But at Hastings in the spring of 2004 he regained his interest in racing and put together a string of wins against horses the quality of Waitoki Dream and Zafar, culminating in a return to Group race success in the Lindauer Grandeur Stakes at Ellerslie, the scene of his Derby triumph. He followed that win up with the Group 2 Counties Cup, a desperately close second under a demanding weight in the Group 2 Waikato Cup and a well-deserved second Group 1 victory in the 2005 Zabeel Classic at Ellerslie beating Distinctly Secret and Lashed. Following another Group 1 placing behind

Xcellent Xcellent (foaled 29 November 2001 in New Zealand) is a thoroughbred racehorse who was trained by Michael & Paul Moroney. He won 6 races from his first 9 career starts, including four Group Ones - The New Zealand Derby and New Zealand Stakes at ...

in the Darley Stakes and a seventh behind the same horse in the Kelt Capital Stakes, he was retired to stand at Stoney Bridge Stud.

Stud career

St Reims had his first winner as a sire when two-year-old filly St J'adore, from his first crop, won a maiden race at Avondale on 7 May 2010. His progeny included: * Bad Boy Brown, winner of the 2019

Great Northern Hurdles The Great Northern Hurdles is one of New Zealand's feature jumping races. History The race has been run in early September since 2005, after previously being held in early June. The Great Northern Hurdles is now raced on the same day as the Grea ...

. * Tallyho Twinkletoe, winner of the 2015 Grand National Hurdles (4250m), the 2021 Grand National Steeplechase (5600m), 2021 Koral Steeplechase (4250m) and multiple prestige steeplechases in Australia.

References

1999 racehorse births Thoroughbred family 9-f Racehorses bred in New Zealand Racehorses trained in New Zealand {{racehorse-stub