Riders head off yesterday
Deep in the Hunter Valley near Scone, a herd of 100 polo mares and four stallions run free in 3,000 acres of bush and scrub. Their owner rounds up the foals occasionally to break and train as the next generation of polo ponies. Kitchwin Hills Stud are looking for a very special mare they have aptly named No Finding, who was released to run with the polo pack after her owner decided he no longer wanted her. Her first eight foals had produced only two minor winners and her papers were stamped "dud".
Dane Shadow
Kitchwin Hills has an exciting new stud, Dane Shadow. He is the son of champion sire Danehill and the champion Centaine mare Slight Chance and he covered No Finding in 2005 and 2006 which produced outstanding results. Her first foal, a colt (now a gelding) named Coroner is a promising city winner in Queensland and the second foal, also a colt was weaned from No Finding by Stud Manager of Kitchwin Hills Mick Malone before he released her into the hills of the Hunter Valley. The colt, now named Turnitup, could be trainer Peter Moody's next Stakes winner because the three year old gelding charged over the top of his rivals to win 3 year old Handicap (1400m) at Caulfield last Saturday.
Mick Malone and some of his staff have been meticulously sifting through the polo mares but so far, they can't find the one that got away. Then they had a brilliant idea - with such a huge area to cover, they put out a call to experienced riders to register and gather at 1 pm yesterday to join the search. And the prize? A 30 per cent stake in the mare and $1,000 reward for the safe return of No Finding.
And she's still out there.
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