KEY POINTS:
A modest horse stud just south of Christchurch can now add Caulfield Cup winner to its list of breeding achievements.
However, it was mixed emotions for those at Paritai Stud in Rakaia, run by David and Pat Jones who now have no direct bloodlines to Saturday's winner Master O'Reilly, after his dam Without Remorse died when in-foal two years ago.
The Joneses offered a colt by O'Reilly out of the unraced Bakharoff mare Without Remorse at the South Island Sale for two-year-olds in 2004.
Australian Bill Sutcliffe paid $75,000, which is now a bargain after Master O'Reilly won the A$1.5 million first prize on Saturday.
Pat Jones said they were unaware until last month the two-year-old they'd sold in 2004 was now running for Melbourne as Master O'Reilly.
"We don't always follow up where the horses go to," she told The Age newspaper in Melbourne recently.
"We did breed him. He was a chunky little thing as all the foals have been out of that mare. But he's obviously grown into a nice horse."
The couple only recently sold a sister to Master O'Reilly for just $15,000 and as Without Remorse died suddenly in December 2005, they have no direct bloodlines remaining to the Cup winner.
They bought Without Remorse as part of a package of two-year-olds in 1993, but she was never "right in the head" to make it to the races.
Pat Jones said Without Remorse died at Cambridge Stud after she had given birth to Master O'Reilly's sister. The sister's mother had just been served by the stallion Keeper but died before she could be returned home.
Master O'Reilly's sire is O'Reilly who as a racehorse won the Telegraph Handicap and Bayer Classic when trained by Dave and Paul O'Sullivan.
O'Reilly, who stands at Waikato Stud in Matamata, has been one of the top sires in the past few years.
He is also the sire of another prominent stayer The Jewel, which was beaten into second, behind Zagalia, in a Queensland Oaks, after being checked in the home straight.
Master O'Reilly is owned by Sutcliffe and his wife and also Judy Mawer, who was the horse's original trainer.
The five-year-old gelding is now trained in Melbourne by Danny O'Brien, who said: "He's going to improve again and he's always been set for Melbourne Cup Day.
"He's better at Flemington and I wouldn't swap him for any other horse in the race."
- NZPA
