Living Legends Day surpasses its label
Dennis Ryan - Raceform • February 12th, 2026 2:32 PM
The inspiration behind Waikato Thoroughbred Racing’s Living Legends initiative could not have rung truer than at Te Rapa last Saturday when stars of the past melded with those both present and future.
Off the track, nine former stars with a collective tally of more than 100 wins – 26 of those Group Ones – revived a flood of memories as they showcased their retirement lives.
Meanwhile out on the track where the real action was, no member of the younger equine brigade shone more brightly than home-track hero First Five as he delivered another knockout blow in the Gr.1 BCD Group Sprint.
Three starts back the David Greene-trained gelding had announced his arrival on the big stage with a dominant win in the Gr.3 J Swap Sprint and has since bridged the gap to elite company with equally facile wins in the Gr.1 Telegraph at Trentham and Saturday’s BCD Group Sprint.
While unbeaten filly Well Written has been the sensation of the season thus far, First Five has provided the feel-goods. Bred by veteran enthusiast Gerald Shand, raced by him in partnership with his daughter Jackie, her husband Phil Rogers and their daughter Jenna McLeod, the big Almanzor gelding has thrust his trainer David Greene to the frontline of training ranks.
Like veteran Matamata couple Ken and Bev Kelso, who on Saturday celebrated their 15th Group One success with Legarto in the Herbie Dyke Stakes, big numbers have never been Greene’s style.
Working alongside his wife Heidi, he has delivered commendable results over the years and is now making all the right moves with the horse that could fairly be described as New Zealand’s best sprinter.
The other essential element in First Five’s emergence has been Wiremu Pinn, whose three race rides on him have produced two wins and a forgivable second. His latest ride was typically confident, making the most of an inside gate to track the Australian stablemates Here To Shock and Arkansaw Kid and make his move off the bend.
After last month’s Sistema Railway result, when Victorians Jigsaw and Arkansaw Kid had relegated our sprinters to minor roles, First Five went a long way towards restoring local pride. His hat-trick has been achieved with almost carefree abandon, and even if Saturday’s runner-up Sterling Express would have finished closer but for a serious check 250 metres from the finish, his dominance has been startling.
The warmest feel-good factor around Saturday’s win was First Five’s 90-year-old breeder Gerald Shand being on-course for the first time to witness one of the very best in his long list of big winners.
Although now living at Clarks Beach on the southern shores of the Manukau Harbour, Shand has a long Waikato history. He established the iconic Shands Bakery in Huntly with his late brother Bruce and took up a hobby racing, breeding (and punting) in both equine codes, while his life membership of Waikato Thoroughbred Racing recognises many years of service on the committee of the former Waikato Racing Club.
As family patriarch, the man known to his next three generations as Pop, along with his partner Pat, was the centre of attention on Saturday, and deservedly so for someone whose life has been immersed in racing.
First Five’s race eight win capped a day of feature race highlights that had begun with an upset win by Autumn Glory in the Gr.2 Legacy Lodge Waikato Guineas. Emerging from the ballot after a win and a wet-track seventh in her only two previous starts, the Roger James/Robert Wellwood-trained filly got the better of her male rivals with a relentless burst over the final stages and is now right in the mix for upcoming classic honours.
Autumn Glory is raced by her breeders the Smithies family under their Monovale Holdings label, which of course is the same source as one of the legends honoured on Saturday, six-time Group One-winning iron horse Sir Slick who belied his 24 years as he bounced around the Te Rapa parade ring.
The Waikato Guineas was the first leg of a three-year-old filly double for another who would qualify as a living legend, Waikato Stud’s Ocean Park. A second lightly-raced daughter, Ohope Wins, repeated her previous-start maiden win in the Gr.2 Sir Patrick Hogan Stakes as she swept past her rivals in the Gr.2 David & Karyn Ellis Fillies Classic.
Her last-to-first finish was everything you would want to see from a filly who is now the favourite for both the New Zealand Oaks and Derby, and it would not be a massive surprise if she was to line up in both Ellerslie classics, the first of which is scheduled for Saturday week.
Like Well Written, Ohope Wins now races in the emerald green and white Yulong colours, having been purchased in full after her New Year’s Day Ellerslie win and remaining for at least the immediate future with her trainers Lance O’Sullivan and Andrew Scott.
As the winner already of three Group One races – the New Zealand 1000 Guineas and Australian Guineas at three and the Herbie Dyke Stakes in 2024 – Legarto had little left to prove when she arrived at Te Rapa on Saturday.
There was, however, pride at stake for her connections after doubts had been expressed elsewhere following a winless year. The hulking mare settled any arguments as Opie Bosson got the best from her to nail Zabeel Classic winner Kingswood.
A century of Group One wins for Bosson fittingly headlined that performance, along with a 15th Group One for trainers Ken and Bev Kelso and a career record for Legarto that now reads 11 wins and stakes of almost $2.6 million.
The Proisir mare, now six years old, may have just one more start before retirement, with next month’s Gr.1 Bonecrusher New Zealand Stakes her next target. Beyond that she is scheduled to be offered at the Magic Millions National Broodmare Sale on the Gold Coast in May, bringing the curtain down on a career that now matches the four Group One wins by another Kelso-trained mare by Proisir, Levante.
Ancroft Stud’s Philip Brown, the principal owner of both mighty mares, described Saturday’s performance as the most emotional of any of Legarto’s wins, replicating the feelings experienced by Bosson and Ken Kelso in their post-race interviews.
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Big Saturday includes meetings at Matamata and Ascot Park. Race highlights are the Matamata Breeders Stakes and the Matamata Slipper. Tune in on Trackside 1 or trackside.co.nz from 11:30am
