Danny Rolston may now be living in a different continent from his Group One performer Mehzebeen, but that hasn’t stopped the excitement of watching her perform to the highest level in New Zealand.
Rolston is one of the world’s most respected judges of thoroughbred bloodstock, and the expat Kiwi’s talent has been utilised over the last couple of years by the Hong Kong Jockey Club as their Executive Manager of Hong Kong International Sale/Owner Advisory Services.
Prior to heading to Hong Kong, Rolston was Director of Sales at New Zealand Bloodstock, and in in the latter stages in that role he was asked by his friends Xavier Kos and Beatrice Hild to find them a filly, and Rolston identified a daughter of Almanzor from Pencarrow Stud’s 2021 New Zealand Bloodstock Book 1 Yearling Sale draft as the perfect fit.
“It was the first year that Sir Peter (Vela, Pencarrow Stud principal) had bred the fillies at Bellwood (farm), and I am a big believer in rolling hills being good rearing ground,” Rolston said. “She was a really good-looking filly in the first crop of Almanzor with a Zabeel damsire, so I liked her as a progressive middle-distance type that had the physical shape to ultimately be a nice mum one day.”
They went to $50,000 to secure the filly, who was later named Mehzebeen, and a syndicate of close family and friends was put together to race the filly out of Te Akau’s Matamata stable.
“There are three ownership parties,” Rolston said. “Xavier, Beatrice, myself and Sharon (wife), and Mark and Yasmin Davis, we own the filly, and we have set-up a lease with Sonia Waddell, who does our agistment and has been a long-time friend and has been a big support to me over the years with her agistment business. My parents, Betsy and Ray Duncan, and close friends of theirs, Kaye and Tony Howe (are also in the racing lease). Tony was actually my first boss years ago when I left school.”
The group have enjoyed plenty of success with Mehzebeen, who races in Kos and Hild’s Sarai Stud colours, which began in last year’s Gr.1 New Zealand Oaks (2400m) at Trentham, where she finished runner-up to subsequent Gr.1 Australian Oaks (2400m) victor Pennyweka.
While the Group One performance was memorable, Mehzebeen gave her ownership group their biggest thrill over last month’s New Zealand Cup week when winning the Listed Metropolitan Trophy (2600m) on the opening day of the carnival before backing up seven days later to take out the Gr.3 New Zealand Cup (3200m).
“She really deserved a stakes win and we have always thought she was a stakes class stayer. She deserved that, it was really exciting,” Rolston said.
“She has been able to bank a bit of prizemoney and secure her stud value with that solid black-type.”
Rolston has selected plenty of top-class racehorses for many clients over the years, and he is now enjoying reaping the rewards as an owner himself.
“I think it just vindicates what you believe you can do,” he said. “It is really a great endorsement of what I have been trying to do for other people and to be able to do it for myself and my family has been great.”
Having secured Group success in New Zealand for trainers Mark Walker and Sam Bergerson, Mehzebeen is now in line to head across the Tasman to Te Akau Racing’s Cranbourne barn to try and secure some Australian black-type.
“She will head over to Mark’s Cranbourne stable early in the New Year and work backwards from an Adelaide Cup (Gr.2, 3200m) target,” Rolston said.
Buoyed by Mehzebeen’s success, Rolston is keen to head back to Karaka next month to try and replicate his success in sourcing another quality filly.
“We will hopefully be looking for something in the New Year at Karaka,” he said.
While he will be keeping an eye out for a progressive filly, Rolston will primarily be at Karaka in the capacity of his new role for the Hong Kong Jockey Club, searching for the next youngsters to offer through their international sale.
“Primarily, my role at the Hong Kong Jockey Club is overseeing the international sale,” Rolston said.
“We buy yearlings from all the major breeding countries in the world, so it takes me to some wonderful places. We store them and train them up and resell them as three-year-olds once they are here in Hong Kong.
“We run an auction on a much smaller scale but it is a very high standard event. It is open to all our Jockey Club members and permit holders to come and bid on the horses.
“We are just going through the vetting phase at the moment. We have got three-year-olds that will be arriving here (Hong Kong) in late January to go under the hammer in March. We already have two-year-olds on-hand and we will be back into yearling buying from January.”
Rolston will arrive back in New Zealand later this month to enjoy Christmas at home before heading to Queensland early in the new year to attend Magic Millions’ Gold Coast Yearling sale, before returning across the Tasman to head to Karaka in late January.
“It is great being able to get home and see some family at Christmas, which I am looking forward to,” he said.
With his feet firmly under the desk in his new role after more than two years at the Hong Kong Jockey Club, Rolston said he has been really enjoying the position.
“It is an amazing place to work and I am constantly learning,” he said. “The integration of the Jockey Club being basically everything for the horse racing industry in Hong Kong just gives you so much exposure to other sides of the business.”
Having been used to a rural setting throughout his life, Rolston said he and his family have enjoyed the shift to city living, as well as the different cultural experiences that come with living in another country.
“I was really ready for that stark contrast (in lifestyle change),” Rolston said. “I have always grown up and lived in a semi-rural or fully rural setting.
“I loved Cambridge, Cambridge will always be home, but I am really enjoying some time in a big city. My family are here and enjoying some new schools and different ways of living, and different lifestyles and meeting different people. Being able to travel within Southeast Asia has also been a massive advantage.”