Breeder’s Rosegarden blooms in Spring

New Zealand breeder Richard Rutherford of Beltana Stud is celebrating quietly with a Sunday morning coffee in Christchurch when we catch up with him the day after Autumn Boy’s decisive Caulfield Guineas G1 victory.

The son of The Autumn Sun and Rosegarden is the third Group 1 winner Richard has bred descended from Geraniums Red, “a big, scopey mare”, that he and his late mother Marie purchased in England in the late 1970s.

By the champion racehorse Brigadier Gerard from the 1968 Irish Oaks winner Celina, Geraniums Red left the 1984 Caulfield Cup winner Affinity (by Zamazaan) and later, Rose World (by Grosvenor), dam of the fine racemare O’Reilly Rose, winner of 9 races including four at Group & Listed level, and placed in the New Zealand S. G1. 

O’Reilly Rose is the dam of Rosegarden (by Savabeel), and half-sister to Volkrose (by Volksraad), the dam of VRC Newmarket H. G1 winner Shamexpress whose champion son Ka Ying Rising is hot favourite for next Saturday’s $20 million The Everest G1. 

As can be seen from his mares’ breeding records, Richard consistently uses the best stallions he can afford, achieving yearling sale prices up to $825,000 for colts out of O’Reilly Rose & Volkrose, as well as elite success on the track.

He explains why he sent Rosegarden to The Autumn Sun in 2019. “I thought the whole family would suit him and I’m mad about Aga Khan bloodlines so I sent Skye Rose, a sister to Shamexpress, to The Autumn Sun and got a magnificent colt.”

That encouraged Richard to send Rosegarden two years later and once again the result was “a beautiful horse, with wonderful balance.”

The two colts were offered by Amarina Farm whose co-owner Craig Anderson shared the emotion of a major Group 1 success with Richard, who has known Craig, and enjoyed his company for about 20 years. 

Both colts, Command Order at Inglis Easter 2022 and Autumn Boy at Magic Millions 2024, were sold for $200,000, prices that Richard admits were disappointing at the time. However, in Autumn Boy’s case that was balanced by the fact he ended up in the stable of his sire’s champion trainer Chris Waller.

Chris recalls, “We had been looking to try and find a horse that replicates The Autumn Sun and bloodstock agent Guy Mulcaster found him. As soon as I saw him I thought he was perfect and Charlie (Duckworth) was the same and we found some great owners.”

Those owners, Glenn Ritchie, the bus transport magnate originally from Temuka in South Canterbury, and his wife Lynn, now have a very valuable colt who has so far won 3 of his five starts and a tick over $2 million. 

Richard continues to breed horses at Beltana alongside his sheep & cattle operation, as each generation of the Rutherford family has done since the 1850s.

His two mares visiting stallions this Spring are:
Rosegarden, who returns to The Autumn Sun after delivering a Hellbent filly last month.
Fast Summer Rock, a Fastnet Rock half-sister to dual G1 winner Stefi Magnetica – she has a yearling colt by Proisir, a filly foal by Super Seth and returns to him.

It surely won’t be long before the next Beltana-bred Group 1 winner comes around!