December 8, 2025Newhaven graduates post impressive maiden wins
Two Newhaven Park graduates burst on the domestic racing scene at the weekend when posting their respective maiden wins in highly impressive fashion and displaying untapped raw ability.
On Saturday, Shady Road scored over 1150m on the Beaumont circuit of Newcastle racecourse, surging over the top of $1.50 favourite Brightburn to salute at just her second race start. The daughter of Written Tycoon is trained by Annabel & Rob Archibald and was first-up from a spell — running well under a very handy 33.13s final 600m sectional when coming from last of the eight runners at the top of the straight.
Shady Road was sold by Newhaven Park at the 2024 Inglis Easter Yearling Sale on behalf of Seymour Bloodstock and their co-breeders. Her dam, Spanish Whisper, was a triple Group 2 winner including the VRC AV Kewney Stakes as an autumn 3-year-old and the VRC Let’s Elope Stakes as a spring 4-year-old.
Little more than 24 hours after Shady Road’s barnstorming win, Royal Rendezvous scored in very similar fashion over 1000m at Werribee on debut. A member of the farm’s 2024 Inglis Melbourne Premier Yearling Sale draft, the son of Royal Meeting (Ire) won in the colours of Te Akau Racing for an ownership group which also includes the aforementioned Seymour Bloodstock and the popular bloodstock agent Mark Pilkington.
The overall time and sectionals recorded by Royal Rendezvous were equally as impressive as those of Shady Road. The very well-bred 3-year-old gelding, a half-brother to multiple Group 2 winner Bellatrix Star, clocked the winning time of 56.98s (on a Soft 5) — just 0.18s outside the course record.
Speaking after the victory, Royal Rendezvous’ trainer Mark Walker remarked: “Bellatrix Star has been a very good horse for the stable, and it’s great to see Royal Rendezvous win in the manner that he did. He’s got a bit to live up to, being a half-brother, but he’s made a great start.”
Walker added: “He settled well in midfield from an awkward draw, travelled into the race as though he could be in the finish and let down really well in the straight.
“All the team in the Cranbourne stables are working really hard to achieve good results with the horses we’ve got. We’ve got a lot of nice young horses … we’re building for the future and Royal Rendezvous is one that certainly looks promising.”
Both Shady Road and Royal Rendezvous were sold during the same Australian yearling sale series which witnessed Newhaven Park consign Group 1 winner Cool Archie, Group 2 winner Cool Aza Rene, Group 3 winner The Playwright, and the very recent Melbourne metropolitan winner Cooly.