Hedwood Thoroughbreds Limited

18/06/2026

Rest in peace, Sav 🕊️ 23.09.2001 - 19.06.2026

18/06/2026

READ: Novara Park Stud filly Dubawi Diva a stylish debut winner for trainers Shaune Ritchie and Colm Murray on Sunday.

https://www.racingnews.co.nz/novara-filly-makes-perfect-start-to-career/

18/06/2026

15/06/2026

Trackside's Justin Evans and Brendan Popplewell appeared on Sport Nation NZ this morning to reflect and commemorate on the loss of West Coast.

READ MORE 👇
https://bit.ly/3QHkh0D

14/06/2026

Farewell to West Coast, one of the best jumpers New Zealand racing has ever produced 🩵

READ ⏩ https://bit.ly/4eoTdey

13/06/2026

Sometimes I sit with my horses and wonder what they would think of the lives we've built for ourselves.

The rushing.

The striving.

The endless pressure to become more than we are.

More successful.
More productive.
More accomplished.
More impressive.

Human beings spend so much of their lives trying to arrive somewhere.

And yet when I look at horses, I see beings who seem completely uninterested in arrival.

A horse grazing in the morning sun is not waiting for their real life to begin.

An old horse standing quietly with friends is not worrying that they haven't achieved enough.

A foal does not spend its first years trying to prove its worth.

They simply live.

Not perfectly.

Not lazily.

Not aimlessly.

Just fully.

Present for the breeze.

Present for the rain.

Present for companionship.

Present for rest.

Present for play.

There is a wisdom in that.

Not because horses have all the answers.

But because they seem untouched by one of humanity's greatest illusions:

The belief that our value exists somewhere in the future.

That we will finally be worthy when we become something else.

When we accomplish enough.

When we heal enough.

When we succeed enough.

When we are enough.

The horses keep offering a different possibility.

A quieter one.

A gentler one.

What if worth is not a destination?

What if it has been here all along?

What if the life you're trying so hard to earn is already happening?

Maybe that is one of the reasons horses can feel so healing to be around.

For a little while, standing beside them, we remember something we have spent years forgetting.

That existence itself is not something that needs to be justified.

And neither are we.

13/06/2026

Today was a tough day at Te Rapa.

Our thoughts are with the connections of West Coast - the people who cared for him from go to whoa, and the people who loved to watch him race and jump like a stag.

He was a champion, a warhorse, a majestic beast, and he was loved by the racing fraternity. He was so much more than just a horse.

Thank you to the first responders on race day, who do their utmost to give an injured horse care and dignity to the end. 🕊

Image credit: https://shop.charliemackesy.com/

For context: West Coast (NZ) (Mettre En Jeu) was a champion Thoroughbred jumper from New Zealand, who sadly had a fall at a fence during a race at Te Rapa on 13/6/26 and broke his shoulder. The race-day vet, track staff and horse ambulance attended immediately; however, there was no option but to humanely euthanise the gelding.

12/06/2026