The past year has been a tough one for Matamata horseman Gary Hennessy, but he got plenty of satisfaction out of watching Mystic Park take out Saturday’s Listed Stewards’ Stakes (1200m) at Riccarton. 

Hennessy bred the five-year-old gelding, who is by his five-time Group One winner and Gr.1 Cox Plate (2040m) hero Ocean Park, and out of unraced Dubawi mare Spirit of Karlu. 

“It was terrific. I have followed him all the way through, and I have his dam set to foal any day to Ocean Emperor,” Hennessy said. 

“It is a great little family. He has got a lot of brilliance. He is a lovely, big horse and has got some quality about him. He is out of a Dubawi mare and has a nice background.” 

Hennessy sold Mystic Park as a weanling to Kilgravin Lodge’s Eion Kemp and veterinarian Ronan Costello, with the pair offering him through the former’s 2021 New Zealand Bloodstock Book 1 Yearling Sale draft, where he was purchased by trainers Michael and Matthew Pitman for $40,000. 

He has gone on to win seven and place in three of his 12 career starts to date, culminating in Saturday’s stakes victory. 

Saturday’s win was a tonic for Hennessy, who has battled health issues over the last 12 months, which forced him to call an end to his training career. 

“Last year I got very crook, so I have stopped training,” he said. 

“I woke up one morning and I was completely paralysed and couldn’t dress myself for three days. You end up being very tired and your shoulders ache. You have some days that are good days and others that are not. 

“I also need an ankle replacement, so that will make it difficult working with horses. I am probably going to be in a moonboot for up to six months. 

“We have just sold the racing stable block. We have still got Weowna Park, which is 50-odd acres, and we have three or four broodmares there. I have got three nice two-year-old colts that we will probably put into work with somebody. 

“I have also got a three-year-old Ocean Park filly that I have kept that is a half-sister to Trust In You. We will have one or two racing and enjoy that.” 

Hennessy said he will now place his focus on his breeding endeavours, with Spirit of Karlu now becoming an increasingly important cog in his breeding wheel. 

As well as being the dam of Mystic Park, she has also left former promising juvenile Pluck That, and race winners Karlu Dreaming and Poitin. 

“She has had five to the races and four have been winners,” Hennesy said. “I bought her in Australia and she was in-foal to Pluck and the resulting foal we sold at the ready to run sale to Baker-Forsman and he was called Pluck That. He won a couple of trials and won two starts as a two-year-old before being sold to Hong Kong and he has won a couple up there. 

“Karlu Dreaming, she is a full-sister to Mystic Park, and we sold her in the Melbourne sales, and she has won three, while Poitin is another one that we sold at the ready to runs to Allan Sharrock for $50,000, and he has also won.