Melbourne Cup-winning partnership reunites

Graeme Rogerson and prominent Australian owner Lloyd Williams have plenty of fond memories together, and they are hoping to add to them with promising three-year-old Glamorgan, who won on debut at Te Aroha on Wednesday.

The pair’s biggest successes came with grey gelding Efficient, who won the 2006 Gr.1 Victoria Derby (2500m) at Flemington, and a year later returned to the track to score his biggest win in the Gr.1 Melbourne Cup (3200m).

Williams’ famous colours are synonymous with the Melbourne Cup, having won seven editions of the race, the last being with the Joseph O’Brien-trained Twilight Payment in 2020.

His silks haven’t appeared in New Zealand for over two decades, and Rogerson said seeing them return aboard a victorious Glamorgan on Wednesday evoked some fond memories.

“It has been a long time, about 20 years, since Lloyd has raced a horse in New Zealand,” said Rogerson, who trains in partnership with his wife Debbie and Clinton Isdale.

“We have had a great run, including a Melbourne Cup winner, and he is a very close friend.

“It does bring back good memories, and I think he (Glamorgan) has got the potential to be a very good staying horse.”

Bred by Gerry Harvey in Australia, Glamorgan is by Wootton Bassett and out of stakes-winning Savabeel mare Grazia, who is a full-sister to dual Group One winner Shillelagh and Group One performer Tullamore.

Glamorgan was initially bought by Riversley Park out of Baramul Stud’s 2025 Magic Millions Gold Coast Yearling Sale draft for A$225,000, and he was subsequently offered through their New Zealand Bloodstock Ready to Run Sale draft later that year, where his pedigree caught the eye of Williams.

Williams asked Rogerson to cast his eye over Glamorgan, and he was suitably impressed, and bid to $350,000 to secure the then colt on behalf of Williams.

“Lloyd Williams picked him out on pedigree, and he is a very good judge,” Rogerson said. “He put me and Deb in the ownership (along with his son, Nick).

“He is a nice horse and we might have a bit of fun with him. I think he has got the potential to be a very good staying horse. Deb is working out a programme with him now, with Lloyd and Nick, and we are concentrating on the (New Zealand) Derby and then hope we end up in Australia for the Derby with him.”

While Rogerson is dreaming of another Derby victory with Glamorgan, his 2023 Gr.1 New Zealand Derby (2400m) winner Sharp ‘N’ Smart is set to head south to Trentham on Sunday to contest the Gr.3 Gee & Hickton Thompson Handicap (1600m).

The former New Zealand Horse of the Year beat just one runner home when resuming over 1500m at Te Rapa last month, but Rogerson said he has progressed well ahead of his second-up assignment this weekend.

“He had 61kg and he got going when the race was all over,” Rogerson said. “He has developed into a lovely, big, strong horse, and I think when he gets up over a bit of distance you will see the old Sharp ‘N’ Smart.

“The reason we are taking him down there is because it is a Listed race and he gets a little bit less weight. He will need the run, but I think he will run a cheeky race, even with the weight difference.”

The Gr.3 Balmerino Stakes (2000m) at Ellerslie on Melbourne Cup Day looms as his next target, with summer Cups targets also on the cards, including the Gr.3 Waikato Cup (2400m), which he won last year.

“He is running in the weight-for-age race at Ellerslie on Melbourne Cup Day and then Deb will work out whether he has another go at the Counties (Gr.3, 2100m) and Waikato Cups, and maybe the Queen Elizabeth (Gr.3, 2400m) at Christmas. We will just play all of that by ear.”

Sharp ‘N’ Smart will be joined in his race on Sunday by stablemate Knights Realm.

“He is Clint’s horse and he is coming up really well,” Rogerson said. “He ran a cheeky race the other day. There is a nice race in him.”

Meanwhile, Rogerson is also upbeat about the chances of last-start winner Play in the Grahams Painters Handicap (1600m), while at Ellerslie a day prior, he is looking forward to lining up Lucky Ferrando in the Thank You Craig Baker 1600.

“I like the Redwood horse, Play,” Rogerson said. “He is a nice horse in the making.

“I don’t mind the horse at Auckland called Lucky Ferrando. I had him out on lease, and the lease ran out, and I got him back. He will run a nice race.”