O'Reilly (NZ)
O'Reilly (NZ) - Horse of the Year & now Champion Stallion
Champion sire of Alamosa
9:57 AM Thursday Aug 20, 2009
O’Reilly’s stunning success has been 11 years in the making and has grown to such a extent that he rates as one of the foremost sires in New Zealand, Australia, Singapore & Hong Kong.
Whilst previously successful at Gr.1 level with the classic winning fillies Final Destination and The Jewel, along with the Western Australian Derby winner Guyno, O’Reilly well and truly announced his arrival as a sire to be reckoned with in 2007.
The breakthrough would come with Master O’Reilly’s MRC Caulfield Cup G1 win, and would be complemented that season with the dual Gr.1 deeds of Alamosa- an entire who would claim the title as the Champion NZ 3YO that season.
He can leave two-year-olds through to six-year-old and older horses, sprinters through to mile-and-a-half winners, and both fillies and colts. 
Eight other stakeswinners for the season confirmed the rise of O’Reilly’s star and helped him uplift the combined Australasian sires’ title from Zabeel for the first time in 12 years. He took out the domestic New Zealand and Hong Kong premierships for good measure, and added more than $50,000 to his across-the-board yearling average.
His progeny display a wide range of aptitudes and keep unfolding their talent as they mature: witness Alamosa’s dominant win in the Gr.1 MRC Toorak H (1600m) in October 2008.
Further, O’Reilly’s sprinter son Swick came at 7 to rule the Gr.1 VRC Patinack Farm Classic (1200m) and closer to home the sire was more than making his widespread influence felt with his 4YO son, MacO’Reilly, who scooped two Gr.1’s at 2000m.
As a Broodmare sire, O’Reilly is also emerging as quite a talent, with last season’s Gr.1 AJC Oaks winner Daffodil and the previous season’s Gr.1 2000 Guineas winner, The Pooka, each successfully heralding his cause here.
O'Reilly is a splendid example of how rewarding it can be for studs to breed, race and stand their own sires. Bred at Waikato Stud from their Golden Slipper-winning mare Courtza and raced by Garry Chittick, he won four of his six starts at three, including two at Group One level in New Zealand, and ran second in the VRC Australian Guineas G1.
Those performances earned him the 1997 New Zealand Horse of the Year title.
Since this time, the Waikato Stud stallion has been further honoured with the 2007/08 and 2008/09 Hong Kong Premierships, the 2007/08 Dewar and Grosvenor Award and with the inaugural 2008/09 Centaine Award.