Champion NZ sire Pins died suddenly on Sunday due to complications from colic.  He was 21.

Pins (Snippets) retired to Waikato Stud in 2000 after a career headlined by a Group 1 victory in the Australian Guineas (2000m) at Flemington.

“I was on course that day and knew then he would be a great stallion,” Waikato Stud principal Mark Chittick said.  “He was such a great character and had an incredible personality, but always knew how to keep you on your toes.”

The sire of 11 individual Group 1 winners, Pins produced 75 stakes winners placing him fourth on the list of leading New Zealand stakes winners of all time.

In Hong Kong, he was champion sire on two occasions and produced Horse of the Year Ambitious Dragon and champion sprinter Aerovelocity.

“Pins was an incredible stallion and his versatility as a sire has always amazed me,” Chittick said.  “He provided people with so much joy, from the people who have had the pleasure of working with him through to breeders and those who have raced his progeny.”

His top Australian performer was the G1 Cox Plate winner El Segundo while in New Zealand his top-flight winners included Katie Lee and Legs.

He is also well-established as a broodmare sire with his daughters having produced 28 stakes winners.  They include Australian Group 1 stars Stratum Star and Brambles and G1 New Zealand Oaks winner Savvy Coup.

Pins initially stood at a fee of $9,000 and stood for as much as $50,000 during his stud career.  He has been laid to rest under the trees at the stallion barn alongside fellow champion stallions O’Reilly, Centaine and Pompeii Court.

PINS