Champion NZ stallion Volksraad was laid to rest on Tuesday following injuries sustained in a paddock accident at Windsor Park Stud.

Volksraad, 23, was an eight time Champion NZ sire.  He began stud duties initially at Mapperley Stud in Matamata before transferring to Windsor Park in 1999.

“We have been fortunate to stand a number of champions and Volksraad rates among the best,” Windsor Park proprietor Nelson Schick said.  “He was not only a great stallion but a real character and we are thankful for the journey we have enjoyed with him these past 19 years.

“His contribution to Windsor Park and the breeding industries in New Zealand and Australia has been immense and his influence looks set to continue for many years with his daughters now proving such wonderful broodmares at stud.”

Volksraad (GB) fashioned an outstanding career as one of New Zealand’s greatest stallions of the modern era.  He made a sensational start with his first crop siring 9 stakes winners from just 49 foals that included G1 VATC Oakleigh Plate winner Dantelah.

His feat of winning 8 sire premierships between 2001 and 2009 stands as a modern day record, a total only exceeded by the great Foxbridge in the 1940s.

To date Volksraad has sired 58 stakes winners with total progeny earnings over $47 million and this season his record of consistently siring top class gallopers was added to with the recent G1 victory of Distill in the Levin Classic last month.