For the best part of four decades, Kiwi Richard Rutherford has dabbled in the art of thoroughbred breeding, never having more than three or four mares at once in his quest for a champion.
Despite his modest numbers, Rutherford has had his fair share of success in the thoroughbred game, but the best might still be to come - and in the space of a few short weeks in Sydney this spring.
Rutherford can lay claim to being the breeder of exciting colt Autumn Boy, a leading chance in Saturday’s Group 1 Golden Rose, as well as having loose yet pivotal ties to Ka Ying Rising, the latest superstar in Hong Kong.
A sheep and cattle farmer from New Zealand’s North Canterbury region on the South Island, Rutherford is a trader, having topped the Karaka Yearling Sale in the past with a Savabeel colt, but he’s also happy to keep the ones, particularly fillies, he believes in when they don’t make the money he thinks they deserve.
It’s that conviction and long-term attachment to one particular family that has led to the breeding of the Chris Waller-trained Autumn Boy, a winner of both his starts as a late-season two-year-old and an eye-catching second first-up in the Group 3 Ming Dynasty a fortnight ago.
He is the third foal out of Rutherford’s unraced Savabeel mare Rosegarden who failed to reach a $200,000 reserve at Karaka in 2018, two years after he sold a colt by Waikato Stud’s champion sire for $825,000.
“I bred the mare (Rosegarden), I bred her mother (O’Reilly Rose) and the great-granddam (Rose World),” Rutherford tells The Straight.
“In the ’80s I brought the great-granddam called Geraniums Red and she left a horse called Affinity who won the Caulfield Cup (in 1984).”
That female line had proven potent enough for Rutherford long before Autumn Boy came along; a daughter Rose World is the dam of Newmarket Handicap-winning sprinter Shamexpress who is better known now as the sire of Ka Ying Rising, the winner of 14 of his 16 race starts for trainer David Hayes.
“It's quite exciting, really, not that I have anything to do with breeding him, but I did breed the sire and they talk about him being the best sprinter in the world, don't they?” Rutherford says.
It's another New Zealand South Islander, retired bus company founder Glenn Ritchie, who could be the person to reap the benefits of Rutherford's nurturing of one family for the past four generations.
The pair will be trackside at Rosehill on Saturday for what they hope will be a Group 1 win for Autumn Boy, one that would emulate the colt’s sire The Autumn Sun.
Waller has trained three Golden Rose-winning colts in the past - Zoustar (2013), The Autumn Sun (2018) and Militarize (2023) - with his first becoming a champion sire and his second on his way.
Militarize’s stud hopes were doomed about 15 days into last year’s breeding season when it became apparent the stallion was infertile. He has since resumed his racing career.
Autumn Boy promises to be a breakthrough winner for his sire - The Autumn Sun’s three Group 1 winners to date have been fillies - and his owner, Ritchie.
The Kiwi has supported Waller’s stable heavily in recent years - as he has with a few trainers in his home country - and he’s done it “one out”.
“Glenn’s a man at his stage of life, where he’s sold his business and he wants to invest in racehorses and he's put plenty of money in,” says agent Guy Mulcaster, who selected Autumn Boy with Waller at the 2024 Magic Millions for $200,000 on behalf of Ritchie.
“Hopefully, fingers crossed, this one can pay for all of them.”
Rosegarden has a filly by Hellbent who was born at Amarina Farm in the NSW Hunter Valley on September 8.
Predictably, Rutherford is sending Rosegarden back to The Autumn Sun this season.
“I've always liked The Autumn Sun, but when you've only got two or three mares, you can't send them to everything,” he said.
