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George Chittick grew up in the surroundings of Waikato Stud with his grandfather, Garry, and father, Mark being principles of the stud. Being around elite horses, particularly stallions would always lead George to a career of working with horses, leading him to his current role as dry mare manager at Widden Stud in New South Wales.
Specifically, he highlighted in his childhood living at Waikato Stud O’Reilly who was trained in Matamata by Dave & Paul O’Sullivan and ridden by Lance O’Sullivan won his first four starts including the Group One Bayer Classic and Group One Telegraph before heading to Australia where he was second in the Australian Guineas before suffering a career-ending injury in the Newmarket Handicap. He then returned to where he grew up at Waikato Stud where he stood as a champion stallion until his death at age 21 in 2014. His accolades as a stallion include but are not limited to four-time champion New Zealand sire, four-time Centaine award winner, three-time Dwar award winner and two-time champion New Zealand broodmare sire. Remarkably he has sired 91 stakes winners.
Another horse George highlighted was Sacred Falls which was foaled, reared and sold by Waikato Stud to Raffles farm and then uniquely partially bought back by the Stud for his racing and stallion career. He began his career for Tony Pike and Mark Donaghue winning his first six starts including the Hawkes Bay Guineas and the New Zealand 2000 Guineas. He then went to the care of Chris Waller where he ran second in the Rosehill Guineas before winning the Doncaster back-to-back ''13/ ‘’14 –the first horse in fifty years to do so! He won the George Main Stakes before retiring to stud duties at Waikato Stud before he died in 2019. Perhaps making his Doncaster win a touch more special, George's mum, Lisa (nèe O’Sullivan), was fighting a courageous battle against Leukaemia and watched one of his impressive Doncaster wins on the way home from hospital and was a source of light and encouragement for the family during these times. Sadly, Lisa passed away in 2014. Sacred Falls was the first stallion George covered in the breeding barn at just aged 16! Dad, Mark told George now was the time to shine and now is your chance. Luckily for George, the mare got in foal!
Most importantly along with these special horses the people that George has been surrounded by incredible people ranging from people working on the stud to his family and owners has made him feel very lucky and only made his experience even better. Seeing all the hard work from everyone out in and the horses selling and succeeding on the track ties everything together and is a great reward for everyone involved.
It was always going to be horses for George. He went to Lincoln University where he found it wasn’t for everyone and it wasn’t for him. Although he was a touch scared to tell his dad he took it well and while George wasn’t perhaps expecting him to take it so well he prepared some other jobs to go, he was welcomed home and took now what he refers to as his best decision, to go back and work at Waikato Stud. The team bond there is something incredible and Geoge found comfort in being back there and a part of it all. It has opened so many doors including a scholarship he received for the Keith and Taylor Faith scholarship to attend the Irish National Stud for six months. With his dad's encouragement, he applied for the scholarship to get more depth in the industry. During his time in Kildare, Ireland he met so many incredible people and particularly enjoyed seeing other studs and training facilities. However, he found a few key differences especially that everything is boxed. Mares all foal down boxes and dry mares come into boxes at night under lights to help their cycling. But perhaps the biggest change George found was that all foals have headcollars and led from about 2 days old.
Currently, George is working at Widden Stud as the dry mare manager. He came over to do the sales circuit, attending Sydney easter sales and then to Magic Millions Gold Coast to do the broodmare week. George is flourishing in his role and enjoying the opportunity. He spoke about enjoying working with dry mares especially to see them get back in foal and sometimes it's not as easy as it seems or as easy for other mares.
A change that could be important for the industry is making inclusivity better. At the end of the day, it's not a one-person job and it’s a team effort. Being able to make sure that were all sitting down together and experiencing things together and most importantly celebrating the wins together because those moments of euphoria whether it be a big win or selling a horse for a lot of money, being able to enjoy those moments as a team is what makes it all worth it.
George has no plans set in stone but is enjoying every opportunity as it comes. In the future, he would like to see himself return to Waikato Stud working with his family running the stud. George, his dad Mark his wife Pippa, his brothers Harry and Charlie and sister Charlotte all share the love for the horse and are an incredibly tight family unit supported by their family. He also would love to breed a group one winner! No small feat but something possible for anyone in the breeding industry. There are plenty of ups and downs in the industry but the animals and people are what get George out of bed. When you get to the crush in the morning and the first mare you put through to be checked is in foal it makes it all worth it. There is a lot of blood, sweat and tears and it becomes so vital to enjoy all the ups of it all.
George has an incredibly bright future within the industry and has taken every opportunity that comes his way. Backed by the incredible knowledge from his family including grandparents Garry Chittick and Dave O'Sullivan, father Mark and uncles Lance and Paul O'Sullivan to name a few, George has grasped and soaked up the knowledge and worked hard to enjoy each and every success. We are wishing George all the very best and are so excited to see what he achieves.
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