STONEY BRIDGE'S first season sire Mr. Nancho enjoyed the best possible start to his stud career when his son Nacho Man stormed clear in the Group 1 Manawatu Sires Produce Stakes at Awapuni to become his first winner at the highest level.

Trained by Mike and Paul Moroney and partnered by Craig Grylls, Nacho Man was always travelling strongly in the NZ$200,000 1400m contest.

Never further back than third, the gelding challenged the leaders turning for home and the matter was quickly settled when the talented two-year-old easily asserted himself at the 200m mark, pulling clear to score by a length and a quarter.

Making his victory all the more impressive was that he defeated the Group 1 winning filly Banchee as well as a pair of high-class yardsticks in Cellarmaster and Jimmy Choux who already have several outstanding stakes performances between them.

Nacho Man has scored a series of firsts for his sire, becoming successively his first trial winner when scoring at Cambridge in October, his first race day winner when triumphing at Woodville in January, and his first stakes winner when scoring in the Listed Waikato Stud Slipper at Matamata in February.

Nacho Man has shown a marked preference for racing left hand, having been unplaced on both his starts at Ellerslie when racing right handed.

Nacho Man is a son of the Southern Halo stallion Mr. Nancho (ARG), who stands at Stoney Bridge Waikato.

In addition to standing Mr. Nancho, Michael Tololi's Stoney Bridge operation is also the breeder of his Group 1 winning son. Nacho Man is out of the The Jogger mare El Coriero, and is a half-brother to the winning Shinko King filly China Doll and the trial winner Mascara, by Hawkeye. El Coriero also has a yearling filly by Hawkeye and a colt foal by Storm Creek, both Stoney Bridge stallions.

Nacho Man was offered at the New Zealand Bloodstock weanling sale in 2008 where he was purchased for $15,000. That price was exceeded the following January at the Festival yearling sale on his return to Karaka when Paul Moroney snapped him up for $27,000.

"He was the best horse at that sale. I'd seen him at Maara Grabfe beforehand and I fell in love with him. I had wanted to buy him, but by that stage if the sales series, I'd run out of ammunition.

"I happened to be talking to Shelley and Tom [Murtagh, part-owners] at a bar afterwards though and they told me they had bought lot 1679. I didn't need to open the catalogue to see that one because he was the best horse in the final session and I told them as much.

"He's up there as one of the best two-year-olds we've ever had. Nacho Man's biggest asset though is his maturity. He's a big, strong, powerful horse."

The Argentine-bred Mr. Nancho did not run as a juvenile himself but more than made up for that when he made his debut at three. He finished second in the Grade 1 Argentine 2,000 Guineas on only his second start, and then blazed away with the Grade 1 Gran Premio de Palermo over a mile by an astonishing 16 lengths.

In all, Mr. Nancho won three of his six starts by a cumulative 34 lengths, earning himself the title of champion Argentine miler in 2003-04. A powerful-bodied horse, Mr. Nancho's fluid action was one of the hallmarks of his racing career.

Out of the champion broodmare Miss Peggy (Fitzcarraldo), Mr. Nancho is a full brother to the multiple Group/Grade 1 winner Miss Linda, whose victories include the Grade 1 Spinster Stakes at Keeneland.

That outstanding mare is now owned by Sheikh Mohammed and is the dam of the Gone West filly Western Isle, in training with Alex Pantall in France. She is due to foal to Street Cry this season, while another full sister, Miss Mary, produced the sales topper at the Fasig-Tipton New York-bred yearling sale at Saratoga in the US last August.

Mr. Nancho becomes the third stallion in the Stoney Bridge line up to be represented by his first Group 1 winner this season, following Storm Creek (Eileen Dubh, Levin Classic, November) and Ekraar (Ekstreme, Captain Cook Stakes, December).