Arion Pedigrees

The name

Arion (alternately Areion) is a horse in Greek Mythology. Poseidon took a fancy to Demeter. In order to escape his attentions, she changed herself into a horse. Poseidon similarly changed himself into a horse, and the result of that union was Arion. Like his half-brother Pegasus, Arion could fly. In addition, he could talk.

The Company

Arion Pedigrees was formed in 1996 by personnel from the then pedigree department of Wrightson Bloodstock Ltd. We manage and market the Thoroughbred Cataloguing Database on behalf of New Zealand Bloodstock Ltd. covering all racing in New Zealand and Australia since 1940, along with extensive information on racing in Hong Kong, Macau, Singapore, Malaysia and Korea. We also cover North America, Europe, Japan, South America and Southern Africa but to a more limited degree. We can trace our ancestry back to 1861 when during the gold rush times in Dunedin the stock and station company Wright, Robertson & Co Ltd was founded. That company eventually became Wright Stephenson & Co, from which the present rural sector giant PGG Wrightson derives its heritage. Arion are the leading independent provider of thoroughbred pedigrees in Australia and New Zealand. Our major clients are New Zealand Bloodstock Ltd, Magic Millions Sales Pty Ltd and William Inglis & Son Ltd, with pedigrees also being supplied to the South Africa's Cape Thoroughbred Sales, the Hong Kong Jockey Club, IRT, Peter Milling Bloodstock and Bluebloods.

The Personnel

Our Managing Director, Kyla Johnston, assumed the role in February 2010. She came to us with previous experience running companies in the thoroughbred industry. Our Bloodstock Manager, Andrew Stewart had previous experience running the pedigree department at Dalgety Bloodstock, Melbourne and Denise Hall spent three years with Weatherbys. All our staff have worked with horses at some point in their careers. The other Director, Geoff Powell began working for Wrightson Bloodstock in the early 1970s, followed by 7 years with the BBA, Newmarket and Weatherbys before returning to New Zealand to help establish the cataloguing database.