Jockey and Horse – Matamata

Matamata, Waikato, New Zealand

Roadside giants

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Current

Recently confirmed · Sep 2026

This Big Thing is recorded as still being here.

A large recycled-metal racehorse and jockey sculpture celebrating Matamata’s racing identity.

Before you stop

Park at the visitor centre rather than at the landmark itself.

The sculpture itself is in the Broadway/SH24 median; do not stop in a traffic lane beside it.

Visitor centre

Private to your Passport.

PLAN YOUR VISIT

Recommended arrival available

Visitor centre

This takes you to the Big Thing itself. Do not stop at the landmark; use the recommended arrival if stopping.

A free Explorer account reveals the exact recommended arrival point.

Jockey and Horse – Matamata

This pin marks the Big Thing itself. If stopping, choose a safe and legal place nearby.

Approximate location · 37.810° S, 175.774° E

FIELD GUIDE

The story

Two and a half tonnes of recycled metal, in the shape of a racehorse and jockey, in the middle of a town that breeds them.

Adrian Worsley made it and it was unveiled in 2021. Matamata is one of the most significant thoroughbred breeding and training centres in New Zealand – the studs on the country around the town have produced a very large share of the horses that win in Australasia, and the training track is busy every morning. A racing sculpture here is stating the district's actual industry, not borrowing an image.

Recycled metal is a good choice for the subject. A racehorse is all tendon, muscle definition and angular leg – a form that suits welded and assembled metal far better than a smooth cast surface, because the seams and the varied materials read as anatomy.

Two and a half tonnes also means it is not going anywhere, which for a town-centre sculpture matters.

Matamata has a second and much more famous claim on visitors: Hobbiton is a few kilometres away on a working sheep farm, and the town has rebranded around it comprehensively. A horse and jockey in the town centre is the local industry asserting itself against a film set – a reminder that Matamata was a serious racing town long before anyone filmed anything here.

The town also sits close to Te Poi, whose country tavern holds Gordon Rose's concrete menagerie.

Its proportions are simply not known.

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PRACTICAL

Plan your stop

WHAT TO EXPECT

The Jockey and Horse sculpture is a large recycled-metal racehorse-and-jockey artwork weighing about 2.5 tonnes, standing as a town-centre symbol of Matamata's racing heritage.

ACCESS

The Jockey and Horse sculpture stands in central Matamata on the Broadway/SH24 median near the town clock; Matamata NZ identifies it as the town-centre centrepiece and current Big Things coverage places it at 61 Broadway. Do not stop beside the sculpture on the state highway. For a conservative visitor arrival, use Matamata i-SITE / Hetana Street Reserve at 45 Broadway and continue on foot. Matamata-Piako District Council confirms parking on Hetana Street and Arawa Street, limited Broadway parking, and a reserve car park for longer vehicles. The exact sculpture centroid remains to be independently pinned.

COMMUNITY

Visitor Log

WHAT'S NEXT

Find another Big Thing nearby

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Current

Big Cow and Calf – Te Poi

Te Poi, Waikato

A six-metre Friesian cow and companion calf outside Te Poi Country Tavern.

Roadside giants

9.1 km away

✓ Recommended arrival recorded

TRANSPARENCY

Sources & research

Google Maps place – Adrian Worsley Race Horse Sculpture (via Wild Lovely World link)

Google Maps · recorded 2026-09-11

Short link published by Wild Lovely World resolves to the Google Maps place 'Adrian Worsley Race Horse Sculpture' at -37.8096952, 175.7735373 – object-specific, consistent with 61 Broadway and Matamata NZ's 'near the town clock (Broadway/Arawa St)'. Not corroborated by a second object-specific map source; stored at approximate precision.

Other

MAPLOGS – Matamata i-SITE coordinate

MAPLOGS · recorded 2026-09-11

Maps Matamata i-SITE at -37.8092972, 175.7720369, used as a destination-level visitor-centre coordinate rather than a claimed parking-bay centroid.

Other

Matamata-Piako District Council – Hetana Street Reserve parking

Matamata-Piako District Council · recorded 2026-09-11

Confirms Matamata i-SITE is within Hetana Street Reserve and documents public parking on Hetana Street, Arawa Street, limited Broadway parking and reserve parking for longer vehicles.

Government

Wild Lovely World – North Island Big Things

Wild Lovely World · recorded 2026-08-23

Current specialist Big Things coverage documents Matamata sculpture.

Community

What we're still checking

Open-licence image search completed 24 August 2026. No defensible reusable image with file-level commercial-use provenance was verified in the completed Commons, government/open-licence and archival/open-collection sweep.

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