Concorde now beckons for Hugo The Boss 17 Jan 2019

   Hastings trainer John Bary is now seriously considering lining speedster Hugo The Boss up in the  Group 3 $70,000 Brighthill Farm Concorde Handicap at Ellerslie tomorrow week after the five-year-old broke one minute eight seconds to win over 1200m at Trentham last Saturday.

   “John is looking at the Concorde with him but he may not make the field,” Bary’s racing manager Mike Sanders said this week.

   “If he does go he’ll be right at the bottom of the handicap but the big incentive is that Chris Johnson will be riding at the meeting and has already indicated he is happy to ride him.”

   It was a masterful ride by Johnson that paved the way for the success by Hugo The Boss in a $30,000 Rating 72 race at Trentham last Saturday and Bary was quick to heap praise on the 54-year-old jockey.

   “It was a great ride. He seems to suit these hard going horses because he’s got amazing hands and seems to be able to get the best out of them,” Bary said.

   Hugo The Boss drew one from the outside and wanted to over-race when stuck out three-wide outside the leaders in the early stages. But Johnson was able to get the horse to semi-relax before giving him a bit more rein to go up and challenge for the lead at the top of the home straight.

   Morweka, ridden by Matthew Cameron, appeared to hold a distinct advantage over Hugo The Boss inside the final 200 metres but then Johnson started to urge his mount , waving the whip in the left hand, and Hugo The Boss got up in the final few strides to snatch a half-neck win.

   “He wanted to go a bit keen early but the more I asked of him the more he gave,” Johnson said after the win.

   Hugo The Boss clocked 1:07.49, which was more than a second faster than two-year-old winner Louis Luck took in the preceding event.

   Sanders said the very firm track conditions at Trentham suited Hugo The Boss as all five of the horse’s wins have now been on good tracks. He had also excelled on firm footing when winning over 1200m at Waipukurau two starts before.

   Hugo The Boss is raced by the Best Dressed Syndicate, of which Bary is a shareholder. The other members are his Hastings-based mother Ann, Alan and Paula Keall and Laurie Parker from Taradale, Innes Nisbet (Havelock North), Narendra Balia and Blair and Denise Martin (Auckland), Gavin Dunnett (Christchurch), Lawrie Bolton (Tauranga) and Heath Newton, who lives in Wagga Wagga, New South Wales.

 

The Bandit finally gets Trentham win

   Hastings-trained The Bandito broke through for a well deserved Trentham win when taking out a $30,000 Rating 82 race over 1400m there last Saturday.

   The John Bary-trained seven-year-old was having his 11^th start on the course and had previously recorded seven second placings there.

   “The whole stable was absolutely thrilled to see him finally win one down there after so many seconds,” Bary’s racing manager Mike Sanders said this week.

   “He’s been a great horse for the stable and probably should have won a lot more races than he has.”

   Last Saturday’s success was only The Bandito’s third from 39 starts but he has also chalked up 13 seconds and four thirds and his latest success took his stake earnings past $107,000.

  “He loves the Wellington track and he was a fit horse and it was a 10 out of 10 ride,” Bary said after the win.

   The Bandito was not quick to begin from the barrier but jockey Samantha Collett soon had him travelling keenly outside the leaders and took him to the front entering the last 1000m. She managed to pinch a break on the field rounding the home turn and they never looked like being caught after that, crossing the line half a length clear of the fast finishing Henree Winkler.

   “He was really tough,” Collett said after the win.

   “I had to work a bit to get to the front but managed to get across. He loves the rail this horse and he loves a fight.”

   Sanders said there is now a lack of suitable races in the coming weeks for The Bandito and he may have to head to Tauranga on Friday of next week for a $30,000 open sprint over 1400m.

   The Bandito is owned by Australian Heath Newton, who lives at Wagga Wagga in New South Wales.

   Bary went to $50,000 to purchase the son of Pins from the premier session at the 2013 Karaka yearling sales and he is a full-brother to the good Australian performer Stickpin, whose eight wins included one at Group 3 level and he was also runner-up in the Group 1 Sir Rupert Clarke Stakes at Moonee Valley.

 

The Fugitive shin sore

   Talented Hastings-trained two-year-old The Fugitive is likely to be off the scene for four or five weeks after pulling up severely shin sore following his second to Louis Luck at Trentham last Saturday.

   The Wanted gelding was having his second start after a dominant debut win over 1100m at Awapuni on December 22 and was sent out favourite for last Saturday’s 1200m event. He sat outside the eventual winner all the way in the race but could not quicken in the final stages and was a length behind at the finish.

   The Fugitive was being aimed at the Group 1 $200,000 Sistema Stakes (1200m) at Ellerslie on March 2 but those plans have now been scrapped according to Mike Sanders, racing manager for trainer John Bary.

   “He’ll miss the Group 1 at Ellerslie and we’ll now look at aiming him for the Sires’ Produce Stakes instead,” Sanders said.

   The Group 1 $225,000 Manawatu Sires’ Produce Stakes is run over 1400m at Awapuni on March 30.   

  

Apprentice faces long recovery

   Apprentice jockey Zubair Bholah faces a lengthy recuperation period after suffering serious injuries in a nasty race fall at last Saturday’s Kumara meeting.

   The Mauritius-born Bholah was aboard his employer Steve Tyler’s horse, Morena Roc, in the second race and got into difficulties when attempting to restrain his mount shortly after the start and it clipped heels and fell.

   Bholah, who lay unconscious on the track for several minutes, was transported to the Grey Base Hospital in Greymouth before being air-lifted to Christchurch where he remains. He has three fractures in his neck, a broken collarbone and shoulder and has needed cosmetic surgery on his face after a large laceration around his jaw and chin. However there has been no spinal cord damage and doctors are no longer concerned about any potential brain damage.

   The 29-year-old Bholah joined the Tyler stable in February last year after arriving in New Zealand from New Caledonia where he had begun his riding career. He lives in the Tyler household and is considered a member of the family.

   “The best news we could get is that there is no spinal cord damage as you just don’t want to think about the ramifications of what that would mean otherwise,” Tyler said.

   “He is in for a long recuperation period once they have operated on his injuries, but I think we are all very thankful for it could have been so much worse.”

   Tyler also reported that Morena Roc had come through the fall in one piece despite suffering abrasions and bruising in the incident.

 

Twenty years since Miss Bailey’s win

   Tomorrow’s Wellington Cup meeting at Trentham marks the 20th anniversary since Hastings owned and trained Miss Bailey caused a major upset by winning the Cup at odds of 142 to one.

   The Kings Island mare was owned by Hastings businessman Wayne Mudgway and raced by his partner Annemarie Bailey and cousin Kris Eckhold. She was prepared by the then little known Hastings trainer Grant Cullen.

   Miss Bailey will never be mentioned among the great Wellington Cup winners, a race that dates back to 1874, but her name still strikes a chord with the general public, particularly those who backed her.

   Backing a horse who pays $143.70 in one of New Zealand’s most famous races tends to stick in the memory and Mudgway now drives a car with a number plate that commemorates the win.

   There was plenty of depth in the 1999 Cup, which still had Group I status. Miss Bailey’s rivals included five of the first six placegetters from that month’s Auckland Cup, a previous Wellington Cup winner in Ed, and the previous season’s NZ St Leger winner.

   Miss Bailey gained the last spot in the field. But she was hard fit and Cullen, who had been confident that the mare could cope with 3200m, instructed rider Leanne Isherwood to go to the front and quicken the tempo from the 800m.

   Miss Bailey set the pace and, though headed by runner-up Emerald in the straight, fought back to win by a short head. The seven-year-old crock, who went into the event as a three-race winner with career earnings of $15,970, had claimed the first prize of $155,000.

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HASTINGS TRACKWORK 15 Jan 2019

Lady Guinness was one of only a few horses to work at any speed at this morning’s Hastings track session.

   Only two gallops were timed on the plough, which provided slushy footing after heavy early morning rain.

   Lady Guinness ran a solo 800m in 54.6, running the first 200m in 15.2 before quickening slightly over the last 600 in 39.4. Trainer Patrick Campbell was disappointed with her last start effort for fourth over 1600m at Otaki and will now step her up in distance in a Rating 72 race over 2100m at Hastings on January 30.

   A Niagara three-year-old filly and a Niagara three-year-old gelding worked together over 600m in 39.2 and both appeared to be hitting out well at the finish.

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HASTINGS TRACKWORK 14 Jan 2019

   Stablemates Hunta Pence and Scandalo, both entered for Trentham on Saturday, hit out well in separate gallops at this morning’s Hastings track session.

   There was very little in the way of fast work, which was confined to the plough (good).

   Hunta Pence worked in from the 1200m peg at three-quarter pace, running the first 600m in 45.9 and then quickening slightly over the last 600 in 39.9. He looks in great order and contests the Group 3 Trentham Stakes (2100m) on Saturday. Johnathan Parkes has been booked to ride him.

   Scandalo worked over 1000m on his own in 1:6.8, the last 600 in 37.3 and was striding out well at the finish. He was well beaten over 1300m at Hastings on New Year’s Day but step up to a more suitable 1600m in Saturday’s Group 3 Anniversary Handicap. Lisa Allpress has been booked to ride him.

   One Prize One Goal finished slightly ahead of stablemate Sheer Elegance at the end of their 1000m workout. They were kept to three-quarter pace for the first 200m but then clapped on the pace to cut out the last 800 in 49.6 and final 600 in 35.7. Both horses are likely starters at Rotorua next Wednesday.

   Penny Royal and a Rock ‘N’ Pop-Mink three-year-old filly worked in at three-quarter pace from the 1000m peg in 1:10.7, quickening slightly over the last 600 in 40.9.

   Penny Royal recorded a good fourth over 1200m on debut at Hastings on New Year’s Day and is likely to start next at either Otaki or Hastings at the end of this month.

 

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