HB Racing Column 22 Sep 2017

HB-bred Chopin’s Fantaisie leaving his mark in Singapore

(By John Jenkins)

Hawke’s Bay-bred Chopin’s Fantaisie brought up his fifth win from six starts with another game performance at the Kranji racetrack in Singapore last Sunday.

The Pins four-year-old contested a $S100,000 Rating 83 race over 1600m, where he drew one from the outside in an 11 horse field.

Experienced Australian-born jockey Vlad Duric earned high praise for the way he bounced the horse out quickly from the barrier and got him across into a trailing position behind the leaders.

Coming to the home Duric clearly had a handful of horse underneath him but when he angled Chopin’s Fantaisie out around the leaders’ heels the big-striding gelding got off-stride and it took him a while to get properly balanced up again.

Chopin’s Fantaisie had a clear lead half-up up the home straight but Duric then had to keep his mind on the job over the final stages to hold out the fast finishing Chairman, ridden by Englishman Alan Munro, and score by a head.

Duric has no doubt the energy-sapping run will take nothing out of Chopin’s Fantaisie, but did admit that greenness was still the horse’s Achilles’ heel.

“He’s still very green, but he’s an absolute racehorse. There is still a lot more to come from what he’s shown us so far,” he said.

“He was very dour today, though. From the start, he got across quite easily and at the 800m I started to get a feel for him.

“I just wanted to stay behind the horse in front and then peel him out for his run. Once he got in front, he loafed and it felt like he was just waiting for a horse to challenge him, and then he kicked again.

“He is a real stayer. He’s got toughness too and he can really dig deep.”

   Chopin’s Fantaisie will bypass the first Leg of the Singapore Triple Crown series, the Group 1 Panasonic Kranji Mile (1600m) on October 1 and head straight to the second Leg, the Group 1 Raffles Cup (1800m) on October 22. The last Leg, the Group 1 Dester Singapore Gold Cup (2200m) will be run on November 12.

Chopin’s Fantaisie was bred by Taupo-based Pat Lowry and was purchased by his now Singapore trainer, Michael Clements, for $150,000 at the premier session of the 2015 Karaka yearling sales. He has a record of five wins and a second from six starts in Singapore and has earned more than $S200,000 in stake earnings for his Singapore owner, Mr Joshua Tan of Jubilant Racing No 4 Stable.

Chopin’s Fantaisie is out of the Oregon mare Golden Gamble and the fifth individual winner produced by the mare. Her first foal, by No Excuse Needed, was Addicted who won one race from only seven starts for Hastings trainers Guy Lowry and Grant Cullen before she unfortunately died.

 The second foal was Ambitious Dragon, by Pins, who went on to become Hong Kong Horse of the Year. He won 13 races, seven at Group 1 level, and more than $HK58million in stakemoney.

Golden Gamble has since produced three more well performed horses in Hong Kong. The first was Triumphant Dragon (by Fast ‘N’ Famous) who won five races and was followed a year later by Ocean Power (by High Chaparral) who recorded two wins.

The mare’s latest star in that continent is Packing Dragon, a six-year-old gelding by Mastercraftsman who is one of the most consistent gallopers in Hong Kong at the moment. The six-year-old has recorded six wins, three seconds and five thirds from only 24 starts.

Chopin’s Fantaisie is the last foal to race out of Golden Gamble but Pat Lowry now has a three-year-old full-sister to Chopin’s Fantaisie who was in work with the Hastings training partnership of Guy Lowry and Grant Cullen last season and is due to return to that stable at the end of this year.

Golden Gamble, who is 18 years old, is now due to foal to Rock ‘n’ Pop.

 

Diehard’s breeding showing through

Hawke’s Bay-bred Diehard, a half-brother to the outstanding performer Dundeel,  will be out to add to his good record when he lines up at this Sunday’s Counties meeting at Pukekohe.

The Pour Moi four-year-old is entered for the $22,500 Rating 65 race over 2200m, where he has drawn 11 and will be ridden by Matthew Cameron.

Diehard, who is trained at Cambridge by Murray Baker and Andrew Forsman, has had four starts for a win and two seconds. He was bred by Havelock North’s Murray Andersen and the syndicate he set up, Waimarama Partnership, still retains a racing share in the horse.

Diehard is out of the unraced Zabeel mare Stareel, who is a daughter of the 1991-92 New Zealand Three-year-old Filly of the Year Staring.

Dundeel, who is by High Chaparral out of Stareel, was the winner of 10 races from only 19 starts. Six of his victories were at Group 1 level and his stake earnings totalled more than $6.3million. He is now standing at Arrowfield Stud in Australia for a fee of $A27,500.

 

Another with winning habit

HB-bred Impulsive Habit brought up his second win with an impressive performance in a Rating 65 race over 1200 metres at last Sunday’s Rotorua meeting.

The Echoes Of Heaven four-year-old made light work of his 59kg topweight, powering clear of his rivals over the final stages to score by 1-1/2 lengths and now has a record of two wins, three seconds and a third from only 13 starts.

Impulsive Habit was bred by Hawke’s Bay couple Isabell and Graham Roddick and traces back to the champion galloper Rough Habit. He is out of the Mellifont mare Special Habit, who won three races when trained by the then Woodville-based Bruce Marsh.

Cambridge trainer Lee Somervell picked Special Habit out at the festival session of the 2015 Karaka yearling sales and bought him for $14,000. He then set up a syndicate to race the horse and has retained a share himself.

The Roddicks are still breeding from Special Habit and have an unraced two-year-old by Colombia out of the mare that they intend racing and the mare is now due to foal again to Echoes Of Heaven.

Impulsive Habit’s latest win made up for some bad news the Roddick’s received at the end of last month. The Group 1 winner Addictive Habit, who they bred and shared in the ownership of, had to be euthanized after suffering a colic attack.

The horse had not long been retired from the racetrack after a career that saw him win 11 races and more than $770,000 in stakemoney. His biggest success was in the 2015 Group 1 Livamol Classic at Hastings while he also scored back-to-back victories in the Group 2 Couplands Mile at Riccarton.

 

Two winners by Niagara

Niagara has been represented by his first two winners in the past week and it was fitting that the sire’s first winner was born and reared in Hawke’s Bay.

Lord Of Cloud, who was Niagara’s first foal and first trial winner, won on debut in a 1400m maiden race at Singapore’s Kranji racecourse last Friday night.

The three-year-old colt, trained by Leticia Dragon for the Billion Dollars Stable, made the perfect start to his career.  

Lord Of Cloud is out of the Masterclass mare Miss Jean Brodie and was bred by Lime Country Thoroughbreds which started out in Hawke’s Bay and initially stood the stallion Niagara here. Owners Greg and Jo Griffin have now moved to Australia.

Lord Of Cloud began his education in New Zealand with Hastings trainers Guy Lowry & Grant Cullen and won his first trial impressively at Waverley when beating Dijon Bleu, who has since won the Listed O’Leary’s Fillies Stakes at Wanganui. The horse was then sold to Singapore.

Niagara was then represented by his second winner when Xbox scored a runaway 3-1/4 length victory in a three-year-old maiden race over 1100m at Te Rapa on Wednesday. The gelding was bred by Auckland racing photographer Trish Dunell, who races him in partnership with a several others from the Matamata stable of Graham Richardson and Gavin Parker.

Niagara now stands at The Oaks Stud in Cambridge for a fee of $5000 + GST.

Waipukurau race day

Hawke’s Bay racegoers will be in for an extra race day next week with Thursday’s Otaki-Maori Racing Club’s meeting now transferred to Waipukurau.

Continuing wet weather on the Kapiti Coast has left the Otaki track extremely heavy and unsuitable for racing.

The change of venue has necessitated the two-year-old race, that would have been run at Otaki, being transferred to the Taranaki meeting on Saturday, September 30 and will be run as a $10,000 maiden two-year-old 990m. A Maiden 1400m and Maiden three-year-old 1200m have been added to the Waipukurau programme. Both these races will carry a stake of $10,000.

HB Guineas contenders

Two of the first three horses home in the Listed El Roca-Sir Colin Meads Trophy on the first day of the Bostock New Zealand Hawke’s Bay spring carnival on September 2 have been confirmed as starters in the Group 2 $100,000 Sacred Falls Hawke’s Bay Guineas on October 7.

Unbeaten Bostonian has come through that race well according to trainer Tony Pike while John Wheeler is also pleased with the progress made by third placed Irish Flame.

“He’s not very big, he’s plain but he is genuine,” Pike said of Bostonian. “He’s a professional who’s done nothing wrong.”

“He will go back to Hastings for the Guineas without another run,” Wheeler said of Irish Flame.

“He definitely looks like he can compete with them. That augurs well for his future as he is still quite immature, both mentally and physically, and I don’t think we will see the very best of him for another eighteen months.

“His longer-term aim for this campaign is the 2000 Guineas at Riccarton so that is where we will be heading once we get through the Hastings run.”

 

Jockey Vlad Duric was at his vigorous best when getting Chopin’s Fantaisie (inside) home a narrow winner in a 1600-metre race at Singapore last Sunday. It was the horse’s fifth win from only six starts.

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Hastings Trackwork 20 Sep 2017

(By John Jenkins)

Talented mare Goodsav indicated she is ready for a bold fresh up performance at this Saturday’s Hawke’s Bay meeting when she recorded a quick solo gallop at this morning’s Hastings track session.

Fast work was confined to the plough, which provided good footing.

Another 14 millimetres of irrigation was put on the course proper yesterday afternoon and a penetrometer reading of the racing surface today came up as a dead-4.

Goodsav worked in from the 1000-metre peg on the plough and was timed to sprint home the last 800 in 49.5 and final 600 in 36.1. The Savabeel mare hasn’t raced since finishing fifth over 1600 metres at Hastings in April and will resume in the Rating 85 race over 1200 metres at Hastings on Saturday. Lisa Allpress has been booked to ride her.

Londaro was another horse who worked well this morning, although he wasn’t asked to do too much in his solo gallop. The big chestnut clocked 1:9.2 for 1000 metres, running the first 400 metres in 29 and then coming home the last 600 in 40.2. He recorded a good third on debut over 1300 metres at Taupo last month and will contest the Special Conditions 1300 at Hastings this Saturday. Troy Harris has been engaged to ride him.

Scandalo worked in from the 600-metre peg at three-quarter pace and was only let stride out over the final 200 metres. He was full of running at the finish and was timed to run the last 400 metres in 24.9. His stablemate Lady Guinness was kept to just three-quarter pace when also running 600 metres on her 

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Waipukurau Jumpouts 19 Sep 2017

(By John Jenkins)

Impressive wins by the proven performers Hunta Pence and Xcuses Xcuses and an eye-catching performance by an unraced Per Incanto-Magic Babe three-year-old filly were the highlights at today’s Waipukurau jumpouts.

There were 13 heats run against the running rail, where the ground was rated a dead-4.

Hunta Pence contested the only heat at 1200 metres and, after settling back off the pace, he finished strongly to get up snatch a last stride win in a time of 1:17.07s.

The No Excuse Needed gelding is the winner of three races from only 16 starts and was successful over 2100 metres in his last appearance, at Hastings in May. Trainer Patrick Campbell said Hunta Pence could resume for the new season on the third day of the Hawke’s Bay spring carnival, on October 7.

Xcuses Xcuses is also likely to make a return to racing at the Hawke’s Bay meeting on October 7, according to her trainer John Bary. The six-year-old mare scored a decisive length win in one of the 1000-metre jumpouts and clocked 1:1.08s.

Xcuses Xcuses has recorded four wins and seven minor placings from 24 starts and hasn’t started since finishing eighth in a Listed 1200-metre sprint at Hastings in April.

The Otaki training partnership of Johno Benner and Hollie Wynyard brought a team of horses up for the jumpouts and produced a nice looking three-year-old filly by Per Incanto out of Magic Babe. The big striding chestnut only won by half a length in her 850-metre heat but wasn’t ask to extend by rider Lisa Allpress and clocked 53.6s.

Benner revealed that it was the Per Incanto filly’s first serious jumpout and said she shows plenty of promise. Her grandam is Larrikin Lady, who recorded three wins and several minor placings.

The Benner/Hayward stable also had two well bred three-year-old fillies that underwent a 1000-metre gallop at the completion of the jumpouts. They were Lodi and Lakshmi and were timed to run the distance in 1:2.9, steadily increasing the speed to come home the last 800 in 49.9 and final 400 in 23.9.

Lodi is a filly by More Than Ready out of the Group 1 winning mare Emerald Dream and a half-sister to the successful sire Zed while Lakshmi is by Pins and is the last foal produced by the Kreisler mare Vedodara, whose wins included the 1994 Hawke’s Bay Guineas.

Hastings trainer Paul Nelson also galloped two of his horses at the completion of the jumpouts. They were No Change and Ooee and worked together from the 1200-metre peg in 1:14.8, running home the last 600 in 35.8s. Both horses were striding out well at the finish.

They both line up at this Saturday’s Hawke’s Bay meeting, where No Change contests the Rating 75 race over 2100 metres and Ooee is in the Rating 65 event over 2200 metres.

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