The Hastings stable of Paul Nelson and Corrina McDougal have lost the services of one of their top jumpers through forced retirement and can only race another until the end of this year.
Suliman, winner of last year’s $100,000 Grand National Hurdles at Christchurch and successful 11 times in total, has been barred from racing under a new directive from New Zealand Thoroughbred Racing (NZTR) that means jumpers cannot race after December 31 of their 12-year-old season.
Nelson and McDougal had been preparing the Redwood gelding, who turns 13 in August, for another winter campaign over fences but have been told they can no longer enter the horse for a race.
Another of their stable stars, Nedwin, is 11 years old and can only race until the end of this year before he also must be retired.
He is the winner of 15 races including the 2023 $150,000 Great Northern Hurdles and last year’s $75,000 Pakuranga Hunt Cup Steeplechase.
An irate Paul Nelson said this week it is ludicrous how NZTR can make a ruling that affects so many people without thorough consultation between all parties.
“They said a circular went out whereby submissions could be made but I never got one,” Nelson said.
“Why wasn’t a jumping trainer or jumps jockey consulted.
“Suliman was raced by the I See Red Syndicate and they have poured a lot of money into racing and have now been told they can no longer race one of their best horses.”
Nelson was told by NZTR that the ruling essentially aligns with the rules in Australia but he was quick to point out that, in Australia, horses can race until they are 13 years old.
France’s Boy, a warhorse of South Australian racing, turns 13 in August and has had 170 starts for 21 wins, 22 seconds and 16 thirds.
There have been numerous horses who have won major New Zealand jumping races when older than 12 years of age, one of the most notable being the Freda White-trained Teak who took out the 1974 Hawke’s Bay Steeplechase aged 15.
NZTR say studies have shown horses are more susceptible to serious issues once they turn 12 and the decision was made from a welfare point of view.
“It doesn’t make sense to us,” Corrina McDougal said.
“We could understand if they had to be subject to vet assessments and we tried to negotiate for that, but they wouldn’t budge.”
Suliman is now being looked after by Lucy de Lautour in nearby Waipukurau.
“He’s now out hunting with Lucy and she said to us the other day, this horse is so well he should be getting ready to race,” McDougal added.
Suliman, a son of Redwood, won six races during a successful flat career.
After joining Nelson and McDougal, he quickly became a force in the hurdling ranks winning the Awapuni and Wellington Hurdles in 2023, both races held at Trentham.
After missing the 2024 winter, he returned last year and took out the time-honoured Grand National Hurdles at Riccarton with rider Hamish McNeill aboard in what was a thrilling four-horse finish.
Loch Katrine back in the winner’s circle
It has been a long time between celebration drinks for the Hawke’s Bay connections of Loch Katrine, who returned to her best with a decisive 1-1/4 length win at last Saturday’s Rotorua meeting.
The Ardrossan mare was recording her third win from 29 starts but her first since she took out a Rating 65 race over 1600m at Te Rapa in September 2024.
Back then she was prepared by Matamata trainer Stephen Autridge but her success last Saturday also signified a welcome return to the winners’ circle for fellow Matamata trainer Daniel Miller.
Miller initially trained the daughter of Ardrossan as a two-year-old, when she won the Listed $80,000 Champagne Stakes (1600m) at Pukekohe, before he took a hiatus from racing for a couple of years.
In the interim, Loch Katrine joined Stephen Autridge’s barn, for whom she added another win and nine placings to her record before rejoining Miller earlier this year.
Loch Katrine was initially sold for $6000 at the 2022 Karaka Yearling Sales, before being on-sold for $1300 on Gavelhouse to Napier’s Paul Sullivan. Her win last Saturday took her stake earnings to $147,835.
Sullivan shares in the ownership of the mare with his partner Annie Phillips, two other Hawke’s Bay people in Bruce Browne and David Sheffield, and Trevor Tye and David Brown from Raglan.
Sullivan said this week the mare’s return to winning form was also tinged with sadness.
“Dave Patterson was another guy who was in the horse right from the start but he passed away in December,” Paul Sullivan said.
“He loved her and went to every meeting he could to see her race.”
Sullivan said the win came as a pleasant surprise as they thought Loch Katrine might have needed the run in what was her first race for five months.
“We thought she might have been one run short but Daniel knows his stuff and has done a great job since he has had her back,” he said.
“She went off the boil last year but looks to have come back now and she loves wet tracks.”
Middle distance plans now for Exit Left
Hastings-trained Exit Left is likely to be stepped up to a middle-distance next start following his strong win over 1650m at Waverley last Saturday.
Prepared by the husband-and-wife team of Mick Brown and Sue Thompson, Exit Left notched up his third win from only 14 starts when taking out a $35,000 Rating 75 race by half a length.
The five-year-old Turn Me Loose gelding has also recorded four seconds and two thirds over sprint distances but co-trainer Mick Brown said this week he would like to try the horse over a bit more ground before he is turned out for a spell.
Exit Left had been in or near the lead throughout in his first two wins but senior jockey Jonathan Riddell got him to settle perfectly in a trailing position last Saturday and held him up until the home turn.
He then angled Exit Left into the clear and the horse produced a strong finishing burst to run down the leader Metaverse and then hold out the fast finishing second placegetter Cotton Roca.
Exit Left’s two previous wins had been on heavy tracks and Brown said he was a little concerned when the Waverley track was rated just on the soft side.
“He has a high knee action and is really best on wet tracks but he also wants it loose,” Brown said.
“He’s so honest and tries his heart out but it has cost him because he is always up high in the weights.”
Brown said Exit Left could now tackle a Rating 75 race over 2040m at Wanganui on May 30.
The horse is owned by Hastings woman Margaret Harkema, who paid only $1500 to purchase the gelding on Gavelhouse. He has now won more than $90,000 in stakemoney.
Gear change brings best out of Charlunga
The addition of side winkers had the desired effect when Hastings owned and trained Charlunga made a winning debut in a 1600m maiden race at Wanganui last Sunday.
The four-year-old Rock ‘N’ Pop gelding, bred and owned by Tom Lowry and prepared by the training partnership of Guy Lowry and Leah Zydenbos, caused a minor upset when scoring at odds of 12 to one.
The horse was coming off two barrier trials, where he was unplaced over 1000m at Foxton in March and third over 1200m at Hastings last month.
“The trials were okay but he wanted to over-race early and that didn’t help,” Lowry said this week.
“We worked him in side winkers since and he seemed to go a lot better so we put them on last Sunday and they definitely helped.”
Charlunga began well from the barrier on Sunday and rider Leah Hemi was able to settle him fourth, up against the rail, in what was a fast run first 1000 metres.
Race favourite Greek Anthology looked the likely winner when he cruised to the lead on the home turn but Charlunga was still winding up behind him and produced a strong finish on his inside to win by half a length.
Charlunga is by Rock ‘N’ Pop, who stands at Tom Lowry’s Okawa Stud property. He is out of the O’Reilly mare O’Dare, who is now deceased but was a grand-daughter of the high-class racemare Dare.
Asterix adds another black-type victory
New Zealand Derby winner Asterix took 11 races and more than a year to record his first stakes victory in Australia, but now he has gone back-to-back.
The seven-year-old added a supreme weight-carrying performance in last Saturday’s A$300,000 Gosford Gold Cup (2100m) to his last-start success in the Group 3 JRA Plate (2000m) at Randwick on April 18.
Asterix was lumbered with 61 kilograms against a highly competitive Gosford Gold Cup line-up. Since weights went metric in 1972, the previous highest weight carried to victory in the race was 59.5 kilograms by Numerian in 2022.
But Asterix was unfazed by that record-breaking task, launching an irresistible finish from second-last under expat New Zealand jockey Jason Collett.
The field bunched right up around the home turn and Asterix was held up in traffic, but Collett managed to find a way through and then unleashed him down the outside.
Asterix and Zaphod swallowed up the leader You Wahng together in the final 100m, and Asterix finished the better to win by a length.
From a 26-start career, Asterix has now recorded seven wins and two placings and has earned A$1.27 million in stakes.
He was a $450,000 purchase from the 2020 Ready To Run Two-year-old sale and his owners include Havelock North couples Sam and Birdie Kelt and Andrew and Lauren Scott as well as former New Zealand cricket representative Mark Greatbatch.