The Cossack, rated by highly successful Hastings horseman Paul Nelson as the best horse he has trained, has run his last race.
The 12-year-old gelding has been officially retired after a racing career that spanned 66 starts and resulted in 19 wins, six seconds and five thirds. In that time he amassed $701,381 in stakemoney.
Nelson, who co-owns The Cossack and trained him in partnership with Corrina McDougal, said this week he was “a once in a lifetime horse” who had given him and his fellow owners many high moments they will cherish forever.
Nelson said it was hard to compare horses of different eras and that No Hero, who he trained to win eight steeplechase races in a row between 2003 and 2006, holds a special place in the hearts of him and his wife Carol as they owned him outright.
That grey’s eight victories included the Hawke’s Bay Steeplechase (twice), the Grand National Steeplechase, Great western Steeplechase, Manawatu Steeplechase and Koral Steeplechase.
“No Hero was a special horse for what he did for us but I’d have to say this one (The Cossack) is the best I’ve trained,” Nelson said.
“No Hero’s wins were all in steeplechases whereas The Cossack has been great over hurdles and steeples and also won on the flat.”
The Cossack’s 19 wins included 11 prestige jumping events. He won the Great Northern Hurdles twice and the Waikato Steeplechase twice as well as a Grand National Hurdles, a Wellington Steeplechase, a Wellington Hurdle, a Hawke’s Bay Hurdle, a Pakuranga Hunt Steeplechase, a K S Browne Hurdle and a Waikato Hurdle.
He was crowned Champion New Zealand jumper two seasons in a row, in 2020-21 and 2021-22, and his minor placings included a close second in the 2022 Australian Grand National Steeplechase at Ballarat, in Victoria.
The Cossack’s last race resulted in a fourth placing in the Pakuranga Hunt Cup Steeplechase (4300m) at Te Aroha on August 31.
It was only a fair performance by his high standard and Nelson said it suggested he had had enough.
“He’s still totally sound and there were no injury problems. He’d just done enough miles,” Nelson added.
The Cossack is by Mastercraftsman out of the Galileo mare Stellerdelmar and was bred by Hawke’s Bay man Ivan Grieve.
He initially raced the horse in partnership with Hastings trainer John Bary, who prepared him to win two races on the flat and also gave him his first two hurdle starts, which resulted in two seconds.
The pair then decided to sell the horse to Grieve’s brother Peter, who subsequently took in his son Doug, along with close friend John Frizzell and Paul Nelson, to race him.
Peter Grieve and John Frizzell have owned thoroughbreds for decades and are still breeding and racing them. They have had plenty of highs in that time but both say nothing compares to the thrills that The Cossack gave them in their many travels around the country to watch him compete at the highest level on the racetrack.
The Bambino a new rising jumps star
Promising Hastings jumper The Bambino earned a start in the $150,000 Great New Zealand Hurdles (4200m) at Te Aroha on September 19 with another dominant win in a $50,000 open hurdle race at Woodville last Sunday.
The eight-year-old Rock ‘N’ Pop gelding scored by 2-3/4 lengths in the 3000m event to complete a winning double after he produced a similar performance over the same distance at Woodville on August 17.
The Bambino has now had nine hurdle starts for three wins and two thirds and has also won one race on the flat.
He is prepared by Hastings trainers Paul Nelson and Corrina McDougal and is owned by Nelson in partnership with Waipukurau’s Garry Sherratt and Cambridge trainer Ben Foote.
The Bambino will now spearhead a three-pronged attack by the Nelson/McDougal stable in the feature race on the first day of the Te Aroha jumps carnival, with their other representatives in the Great New Zealand Hurdles being Suliman and Taika.
Suliman won the Grand National Hurdles (4200m) at Riccarton two starts back and followed that up with another game performance for third in the Pakuranga Hunt Hurdle (3100m) at Te Aroha. Any rain will enhance his chances.
Taika went an improved race for fourth behind The Bambino on a very heavy track at Woodville last Sunday after racing well below his best earlier this winter. He would probably appreciate slightly firmer footing.
The Nelson/McDougal stable will also line up Nedwin in the $200,000 Ben and Ryan Foote Great New Zealand Steeplechase (6200m) on the second day of the Te Aroha jumping carnival on September 21.
The Niagara gelding is coming off a last-start 3-1/2 length win in the Pakuranga Hunt Cup Steeplechase (4300m) at TeAroha on August 31 and is the winner of 15 races from 48 starts. He has filled a top four placing in each of his five steeplechase starts with two wins, two thirds and a fourth.
Testwin starting to fulfil his potential
The patient policy adopted by Hastings training partners Guy Lowry and Leah Zydnebos with Testwin is now reaping rewards with the big five-year-old completing back-to-back wins with another impressive performance at Otaki last Saturday.
The Time Test gelding came from a clear last on the home turn in a $40,000 Rating 65 race over 1200m, powering home down the outside of the track to get up and score by three-quarters of a length.
It was the horse’s second start back in a new campaign and followed up an equally impressive 5 length victory in another Rating 65 race over 1200m at Taupo on August 17.
Although now five years old, Testwin has only had nine starts for a record of three wins and a third.
He created a big impression when winning on debut over 1600m at Hastings in January last year but then spoilt his chances in his next few starts by wanting to over-race, ending with a last placing over 2040m at Wanganui in November.
“All last preparation we tried to get him to settle in his races but he wouldn’t,” Lowry recalled.
Testwin was turned out for a long spell after that Wanganui failure and was then given a long slow build-up before his return to racing at Taupo, with Lowry and Zydenbos concentrating on getting the horse to settle.
In his resuming run he settled third in a six-horse field before moving up to challenge the leaders on the home turn and then ran away from his rivals over the final stages.
Testwin started a red-hot favourite at Otaki last Sunday and apprentice rider Ashlee Strawbridge was instructed to settle the horse at the back of the seven-horse field and wait until the home turn before making a run.
Strawbridge followed the instructions to the letter but almost over-did things when Testwin was still a long way off the leaders and covering a lot of extra ground by going very wide on the home turn.
But the big horse produced some big strides in the heavy10 track conditions to get up and win with authority.
Testwin was bred by the late Tom Lowry out of the Don Eduardo mare Edwina and is a half-brother to the top jumper Nedwin. He is now raced by Tom Lowry’s estate.
On breeding Testwin should excel over longer distances but Lowry now realises that the horse is best kept to shorter races.
“I think he’ll be at his best up to a mile,” Lowry said.
So Testwin is now likely to be stepped up slightly in distance to 1340m in a $40,000 Rating 75 race at Trentham on September 20.
Crouch resumes with upset sprint win
Crouch, a horse best known for his deeds over longer distances, resumed from a spell with a last to first victory in a $50,000 open sprint over 1400m at Otaki last Saturday.
The Mike Breslin-prepared six-year-old rounded out his last campaign with a fourth in the New Zealand St Leger (2500m) at Trentham in March, a track where he performed with distinction by finishing runner up to Wolfgang in the Group 3 Wellington Cup (3200m) two months earlier.
Despite finishing second in a 1000m Awapuni trial last month, few expected him to be able to foot it with some capable winter sprinters over 1400m fresh-up.
Allowed to settle last by apprentice Toni Davies, Crouch lobbed along without a care in the world before being asked to loop his seven rivals wide out from the 600m.
Davies purposely kept him wide around the home turn where he still spotted Make Time, Chajaba and Enrico several lengths as that trio looked likely to fight out the finish,
They were still in front with 100m to run however Davies had her mount charging home and a couple of huge bounds saw him hit the front in the shadows of the post, winning by neck from Make Time with a long neck back to Chajaba in third.
Breslin had an inkling his charge was ready to run a good race as he has been a different horse during his build up.
“I knew he had come back better than ever, so I was expecting a good run even if he has never won over less than a mile in the past,” he said.
Breslin owns Crouch in partnership with Napier-based Roy Potter and the horse has now won them six races from 25 starts and more than $243,000 in prizemoney.