Colliers Hawke’s Bay has again taken up the reins as the title sponsor of this year’s three premier spring race days to be run on the Hastings track.

The three days of racing, on September 12, September 26 and October 10, will be a showcase event for Hawke’s Bay Racing and the wider Hawke’s Bay community and will be known as the Colliers Hawke’s Bay Spring Carnival.

Colliers Commercial Hawke’s Bay were first time sponsors of a highly successful Hawke’s Bay spring carnival in 2022 and again in 2023 before the 2024 carnival was cut short after only one of the three days was completed due to the course proper at the Hastings track being deemed unsafe to race on.

Racing ceased on the course for the following 20 months while the racing surface underwent a major reconstruction, including the re-cambering of three of the bends. 

Racing resumed on the track with a six-race industry day on May 21 this year and another feature race day is planned for August 22 as a lead up to the three-day spring carnival.

Danny Blair, Colliers Director of Commercial and Industrial, said this week the company was looking forward to again being involved with such an important Hawke’s Bay event.

“We are excited to be back as part of it after a bit of a hiatus,” Blair said.

“We have taken up another three year contract as the major sponsor and our involvement is across our entire business this time.

“We will thus have a wide range of clients and, given our national reach, it will give us a good opportunity of attracting more people from outside the district to visit Hawke’s Bay.”

Both Danny Blair and Simon Tremain, a Managing Director of Colliers Hawke’s Bay, are keen racing supporters.

Tremains Real Estate has had a long term involvement with Hawke’s Bay Racing, being a regular sponsor of races run by the club and also sponsoring the starting gates used on the Hastings track.

Simon Tremain has bred and raced a number of thoroughbreds over the years and is a former board member of Hawke’s Bay Racing while Blair has also been involved in racehorse ownership.

Hawke’s Bay Racing chief executive Darin Balcombe said he is delighted that a prominent Hawke’s Bay-based company has come on board again as the major sponsor of the three day spring carnival, ensuring that it will be an event that will prove beneficial for the entire district.

The first day of this year’s spring carnival, on September 12, will feature the Listed $110,000 Sir Colin Meads Trophy, a 1200m event for three-year-olds which will serve as a lead-up to two prestige three-year-old races on the second day, September 26.

The weight-for-age Group 1 $400,000 Howden Insurance Mile (1600m) will be the feature race on the second day, backed up by the Group 2 $175,000 Hawke’s Bay Guineas (1400m) and the Group 3 $150,000 Gold Trail Stakes (1200m), both time-honoured three-year-old events.

The third day of the carnival, and traditionally the biggest day, will be staged on October 10 and will feature the weight-for-age Group 1 $550,000 Livamol Classic (2040m), the Group 3 $120,000 Spring Sprint (1400m) and the final of the $100,000 East Coast Challenge (1400m).

New rules following strangles outbreak

New Zealand Thoroughbred Racing has implemented strict new protocols to allow New Zealand racing to continue after an outbreak of the highly contagious bacterial disease strangles was detected on 12 properties in Waikato and Auckland.

At this stage the disease has been restricted to 11 properties in the Waikato region and one in Auckland but there is a definite risk to other areas due to the movement of horses throughout the country.

New Zealand Veterinary Association head of veterinary services, Holly Blue, said early detection and strict biosecurity measures, including isolation and temperature monitoring, are critical to limiting the spread.

Affected and suspected properties are being monitored, with veterinarians working alongside the racing industry so events can continue safely.

New Zealand Thoroughbred Racing said it has introduced additional health requirements for all horses accepted to race or trial.

These new requirements include directives for temperature monitoring, health declarations and, where applicable, serum amyloid A (SAA) testing for horses accepted to race or trial.

“As the governing body for thoroughbred racing in New Zealand, NZTR considers it necessary to implement these additional precautions given the seriousness of strangles and the potential consequences an outbreak could have for racing, breeding, sales and exports.”

Strangles is a highly contagious bacterial infection that affects the upper respiratory tract and lymph nodes of horses. It is characterised by high fever, thick nasal discharge and painful abscesses around the throat and jaw, which can rupture.

While it is not a notifiable disease, strangles can spread rapidly and cause severe illness. A prolonged outbreak could have an impact on horse welfare and the wider industry through increased costs and potential disruption to international movement.

“Strangles spreads through direct contact with infected horses, or personnel and even domestic pets that have been in contact with them, as well as contaminated equipment, clothing, footwear and hands, and infected nasal and oral secretions,” Blue said.

“It’s critical that horse owners monitor for early signs of the disease, including fever, loss of appetite, depression or dullness, coughing, thick nasal discharge and swollen glands.

“Ultimately, a thermometer is your best friend right now. If you notice a fever especially after movement, travel or contact with unfamiliar horses, treat it as strangles until proven otherwise.

“Isolate the horse immediately and contact your veterinarian for diagnosis and advice.”

Blue said treatment generally involved nursing care, good nutrition and hydration.

Great Escape wins one for Rosie

Consistent galloper Great Escape was a popular winner at Waverley last Saturday.  

The five-year-old daughter of Iffraaj is co-owned by William and Rosie Fell’s Goodwood Stud and Rosie’s sister Kelly Myers was entrusted with riding the mare in the $35,000 Rating 65 1200m event, hoping to go one better after finishing a narrow second two starts back at Otaki.  

Great Escape had scarcely been out of the placings in her 10 starts and started favourite in the sprint contest, where she jumped well and settled in the first half of the field.  

Travelling strongly into the home turn, Myers angled off the rail to the centre of the track and Great Escape hit the lead at the 150m, drawing clear from her stablemate

Our Akashinga to score by 1¾ lengths, giving trainers Kevin and Stephen Gray the quinella.  

Palmerston North-based Rosie Fell was on course to celebrate the victory and felt a sense of relief after the mare narrowly missed in two tight finishes this campaign.

Known as Rosie Myers when she kicked home 650 winners as a jockey, including five at Group 1 level, she retired following a serious accident at a trial meeting more than five years ago and now devotes her time to being a mum to two young children.  

“I was so happy, my reaction after the race was probably more so relieved as well,” she said. “I am just stoked. 

Having co-bred Great Escape, Fell initially placed her with Awapuni trainer Roydon Bergerson, who prepared her to win her maiden over 1200m at Woodville in October 2023.

The mare was subsequently off the scene for over a year due to a back injury, and after pre-training her, Fell decided to try her hand at training and prepared the mare herself.  

She came close to adding her first win as a trainer with Great Escape recording two seconds and a third from as many starts before she joined the Gray stable.  

“Roydon Bergerson initially trained her, then she had a back injury,” Fell said. “I was pre-training her ready to go back into his stable, then I thought I could train her myself, so I got my license.  

“I got pregnant and thought I couldn’t really have a baby and train her, and because I was using Stephen’s track, he was the obvious to take over from that point.” 

Out of a half-sister to multiple Group 1 winner and Goodwood graduate Gingernuts, Great Escape is raced by a group of Fell’s friends and family, including sister Kelly Myers.

Early success for amateur jockey

The amateur jockey series has been a great pathway for several of the country’s top apprentice jockeys, including leading apprentice Amber Riddell, and Hannah Wilson is hoping she can be another success story as she looks to make that transition.

The 23-year-old hoop has made a pleasing start to her riding career as an amateur, placing in her first race at Wanganui in May before breaking through for her first win aboard the Kevin Myers-trained Four Square Pete in a 2200m race at Trentham on Thursday of last week.

Wilson was duly rapt to salute the judge for the first time.

“It was super exciting, it is something I have looked forward to, and it was great to get it,” Wilson said.

Wilson has had a lifelong passion for horses, and she has made a natural progression from eventing to riding trackwork, and now she is intent on a career in the racing industry.

“I have been riding since I was about four years old,” she said. “My parents put me on a horse and they couldn’t get me off it.

“I went on to showjumping and eventing and when I was 16 I got a job at the Awapuni track and started off as ground staff with Mike Breslin before I started riding trackwork.”

Wilson said she caught the racing bug as soon as she hopped on a racehorse, and after a couple of years seeing the world, she is now intent on becoming a professional jockey.

“I didn’t realise how much I would love it and I have now decided I want to go for my apprenticeship,” Wilson said.