Five Hawke’s Bay owned and trained horses were successful on three different New Zealand racetracks last weekend.
Sneaky Cyclone cleared maiden ranks at Ruakaka on Saturday while Fortunato and Rosina were impressive winners at Taupo on Sunday and The Belvoir and Monroe were gallant victors at Sunday’s Woodville meeting.
Fortunato was making his race debut in a $50,000 three-year-old race over 1100m at Taupo and lived right up to the high opinion his Hastings trainers Guy Lowry and Leah Zydenbos have of him by downing several well performed young horses.
Fortunato had given an indication of his ability when winning two barrier trials last season, the first over 1000m at Hastings in May and the second over 850m at Foxton last month.
The Per Incanto three-year-old then clocked the fastest time (60.88s) when winning one of four 1000m heats at last week’s Hastings jumpouts.
“He’s a horse that has always shown us a lot and has just taken time,” Guy Lowry said.
“He’s a really nice horse going forward but we were surprised by how much quicker his time was compared to the other 1000m heats at the jumpouts.”
Last season’s champion jockey Craig Grylls was aboard Fortunato at Taupo and let the horse settle at the back of the seven horse field in the early stages before improving his position to be just behind the leaders coming to the home turn.
Fortunato hit a flat spot at that stage but then started to regain momentum and, once in the straight, he shouldered his way into the clear before hitting full stride to get up and snatch a head win.
It was one of the most impressive wins on the day and one that stamped Fortunato as a horse to follow in the upcoming three-year-old classics.
Lowry said the gelding could start next in the Listed $110,000 Sir Coin Meads Trophy (1200m) at Hastings on September 12 before tackling the Group 2 $175,000 Hawke’s Bay Guineas (1400m) on September 26.
“The 2000 Guineas (Group 1, 1600m) at Riccarton in November is the ultimate goal and after that he would be turned out for a spell,” Lowry added.
Fortunato is owned by Derek Boocock, an Englishman who moved to Hawke’s Bay in November last year.
“He arrived here just a few days before the two-year-old Ready-To-Run sale and we went to the sales where he purchased Fortunato,” Lowry said.
Fortunato cost $90,000 and is out of the Redoute’s Choice mare Fortune’s Choice and is a half-brother to Matao Ma (four wins), Piercing Sly (two wins) and Moana’s Fortune (two wins), who have all been successful in Australia.
Since purchasing Fortunato, Boocock also now owns a Satono Aladdin-Persian Pride two-year-old filly that cost $125,000 at this year’s Karaka yearling sales and a Almanzor yearling colt.
The Satono Aladdin two-year-old is also in work with Lowry and Zydenbos and finished third in a 400m heat at last week’s Hastings jumpouts.
Ruakaka winner lucky to be alive
Sneaky Cyclone broke through for a deserved maiden win when scoring a decisive 1-½ length victory over 1600m at Ruakaka last Saturday.
The four-year-old gelding was having his 14th start and the win followed a second and two thirds but he almost never got to the races.
Sneaky Cyclone is owned by his Hawke’s Bay co-breeder Paul Sullivan and gets his name from Cyclone Gabrielle that hit the Hawke’s Bay district in 2023 and had a devastating effect on the Rissington property Sullivan owned at that time.
“He was one of two horses that we had on the property and they were in a paddock up high, where we thought they would be safe,” Sullivan recalled this week.
“But the flooding was so bad that they got washed away and had to swim for their lives. We are lucky to still have him.”
Apprentice jockey Sam McNab was aboard Sneaky Cycloine last Saturday and, after bouncing the horse out quickly from the barrier, they took up a trailing position before taking a clear lead rounding the home turn. The gelding then kept up a strong run to the line for a decisive win.
“He won really well and he had been knocking on the door,” Sullivan said.
“Hopefully it will be the start of better things.”
Sullivan and his daughter Teresa Hislop bred the son of Sneaking To Win out of the Nom du Jeu mare River Rising and set up a syndicate to race him, called the Sneaky Syndicate.
“Most of the guys in the syndicate have been in horses that I have raced in the past and they are a mixed bunch of people from Hawke’s Bay, Rotorua and around the North Island," Sullivan added.
Sneaking To Win is a son of champion Australian sire Snitzel and stands at Steve Brougham and Jenni Tomlin's property, just south of Hastings, for a fee of $2000 plus GST. He has only had a limited number of horses on the racetrack to date.
Rosina shrugs off bridesmaid tag
Rosina, bred and owned by Waipukurau couple Garry and Jan Sherratt, capped off a string of minor placings with a decisive win in a Rating 65 race over 1800m at Taupo on Sunday.
The seven-year-old El Roca mare was winning only her third race from 32 starts, and her first since December last year, but she had recorded five seconds, three thirds and a fourth in her 11 most recent outings.
In some of those races the mare had got well back in the early stages and had too much to do but apprentice jockey Rihaan Goyaram was positive out of the barrier at Taupo and quickly had her trailing in third place.
Goyaram sent Rosina forward to take a clear lead rounding the home turn and the mare maintained a strong run to the line to win by 1-1/4 lengths.
Rosina is trained at Cambridge by the father and son combination of Ben and Ryan Foote and the Sherratts have raced a number of horses from that stable over the years.
They bred Rosina out of the Corrupt mare Politic, who was the winner of four races.
Bigger plans now for The Belvoir
Dannevirke owner-trainer Barry Beatson is now considering tackling the $60,000 Pakuranga Hurdle (3100m) at Te Aroha on August 30 with his promising jumper The Belvoir.
The Poet’s Voice 10-year-old chalked up his second win over fences when taking out a $40,000 open hurdle race over 3000m at Woodville last Sunday and is now starting to fulfill his true potential, according to Beatson.
“He’s a good horse but has had his share of problems,” Beatson said.
“He only won one race on the flat but he probably should have won more. He had a lot of placings and was unlucky a number of times.
“He’s had two major muscle injuries in his back and was also struck down by a virus that almost killed him.”
Beatson gave The Belvoir nine hurdle starts last year but said the horse’s inexperience cost him on several occasions. He fell in one race and lost his rider in another.
He has come back this year a much more accomplished jumper, finishing second in a maiden hurdle over 3100m at Te Aroha on June 1 before recording his first hurdle success over 2900m at Te Rapa late last month.
His win last Sunday was the second leg of a winning double for comeback jockey Joshua Parker.
The talented Englishman won New Zealand’s Jumps Jockey Premiership in the 2024/25 season and looked set for another big season this winter, with several key rides including champion jumper West Coast.
West Coast was devastatingly injured when falling in the Waikato Steeplechase in June and had to be euthanized while Parker sustained a shoulder injury in the fall that sidelined him for two months.
He marked his return with a ride in all four jumping races at Woodville last Sunday, winning the opening event on Pinkerton before taking out race two on The Belvoir.
The Belvoir is pronounced ‘The Beaver’ and Beatson paid $6000 to buy the Australian-bred gelding at the 2018 Karaka yearling sales.
Monroe makes it two in a row
Hastings owned and trained Monroe completed a winning double when successful in a Rating 65 race over 2200m at Woodville last Sunday.
The five-year-old Vadamos gelding had cleared maiden ranks with a game win over 2200m at Te Aroha on July 26 and backed that up with another strong performance to outstay his rivals in testing heavy track conditions at Woodville.
Apprentice rider Amber Riddell settled Monroe back in the rear division in the early stages of last Sunday’s race and bided her time until the last 600 metres.
She then sent her mount forward and the horse quickly improved, wide out, to lodge a challenge on the home turn.
Waipukurau-trained Tukituki had a clear lead early in the home straight but Monroe ranged up outside him and, in a grinding finish, managed to gain the upperhand close to the line to win by three-quarters of a length.
Monroe is prepared by the partnership of Paul Nelson and Corrina McDougal and owned by Nelson.
He bought the horse for just $2700 from the Gavelhouse auction site in January last year and he has now won more than $20,000 in stakemoney from only five starts.
Monroe is out of the Keeper mare Lady Aroha and is a half-brother to La Dulcin’ee, who was the winner of three races from the Hastings stable of Patrick Campbell and was recently retired to stud.