Hastings-trained Kwanza, a horse that is bred to excel as a jumper, will be kept to flat racing in the immediate future after scoring a decisive win in a Rating 65 race over 2100m at Hastings on Thursday of last week.
The five-year-old Zed gelding is trained by Paul Nelson and Corrina McDougal and bred and owned by Nelson and his wife Carol.
He is out of the unraced Shinko King mare No Yen, who is a half-sister to two former good performers trained by Nelson, in Peso and No Quota.
Peso, by Colombia, was the winner of eight races on the flat including the Listed Jakkalberry Classic (1950m) at Rotorua and the Murtoa Cup (2050m) in Australia.
He was retired after failing in his only hurdle start but his half-brother No Quota, by Kingfisher Mill, was a success over fences.
He had six hurdle starts for a win, a second and two thirds and recorded three wins and two thirds from 18 starts in steeplechases, with one of those placings being a third in the 2015 Hawke’s Bay Steeplechase (4800m).
“He won the longest ever hurdle race run in New Zealand,” Paul Nelson recalled this week.
“It was when the Rotorua track got back to racing after a long layoff and they ran a hurdle race over 4400 metres.”
Kwanza is the first foal out of No Yen and she has since produced two other foals by Zed, a mare called One Penny and a gelding called Centimo.
One Penny finished sixth when making her race debut in a maiden 1600m race at Hastings last week while Centimo will make his race debut in a maiden 1340m event at this Saturday’s Wanganui meeting.
Kwanza, like most of the horses prepared at the Nelsons’ Air Hill Stud property, will no doubt have done plenty of schooling over jumps but also looks to have an abundance of ability on the flat.
He has now had 11 starts for two wins, a third and a fourth and relished the heavy-10 track conditions at Hastings last week, where he was given a 10 out of 10 ride by experienced jockey Jonathan Riddell.
Riddell got the horse to settle perfectly, in fourth position, and bided his time until just before the home turn where he drove his mount between runners to challenge for the lead.
Tukituki had tried to lead all the way and was still in front entering the last 300m but Kwanza soon joined him and kept up a strong run to the line to win by 1-1/4 lengths.
Paul Nelson said Kwanza is likely to have his next start in a $35,000 Rating 75 race over 2400m at Te Rapa on June 13.
That is a meeting the Nelson/McDougal stable will be targeting with some of their better performed jumpers, including Dictation, Nedwin, Taika and The Bambino.
Taika and The Bambino will both have a run on the flat at Wanganui this Saturday, in a Rating 65 race over 2040m.
“They just need a run on the flat before they start jumping again,” Nelson said.
He added that The Bambino, Nedwin and Dictation are likely to kick off their jumping campaigns at Trentham on June 6 before they head to Te Rapa the following Saturday.
The Cossack now an equestrian star
Retired superstar jumper The Cossack is enjoying the next phase of his career as a sport horse, fittingly with former co-trainer Corrina McDougal.
The Mastercraftsman 12-year-old, known as ‘Crafty’, was a cult horse of the jumping scene, winning a total of 19 races - 15 of those over fences - and over $700,000 in stakes earnings. His list of accolades is extensive, with highlights including a Wellington Steeplechase, Pakuranga Hunt Cup, two Great Northern Hurdles and a Grand National Hurdle.
The two-time Champion Jumper had his swansong when finishing fourth in last year’s Pakuranga Hunt Cup in August, and seven months later, he was spotted at Claire Wilson’s “Winter Olympics” fundraising event in Hawke’s Bay with McDougal in the saddle.
McDougal revealed she had made a statement to co-trainer Paul Nelson about competing at the event, despite a couple of decades between her last appearance in the show jumping ring.
“Crafty initially went to James Cropp to be a clerk of the course but he wasn’t going to be suitable, so I ended up taking him home,” McDougal said.
“Paul asked me ‘what are you going to do with him?”, and being a bit smart, I said I’m going to take him to the Winter Olympics - even though I haven’t jumped for about 25 years.
“I was pretty nervous and we had a couple of rails down in the first round - I was probably going a bit quick and wanted to get to the finish.
“But he was great. He was so well-mannered, he tied up to the float and didn’t get wound up at all, it was like he’d done it all his life.”
McDougal joined Nelson in a training partnership during the 2018-19 season and while they are no stranger to feature success, she looks back on The Cossack’s career with plenty of admiration.
“He has made me realise that you don’t appreciate things until they are over.” she said.
“At the time, I thought he was a great horse of course, but you look back and think how lucky we were to go to the races and just keep winning.”
Health issues force Butch Castles to step down
Waikato Thoroughbred Racing has announced that Chief Executive Andrew ‘Butch’ Castles will retire from his role for health reasons after a six-year tenure, with his final day with the club to be June 30.
Castles departs following a distinguished career spanning more than 30 years in the New Zealand thoroughbred industry, where he has become one of racing’s most recognisable and respected figures.
His influence has extended far beyond the day-to-day operations of any one club, with Castles helping drive meaningful change and long-term growth across numerous racing organisations and the wider New Zealand thoroughbred industry throughout his career.
Castles joined Waikato Racing Club in 2020, bringing with him extensive experience in racing administration and leadership, having spent 11 years as Executive General Manager of Racing at the Auckland Racing Club, serving as Chief Executive of Hawke's Bay Racing for four years, and previously in the role of Secretary/Manager at the Ōtaki Māori Racing Club.
He was also well known to racing audiences through his work with Trackside TV and Radio Trackside, while his time as rider agent for leading jockeys Michael Walker and Leith Innes reflected his deep involvement across all facets of the industry.
Leaderboard’s last race in Te Rapa feature
Quality jumper Leaderboard is set to return to New Zealand where he will have his career swansong in the Signature Homes Waikato Steeplechase (3900m) at Te Rapa on June 13.
The rising 12-year-old has been a standout over fences in Australia over the last couple of seasons for trainer Mark Walker, winning last year’s A$400,000 Grand National Steeplechase (4500m), having finished runner-up in the 2024 edition, and also placed in two editions of the Australian Steeplechase (3900m) and Thackeray Steeplechase (3450m).
The Fortuna Syndicate-raced gelding ran fifth in the Brierly and Grand Annual at Warrnambool earlier this month, and the decision has been made to retire him following one final race on home soil.
“This year he was just a bit off the pace with his runs over there, but he ran creditably, but not to the same level of last year,” Fortuna head John Galvin said.
“We are going to retire him, and we have got a home for him here, but we thought it would be nice to give him a swansong run at Te Rapa in the Waikato Steeples, it is the perfect race for him.”
Bob Autridge was one of racing’s characters
The racing industry has lost one of its most colourful characters with the recent death of Bob Autridge, aged 85.
The patriarch of the Autridge family, Bob was a successful amateur jockey and accomplished trainer, and he passed his passion on to his sons Stephen and Toby, who forged their own successful paths in racing as both jockeys and trainers.
Born and bred in Matamata, Bob was a well-known face in the Waikato township, particularly at the local racecourse, where he spent a large portion of his life.
The life of the party, Stephen said his father had a large friendship circle and he would leave a smile on everyone he met.
The son of a blacksmith, Bob followed his father into a similar vocation as a farrier, with his skills utilised by many in the racing industry.
Bob also inherited his father’s passion for racing, taking out a trainer’s license as a young adult while also competing on the track as an amateur jockey.
“His father was a blacksmith and trained the odd horse and Dad came along and he started training horses when he was quite young and he was a successful amateur rider as well,” Stephen said.
While Bob had success in the saddle as an amateur jockey, his biggest achievements came as a trainer, particularly in jumping.
His early victories over fences included training Foxonewa to win the 1969 Great Northern Hurdles and Destino to win the 1973 Wellington Steeplechase.
His topflight jumper Cuchulainn dominated the New Zealand jumping scene in 2003, winning the Wellington Steeplechase, Koral Steeplechase and Grand National Steeplechase all in succession, before returning a year later to win the Great Northern Hurdles.
Bob also experienced plenty of success on the flat, including with his Group 1 performer Al Dwain, who he campaigned in Australia, 1975 Winter Cup winner Kaurere Lad, and Group 1 winner Olga’s Pal, who he trained in partnership with his late son Toby.