Former Hawke’s Bay man Graham Stewart is riding the crest of the wave with three horses he is presently racing.

Stewart, a painting contractor now based in Lower Hutt, celebrated one of his biggest moments in racing when Hastings-trained Afternoon Siesta took out last Sunday’s Group 3 $200,000 Rydges Wellington Cuddle Stakes (1600m).

Stewart races the Australian-bred mare on his own and she is proving a great money spinner with six race starts resulting in four wins and two seconds and earnings of $191,000.

He also races The Precursor, who has won two races this summer including the $350,000 Remutaka Classic (2100m) at Trentham, and Jacobite Rising, who was a maiden winner over 1600m at Otaki last month.

“I’m having a pretty good run but I’ve taken advice from some very good racing people over the years and I’ve done my homework,” a happy Stewart said this week.

Afternoon Siesta has been a revelation on the racetrack, progressing from a maiden winner over 1360m at Wanganui in May last year to beating a field of some of the best mares in the country in last Sunday’s feature race at Trentham.

The John Bary-trained mare started one of the favourites and was ridden a perfect race by jockey Kelly Myers.

Afternoon Siesta has always been a good beginner in her races and Myers bounced her out to take an early lead before settling her in a trailing position.

She angled her mount around heels rounding the home turn and the mare showed an electric turn of foot to quickly put two lengths on the opposition.

Another well supported runner, She’s A Dealer, started to chase Afternoon Siesta down inside the final 200 metres but the latter had enough in reserve to hold on for a head victory.

Afternoon Siesta is a daughter of the 2013 Cox Plate winner Shamus Award out of a Hard Spun mare and cost Stewart a mere A$4000 from an Australian Inglis online sale in 2023.

“I remember I was in South America on a tour, in the middle of the Amazon Jungle,” recalled Stewart.

“We got on a boat as part of the tour and it had internet access so I went online and called up this Australian sale catalogue. There were about 550 horses for sale and I was drawn to this three-year-old who had been in work. She was a smaller type of horse and obviously a late developer but she was very correct and light on her feet.

“I rang the stable that she was in and they said the guy selling her had 200 horses and needed to get rid of some so I had a mate of mine in Australia go and check her out.

“I then got a vet to check her out and then it cost me $10,000 to get her to New Zealand,” he said.

Afternoon Siesta began her New Zealand racing career from the Awapuni stable of Shaun and Hazel Fannin, recording a debut second over 1400m at Trentham last April before an impressive 8-1/4 length victory in a 1360m maiden at Wanganui a month later.

The mare was transferred to John Bary’s Hastings stable towards the end of last year and finished second in a 1200m Woodville trial at the beginning of December before resuming with a dominant 3-1/5 length win in a Rating 65 race over 1400m at Tauherenikau on December 10.

She then won by the same margin when stepped up to Rating 75 grade over 1400m at Trentham on January 3 before a close second in the time-honoured Douro Cup (1600m) at Trentham on January 31.

She then had a month between runs before last Sunday’s success.

“She’s been consistent in her races and John (Bary) has done a great job with her and placed her well,” Stewart said.

He added that Afternoon Siesta is now being aimed at the $600,000 New Zealand Thoroughbred Breeders’ Stakes, a Group 1 weight-for-age race over 1600m at Trentham on March 26.

Stewart also has another horse in John Bary’s stable, an unraced three-year-old gelding by Contributor called Barney. He is out of the four-race winner Miss Doherty and cost $9000 as a yearling.

Stewart purchased The Precursor as a tried racehorse after he had won one race in Australia and has placed him in the Cambridge stable of Roger James and Robert Wellwood.

“I had been looking to buy a stayer for a whole year and then this one came up. He’d won one race over 2200 metres on a synthetic track at Ballarat.”

The big St Jean five-year-old gelding cost Stewart A$20,000 and has also gone from strength to strength in a short time, recording two wins, two seconds and a third from six New Zealand starts and earning more than $190,000 for his new owner.

“He finished sixth in the Avondale Cup at his last start and has now gone out for a spell and I think he’ll be a Cup horse next season,” Stewart added.

Jacobite Rising is in the Awapuni stable of Roydon Bergerson and was a $60,000 purchase from a two-year-old Ready To Run sale.

The Ocean Park three-year-old gelding is also lightly raced, with a win and a third from only four outings.

“He won a maiden at Otaki over 1600 and then raced over 2000 where he went to the front but wasn’t strong enough to run it out,” Stewart said.

“We are going to drop him back to 1600 in a race at Trentham on March 21.”

Punters rocked by Hastings speedster

Hastings-trained Party Rocking got under the guard of punters for the second time this season when he led all the way in a $40,000 Rating 75 race over 1100m at Trentham last Sunday.

The Belardo five-year-old, trained by John Bary, was at the surprisingly long odds of 35 to one considering he had been a winner, in similar company, on the same track two starts before.

That win was over 1200m and Party Rocking also disputed the pace that day and stuck on gamely to win at odds of 45 to one.

In between the two wins Party Rocking took on some of the best sprinters in the country in the Group 1 Telegraph Sprint (1200m) under weight-for-age conditions. He finished last in a 15-horse field but was caught out in the open and covered extra ground. He was dropping back a lot in class last Sunday and was also back in distance.

Party Rocking began quickly from an inside draw and apprentice rider Jim Chung had no qualms about taking his mount straight to the front.

They held a clear advantage as the field came across the junction on to the course proper and Party Rocking accelerated again when Chung asked him to fully extend.

Race favourite Platinum Pantheon provided the only threat to the leader and, although he was cutting into the lead, Party Rocking maintained a strong run to win by three-quarters of a length.

It was Party Rocking’s sixth win from 26 starts and he has stake earnings of $141,000.

Bary purchased the gelding for $42,000 from the 2022 Karaka yearling sales and has retained a share in the horse.

Another Hawke’s Bay men, Tim Gillespie, also shares in the ownership along with four of Bary’s Australian friends, two of whom also had shares in the multiple Group 1 winner Callsign Mav from the Bary stable.

Party Rocking was the first of two winners from the John Bary stable at Trentham last Sunday, with Afternoon Siesta also taking out the day’s feature event, the Group 3 $200,000 Cuddle Stakes (1600m).

Tulsa King carries CD hopes in Derby

Hastings trainer Aaron Bidlake has long held aspirations of having a horse good enough to compete in the Group 1 New Zealand Derby (2400m) and he will realise that ambition when he saddles up Tulsa King in today’s $1.25 million classic at Ellerslie.

Bidlake, a small-time trainer, has trekked north with his diminutive gelding to take on the big guns in what is regarded as the jewel in the crown for three-year-olds.

While some of Tulsa King’s race-rivals cost many thousands of dollars to buy, Bidlake paid only $1500 on gavelhouse.com for the son of Staphanos.

Tulsa King, who barely reaches 15 hands, had failed to flatter in his first two starts for former trainer Barry Donoghue as a two-year-old, beating just one runner home on debut at Trentham last May before finishing last at Te Rapa a fortnight later. But Bidlake, after some analysis, thought he was worth a gamble and has syndicated the gelding amongst family and friends.

While diminutive in stature, Bidlake said Tulsa King had a presence about him from day one and he thought he had something special on his hands, which was vindicated with a first-up victory at New Plymouth in September.

Bidlake then began to dream big and decided to set a path towards the Derby with his stable newcomer.

While he was unplaced in his next two starts, Tulsa King secured black type at Otaki in November when runner-up in an action-packed Group 3 Wellington Stakes (1600m).

Bidlake then cast his eye north, lining Tulsa King up at Rotorua before heading to Ellerslie, the home of the Derby, where he proved his Wellington Stakes result was no fluke when runner-up in the Listed Gingernuts Salver (2100m).

Bidlake elected to remain in the Central Districts for Tulsa King’s final lead-in run, opting to contest last month’s Wairoa Cup (2100m) at Waipukurau, where he finished a good fourth against older horses and on a heavy-8 track.

Samantha Collett has ridden Tulsa King in his last two starts but is committed to riding last-start Avondale Guineas (2100m) winner That’s Gold in the Derby. So Bidlake has called on the services of senior hoop Jonathan Riddell, who rode Jimmy Choux to victory in the Derby 15 years ago for fellow Hastings trainer John Bary.

Riddell sat on Tulsa King for the first time in a track gallop at Waipukurau last week and Bidlake said he received positive feedback.

“It was his first feel of him, and he said ‘I know he is a small horse, but he doesn’t feel small, he rides so much bigger than he is’,” Bidlake said.

“He is healthy and happy, so I am happy heading into Saturday.”