Two of the smallest horses being prepared by Hastings thoroughbred trainers at the moment certainly punched above their weight last weekend.
Two-year-old Magill fought doggedly, after coming under siege in the home straight, to win a two-year-old race at Tauherenikau on Friday while Afternoon Siesta romped to another dominant victory in a Rating 75 race over 1400m at Trentham the following day.
Both are small unassuming horses but both obviously have a big heart and a tremendous will to win.
Magill was having only his third start when he downed three unraced rivals in a $18,500 maiden two-year-old event over 1000m at Tauherenikau.
The Australian-bred gelding started a $2.20 favourite and quickly took up a leading role. However he looked to be under pressure when challenged by eventual second placegetter Handstand inside the final 300m and had to call on all his reserves to hold that runner out by a head.
The win followed a fifth and a seventh from Magill’s first two starts and he had recorded a third and a second in two barrier trials before that.
The two-year-old is trained at Hastings by Guy Lowry and Leah Zydenbos and is raced by Lowry in partnership with Cambridge-based Tony Rider and Hawke’s Bay brothers Mark and Paul Apatu.
Tony Rider bought Magill’s dam Jessica Rabbit from an Australian sale. She was in-foal to Farnan at the time with Magill being the resultant foal.
He offered the colt for sale at last year’s Karaka yearling sales where he was knocked down to the bid of Game Lodge Racing for $230,000.
The winning stake from last Friday’s race boosted Magill’s total earnings to $13,985 and edged him slightly closer to gaining a start in $1million Karaka Millions Two-year-old Classic (1200m) at Ellerslie on January 24.
At this stage Magill is 18th in the order of entry for that feature event. The maximum number of runners is 14 but there is at least one doubtful starter ahead of Magill in the entry order.
“He will definitely run in the race if we can get in,” Guy Lowry said this week.
“If we don’t get a start then he will probably head back to Tauherenikau on Waitangi Day (February 6) where there is another 1000-metre race for him.”
Magill’s dam Jessica Rabbit only had four race starts in Australia and recorded a win and a second. Her victory came in a 1200m race at Doomben, in Queensland.
Afternoon Siesta looked a mare headed for much bigger things when she careered away for another 3-1/2 length victory in the $65,000 Rating 75 race over 1400m at Trentham last Saturday.
It was the mare’s third win in a row and came at only her fourth career start, with her only other run resulting in a debut second.
Afternoon Siesta is prepared by Hastings-based John Bary who took over training the six-year-old in the middle of last year, after she had previously been in the stable of Awapuni couple Shaun and Hazel Fannin.
Afternoon Siesta had her first start for Bary in a Rating 65 race over 1400m at Tauherenikau on December 10, where she disputed the pace and kicked clear in the home straight to win by 3-1/2 lengths.
She was stepping up in class over 1400m at Trentham last Saturday and, after beginning quickly again, was taken on in front and headed at one stage.
But rider Kelly Myers had the mare travelling well and sent her forward to regain the lead rounding the home bend.
Afternoon Siesta then showed tremendous acceleration to quickly open up a winning break on the field and Myers only had to ride her hands and heels over the final stages to record another 3-1/2 length win.
Bary said this week Afternoon Siesta probably won’t race again until the end of this month.
“Because she’s not that big we want to space her races and she can now go back to Wellington on January 31 for a Rating 75 race over 1600 metres,” Bary said.
“We’ll see how she goes over 1600 and, if she gets through that well, we could look at something better.”
Afternoon Siesta is Australian-bred, being by the 2013 Cox Plate winner Shamus Award out of the Hard Spun mare Princess Snooze.
She is owned by Graham Stewart, who lived in Hastings for many years and now operates a painting business on the Kapiti Coast.
Stewart also races horses from other New Zealand stables and was represented by Jacobite Rising at Tauherenikau last Friday, the horse finishing sixth on debut for Awapuni trainer Roydon Bergerson.
La Dorada back to her best
All eyes and money were on Argo prior to last Saturday’s Group 2 Levin Classic (1400m) at Trentham, with the world’s leading jockey James McDonald aboard the gelding, but it was La Dorada who scored top honours when returning to her brilliant best.
The Mark Walker and Sam Bergerson-trained filly was victorious over the same track and distance when taking out last season’s Group 1 Manawatu Sires’ Produce Stakes (1400m) on her way to being crowned Champion New Zealand Two-Year-Old.
She had been disappointing in her subsequent three starts as a three-year-old, finishing second-to-last and last in the Group 1 Moir Stakes (1000m) and Group 3 Scarborough Stakes (1200m) respectively in Australia before a subpar fourth placing when resuming at Te Rapa last month.
Her trainers thought she may have needed that run, and that proved to be the case when she bounced back to form last Saturday, but it wasn’t all smooth sailing for the Super Seth filly.
There was an injection of early pace in the race, but jockey Craig Grylls didn’t want any part of the fight and settled La Dorada off the pace in midfield.
However, as the pace slackened, she got pushed further back and had just three horses behind her when turning for home. Grylls was able to weave his way through runners and La Dorada showed her brilliance of old when storming home to score a half-length victory over Swiss Prince, with Argo back in third.
“She hopped away okay but there were about five horses that wanted to go hard for the first 100m and I was happy to take a sit, I didn’t want to use her up too much,” Grylls said.
“As soon as they crossed us the anchors just went on, it was pretty rough, we all got shuffled back. I have just kept on riding her through, it has all opened up, and what a wicked turn of foot she had. She is back to her best.
“It wasn’t ideal how it worked out but a good horse like that can get you out of sticky situations. She is not big, but she is all heart.”
La Dorada won the TAB Karaka Millions 2YO (1200m) last year and now looms as a key contender for the $1.5 million TAB Karaka Millions (1600m) at Ellerslie on January 24.
“She has got the good attitude where she loves her racing and she is just so tough,” Sam Bergerson said. “I am confident that she can travel home, do everything well, and I am really excited for three weeks’ time.”
Bred by Waikato Stud, the Super Seth filly was offered at the 2024 Karaka yearling sales where she was purchased by Te Akau Racing principal David Ellis for $190,000.
La Dorada is raced by the Te Akau Solid Gold Racing Partnership, a syndicate that Waipukurau’s Michael Ormsby has a small share in, and she has now won five of her nine starts and has earned just shy of $1.3 million in prizemoney.
Warwoven now Classic favourite
Promising two-year-old Warwoven has stamped himself as the horse to beat in the A$3 million Magic Millions 2YO Classic (1200m) as the son of Cambridge Stud stallion Sword Of State remained unbeaten in two starts with a facile victory at Eagle Farm last Saturday.
Carrying 59kg topweight, the Bjorn Baker-trained youngster relaxed beautifully behind the speed and accelerated when a gap presented at the top of the straight for rider Rachel King to score by just over three lengths from runner-up Lumbini.
“It's always great to win and it's not so much about today, it's just about having a good hit-out in terms of two weeks and getting to the Magic Millions,” Baker said.
“The one thing he did do today which I was very happy with, he paraded beautifully. He was lovely and relaxed.
“I've been lucky enough to have won the Magic Millions twice before, where they've had great attitudes and he's definitely got that and it just carries you so far, particularly in a high pressure race.”
The colt was sourced by Baker’s bloodstock agent Jim Clarke at the Gold Coast Yearling Sale where he was offered by breeder Kia Ora Stud and knocked down for A$380,000.
Warwoven, who is now $2.20 favourite for the Magic Millions, is the first foal of the Makfi mare Needle And Thread, who was the winner of the Group 2 Royal Stakes (2000m) and placed at Group 2 level in the Sir Tristram Fillies’ Classic and Eight Carat Classic.
First season sire Sword Of State has enjoyed a terrific start to his stud career, with just the two runners in Australia to this point, the other being stakes winner Torture. That Lindsay Park-trained juvenile won the Listed Debutant Stakes (1000m) at Caulfield in October and closed well for fourth in the Geelong Diamond (1100m) last Saturday in preparation for the Karaka Millions 2YO (1200m) at Ellerslie on January 24.
Sword Of State, a Group 1 winning son of Snitzel, also sired the quinella in a two-year-old race at Te Aroha last Saturday, where State The Obvious defeated Imperial Rose.