Hawke’s Bay-owned Professional Lad took a step towards a start in the Group 1 $1.2million Trackside New Zealand Derby (2400m) at Ellerslie on March 7 when he easily accounted for a maiden field at Riccarton last Saturday.
The three-year-old Proisir gelding, bred and owned by renowned Hawke’s Bay racing identity Peter Grieve and his son Doug, was following up three second placings from his previous six starts.
He was sent out a hot favourite for the 1400m maiden race at Riccarton but his supporters would have had some anxious moments when he was a clear last in the early stages. Rider Leah Hemi let her mount get into a rhythm at the back before improving a few places approaching the home turn and then picked a path between horses.
Professional Lad hit the front half-way up the home straight and raced away over the final stages to win by and ever-increasing five lengths.
“I wasn’t meant to be that far back but we got hampered at the start,” Hemi said.
“I just sat back and then tracked through them and he won pretty easy in the finish.”
Although he was still a maiden, Professional Lad had recorded some good performances against much stronger opposition, including a close second in the Group 3 War Decree Stakes (1600m) at Riccarton in October last year and an unlucky sixth in the Group 1 New Zealand 2000 Guineas (1600m) on the same track, a month later.
He drew the extreme outside barrier in the NZ 2000 Guineas and was forced to cover a lot of extra ground in the running, recording the fastest last 600m of the race and finishing less than 3-1/2 lengths from the winner.
Professional Lad is trained at Riccarton by Terri Rae and was bred by the Grieves out of the High Chaparral mare Chapinta.
Peter Grieve said Rae has always had a high opinion of Professional Lad and is keen to see him tackle more three-year-old classics.
“He’s a big horse and a really good mover and he’ll get better with more time,” Grieve said.
“Terri suggested two options going forward. The first was to stay down in the South Island and take in the three-year-old series there or head north for the Derby and we’ve decided to target the Derby.
“I worked out a bit of a plan on how we would get there. We’d trial him and run him in a maiden at Riccarton on January 24. Then he can run in a Rating 65 race over a mile at Riccarton next Wednesday and, providing everything is right, he can then be flown up for the Avondale Guineas over 2100m at Ellerslie on February 21 and then on to the Derby.”
Professional Lad has now had his odds shortened to $15 for the Derby, after being a 40-to-one shot a few weeks ago.
The Ellerslie track holds a special place in Peter Grieve’s heart as he was a committeeman of the Auckland Racing Club for 18 years and bred and trained Braless to win three major races on the course.
“She won the Owens Trophy as a three-year-old, which was a big weight-for-age race at Ellerslie back then, and won it again the following year at four. And she also won the Ladies Mile there at three,” Grieve recalled.
Grieve and his son Doug are also part-owners of champion jumper The Cossack, whose 19 wins included the 2020 Great Northern Hurdles at Ellerslie.
Peter Grieve raced Professional Lad’s dam Chapinta in partnership with close friend Barry Thomas, who lives in Ashburton, and the mare won them six races.
Chapinta has gone on to be a successful broodmare with Professional Lad being her fifth winner from five foals to race, the others being Gold Mag, Island Hop, Chapinteel and Indian Gold.
“Barry decided he didn’t want to carry on breeding from the mare so I gifted a half-share in her to my son Doug,” Peter Grieve recalled this week.
“We have now got a two-year-old full-sister to Professional Lad coming on and a Satono Aladdin yearling gelding,” he added.
HB-owned Graeme John’ fifth success
Hawke’s Bay thoroughbred owner-breeder Ian Holloway enjoyed good results at last Saturday’s Canterbury meeting at Riccarton.
Holloway bred and part-owns Graeme John, who triumphed in a $40,000 Rating 75 race over 1400m. He is also the owner of Shes No Pie Eater, who finished a good third in a $25,000 maiden race at only her second start. Both horses are trained on the Riccarton track by former top jockey David Walsh.
Graeme John chalked up his fifth win and took his stake earnings past $150,000 with a gutsy performance.
The seven-year-old Per Incanto gelding took an early lead in the race and appeared to be travelling comfortably in front rounding the home turn. However he then came under pressure and looked likely to only finish second when headed half-way up the home straight. But he responded gamely to the urgings of jockey Billy Jacobson, fighting back to score a half-length win.
Holloway bred Graeme John out of the Spartacus mare My Favourite Recipe and races him in partnership with the brothers Alan and Rowland Bartlett. Alan lives in Hastings while Rowland resides on the Kapiti Coast.
Holloway presently has six horses in Walsh’s stable, including a Super Seth two-year-old filly who is a half-sister to Waimea Bay, runner-up in the Group 3 Desert Gold Stakes at Trentham on January 17.
He said this week that Graeme John will probably not race again for a while.
“David has worked him out. He’s a horse that goes well fresh so he will probably look for another Raing 75 race for him and put a claiming apprentice up.”
Magill nearly pulls off a huge upset
Hastings trainer Guy Lowry is no stranger to longshot success at the highest level and went agonisingly close to another major upset last weekend.
He was training in partnership with Grant Cullen when they produced Milan Park’s Adventador to win the 2016 edition of the Group 1 Telegraph Sprint (1200m) at 80 to one and a decade later he almost pulled off a bigger upset with the same colours in Saturday’s $1million Karaka Millions 2YO (1200m).
Now operating in partnership with Leah Zydenbos, Lowry’s long-range plan with Magill was all but executed to perfection when the youngster, at odds of more than 100-to-one, finished a close second behind Aussie raider Dream Roca in the Ellerslie feature.
Milan Park boss Tony Rider bred the son of Farnan and remained in the ownership with Lowry and Hawke’s Bay brothers Mark and Paul Apatu after he was sold at Karaka last year for $230,000.
“When we bought him he was always destined for the Karaka Million,” Lowry said.
“He’s not overly big and we spent the first couple of starts trying to get the horse to settle. All he wanted to do was fight and over-race.
“We gelded him and he went to the Woodville trials and ran second to Singletary and the form out of the trial was good.”
Magill broke his maiden in a four-horse field at Tauherenikau earlier this month which earned him enough stakemoney to get a Karaka Millions start.
“He was a very happy and sound horse. He jumped well from a good draw and he tried very hard for Wiremu (Pinn),” Lowry said.
“It was a fantastic run and a hundred out we were in with a big chance of winning it. Just finishing second was still very financially rewarding.”
Magill has now been turned out for a well earned spell at Milan Park and is unlikely to be seen back on the racetrack until next season.
In the meantime Lowry and Zydenbos will have a yearling half-brother to Magill to work on in the coming months. The chestnut colt, by Australian sire Anders, went through the sale ring at Karaka on Monday and was knocked down for a bid $380,000.
Ka Ying Rising now chasing 1400m record
Moments after Ka Ying Rising forged into Hong Kong racing history with a record-equalling win in the Group 1 Centenary Sprint Cup (1200m) at Sha Tin last Sunday, trainer David Hayes predicted the world’s best sprinter could potentially break Sha Tin’s 1400m course record next month.
Reacting to Ka Ying Rising’s effort to post a 17th consecutive victory to match the winning streak of Silent Witness from 2002 to 2005, Hayes believes the superstar galloper can threaten Sha Tin’s 1400m record of 1m 19.92s – jointly held by Encouraging and Packing Hermod – when he contests the Group 1 Queen’s Silver Jubilee Cup on February 22.
“Last year, he worked a bit and won it (Queen’s Silver Jubilee Cup), and I think he’s a stronger, better horse this year,” Hayes said. “I think he will handle the 1400m beautifully. I’m really excited for the next race. It’s another dimension for him.”
On Sunday Ka Ying Rising clocked 1m 07.66s – outside his own 1200m Sha Tin turf track record of 1m 07.20s – after jockey Zac Purton allowed him to coast to the line in defeating Helios Express by one-and-a quarter lengths.
Moderately away at the start, Ka Ying Rising quickly mustered speed to lead before taking a trail behind Beauty Waves. Purton then ensured his mount had clear running rounding the home bend before unleashing the gelding from the 300m.
Exploding clear, the big gelding had the race at his mercy with a four-length lead before Purton eased up on him noticeably over the final 200m.
Ka Ying Rising improved his record to 18 wins from 20 starts and is unbeaten since the February 2024, with career prizemoney of HK$129.8 million.