The win by Sefton in the only race run at the Hawke’s Bay meeting on Thursday of last week meant more to his Hastings owner-breeder Chris Russell than just about any other racetrack success he has had in the past.
Russell, who races the four-year-old Iffraaj gelding in partnership with the horse’s Hastings trainer John Bary, had a premonition the horse would be a good performer on the racetrack so he named him after his late father.
“I was out at John Bary’s stables one day to watch Sefton work on his track when he was a two-year-old,” Russell said.
“He worked him with Callsign Mav, who was already a Group race performer, and Sefton matched him all the way in the gallop.
“John knew back then that he had something and said he wanted to take a half-share in him and I thought he could be a good horse so I decided to name him after my late father.”
Chris Russell was one of 11 children born to Sefton and Dorotea Russell. It is a close knit family who had the upmost admiration for both of their parents.
Sefton actually carries the names of both Russell parents as his dam Donna Beel was by champion sire Zabeel out of the Redoute’s Choice mare Dorotea Dior.
Chris Russell and his brother Ken bought Dorotea Dior for $250,000 and she recorded two wins, two seconds and a third from only nine starts.
Donna Beel, who is now deceased, won one race from only six starts and is also the dam of Makbeel, who has been a winner in Australia.
Although Chris Russell and John Bary had declared their early faith in Sefton their confidence took a jolt when the horse only managed a ninth and an 11th from his first two starts, in March and April.
In both of those races Sefton was slow to begin and got a long way back in the running and never really improved.
Bary decided to adopt a change of tactics with the horse in a 1000m heat at the Waipukurau jumpouts two weeks ago, instructing the rider to hunt him out of the barrier and ride him on the pace. It worked and the horse finished a good second.
Bary then added visor blinkers to the horse’s gear for the 2100m maiden race at Hastings last week and instructed jockey Jonathan Riddell to ride him positively from the barrier again.
Sefton took a clear lead with a round to go and Riddell rated the horse perfectly in front, keeping just a length or so in front of the opposition until just before the home turn when he kicked his mount clear.
Sefton entered the home straight with a three length advantage and never looked like weakening, extending the margin to 8-1/2 lengths on the line.
His winning time of 2:10.12 was an excellent effort as it was just over three seconds outside the Hastings track record for 2100m, and on a slow-6 track.
“I must admit, after the horse’s first two runs I was starting to wonder if I was wrong in naming him after my father but, after that win, I now feel vindicated,” a delighted Chris Russell said after the success.
“Mind you if it wasn’t for John Bary I probably wouldn’t still be racing the horse. After his first two runs had turned to custard I was thinking I should get out but John persuaded me to stay in.”
Sefton returned a dividend of $14.80 for a win and $4.30 for a place on the tote but Russell said he got him at $16 on the fixed-odds market and had a sizeable wager, his collect being big enough for him to shout the bar at Clubs Hastings that evening.
As club patrons came up to congratulate him and thank him for the shout he told them the win was not for him but for his father who was a regular patron at the former Heretaunga Club, on the site where Clubs Hastings is now.
Winning double for Hastings stable
The powerful Hastings stable of Paul Nelson and Corrina McDougal produced two impressive winners at Trentham last Saturday as they rev up their team for what will hopefully be another successful winter.
The partnership triumphed in the $70,000 Awapuni Hurdle (2800m) with Suliman and then, two races later, took out the $35,000 open handicap over 2200m with Nedwin.
They are just two horses from the Nelson/McDougal stable that showed plenty of ability over fences last winter and are now being aimed at feature jumping races over the next few months.
Suliman was having just his fourth jumping start when he lined up last Saturday, following two wins and a third last winter.
He went into the race having had just one run on the flat, in the Rotorua Cup (2200m) on May 13, but had been given plenty of background work to prepare him and it told in the finish.
After settling fifth in the early running, jockey Hamish McNeill improved the Redwood nine-year-old to third starting the last 800 metres.
Berry The Cash, ridden by Portia Matthews, took a clear lead coming to the home turn but Suliman started to hunt him down and the two jumped the last two fences practically on terms.
Berry The Cash got his head in front after clearing the final obstacle but Suliman came again in the final stages, managing to snatch a long head victory right on the line.
“It was a gutsy win but he is like that,” Nelson said this week.
“He actually got to the front before the last fence and then started to look around so he didn’t meet the last fence well which allowed the other horse to get away on him.
“But he really dug deep the last bit which was good.
“He is very tough, jumps well and I expect he will have a good season if he keeps going the way he is at the moment.”
Suliman is raced by the I See Red Syndicate, a large group of jumping enthusiasts that have raced a number of successful horses from the Nelson stable over the years.
Nelson said he would like to aim Suliman at the Grand National Hurdle at Riccarton in August but wants to know what the program will be for that meeting before he makes a definite plan.
The traditional three day Grand National meeting stages the only jumping races in the South Island now and, subsequently, there are few if any jumpers being prepared in the mainland.
The Grand National meeting will rely on North Island-trained jumpers making the long trip down to Christchurch and, if the numbers don’t stack up, the jumping races could be in jeopardy.
“I just want to know what they are going to do. At this stage no one seems to know,” Nelson said.
Nelson said, in the meantime, Suliman is likely to contest the $70,000 Hawke’s Bay Hurdle (3100m) at Hastings on July 1.
Nedwin made it two flat wins from two starts this preparation when he bolted in by 13 lengths last Saturday, following another dominant success in a highweight over 2100m at Otaki on May 5.
Jockey Kate Hercock took the Niagara eight-year-old straight to the front in the 2200m event and let him roll along three lengths clear of the opposition going down the back straight.
Race-rival Masso closed to within a couple of lengths at the 800m but Hercock kicked her mount clear again coming to the home turn and then angled him to the extreme outside, to try and get the best footing on the heavy-10 track.
Nedwin kept up a strong run, up against the outside fence, with Hercock only having to urge him with hands and heels over the final stages.
Nelson would like to give Nedwin another chance at a flat race but said there is a distinct shortage of winter open handicap races for stayers so the horse will have to revert back to jumping.
“He will go to the Waikato Hurdles now,” Nelson said.
The $70,000 Waikato Hurdle (3200m) will be run at Te Rapa on June 17 and the Nelson/McDougal camp is also planning to have their star jumper The Cossack contesting the $70,000 Waikato Steeplechase (3900m) on the same day.
Nedwin had six hurdle starts for four wins last year, including the Wellington Hurdles (3400m) and Pakuranga Hunt Hurdle (3200m) at Te Rapa.
He is out of the Don Eduardo mare Edwina and was bred by veteran Hawke’s Bay thoroughbred breeder Tom Lowry.
The horse is now raced by Paul Nelson and his wife Carol in partnership with Gisborne couple Mick and Suze Gardner.
The Cossack hasn’t raced since winning the Ken & Roger Browne Memorial Steeplechase (3900m) at Te Rapa on May 6 so he will be given a run over 2200m on the flat at this Monday’s Hastings race meeting to top him off for the Te Rapa feature.
Monday’s Hastings race meeting is one that has been transferred from Te Aroha, with that track deemed unsuitable for racing on at the moment.
There could be up to three jumping races on Monday, two 0-1 win hurdle events and a 0-1 win steeplechase.
The Nelson/McDougal stable will likely have Raucous and Motivation in the hurdle races while they have entered Shackelton’s Edge and The Anarchist for the steeplechase.
The Nelson/McDougal’s other runner at Trentham last Saturday was No Tip, who finished fifth in the Manawatu Steeplechase.
The Mettre En Jeu 11-year-old was having his first jumping assignment since contesting the Great Northern Steeplechase (6400m) at Te Rapa in September last year and needed the run, according to Nelson.
“He was a bit short of a run because he’d missed out on a start and so he went into the race having just had an amateur riders’ flat race to prepare him,” he said.
“He was entitled to blow out the last bit but he’ll improve from that and will be aimed at the Hawke’s Bay Steeplechase.”