Waipukurau owner-trainer Carl Taylor had a special thank-you for successful woman jockey Lily Sutherland after his horse Tukituki took out the amateur riders’ race at last Sunday’s Woodville meeting.
Taylor said this week he was originally reluctant to start the six-year-old in the 2100m event because he didn’t know whether he would be able to find a suitable rider for the horse.
“He has not been an easy horse to ride, and you don’t really know who you are going to get in an amateur riders’ race, Taylor said this week.
“Lily had ridden him in his last two starts, for a third and a second, and she was the one that persuaded me to run.
“She said put him in the race and I’ll find a rider.”
Sutherland engaged Hannah Wilson for Tukituki and the highly promising amateur produced a perfect ride, steering the horse to a convincing 1-3/4 length win.
Tukituki was recording his third win from 24 starts and his first since taking out a 2000m race at Taupo in October last year.
Back then the son of Complacent had been head-strong and rejected being restrained in his races. He would only show his best if allowed to roll to the front and then be left alone to dictate the pace.
Sutherland had managed to get Tukituki to settle a lot better in his two most recent starts, recording a third over 2100m at Otaki on July 30 and a second over 2200m at Woodville on August 16, and she wised Wilson up on how to ride him.
“I think the horse has grown up a bit,” Taylor said.
“Lily has managed to settle him and Hannah did the same.”
Wilson positioned Tukituki in fifth place in the early stages and bided her time until the last 600 metres.
“They all got going at the 1000 and she just sat there and waited,” Taylor said.
“Then she pushed the button and the horse took off.”
Tukituki quickly improved to be on the heels of the leaders coming to the home turn and shot to the front early in the home straight.
Deadly Pony put up a challenge inside the final 200 metres but Tukituki drove clear, under a hands and heels ride, to win well.
Taylor is a hobby trainer and Tukituki is the only horse he presently has in work.
“I’m a builder by trade so I only ever have one or two in work,” he said.
He bred the horse in partnership with his late daughter and races him in partnership with his partner Leanne Dever, her daughter Renee Miller and another Hawke’s Bay couple in Herb Spencer and Angela Paewai.
Taylor said Tukituki will probably not run again until the second day of the Colliers Hawke’s Bay Spring Carnival, on September 26.
“He’s still only rated on 64 points and there is a $65,000 Rating 65 race over 2100m for him that day.”
Wilson’s win aboard Tukituki saw her take the lead in this year’s 12-race Amateur Riders’ Series, with just three races to go.
It was her third win in the series, following victories aboard Four Square Pete at Trentham in June and Zorba at Woodville in July and she is now on 45 points, four clear of Monique Day.
The amateur jockey series has been a great pathway for several of the country’s top apprentice jockeys, including Sutherland and the current leading apprentice Amber Riddell, and Wilson is hoping she can be another success story as she looks to make that transition.
The 23-year-old has had a lifelong passion for horses and has made a natural progression from eventing to riding trackwork and now race-riding.
“I have been riding since I was about four years old,” she said. “My parents put me on a horse and they couldn’t get me off it.
“I went on to showjumping and eventing and when I was 16 I got a job at the track at Awapuni and started off as ground staff with Mike Breslin before I started riding trackwork.”
Wilson said she caught the racing bug as soon as she hopped on a racehorse, and after a couple of years seeing the world, she is now determined to one day becoming a professional jockey.
East Coast Challenge field taking shape
Last weekend’s racing saw three horses automatically qualify for the $100,000 East Coast Challenge, a new Special Conditions Maiden race to be run on the third day of the Colliers Hawke’s Bay Spring Carnival.
Performer, Blondmoon and Champagne Wishes all put their names to the forefront for the 1400m event, to be run on October 10, with their respective wins on three different tracks.
Performer improved on two previous second placings with a dominant three length win in a 1400m maiden race at New Plymouth on Saturday while, on Sunday, Blondmoon capped off a string of minor placings with a decisive 1-1/2 length victory in a 1200m maiden at Woodville and Champagne Wishes scored in a 1200m maiden race at Timaru.
The East Coast Challenge is open to maiden three-year-olds and upwards at the start of this season and the results of 12 qualifying races run this month will determine the make-up of the final 16-horse field.
The first three qualifying races were held last weekend while another two were staged at yesterday’s Taupo meeting and there will be one each at both Hastings and Riccarton this Saturday.
The winners of each qualifying race gain automatic entry into the Final while the top-rated second placegetters will help make up the field. Horses may contest multiple qualifying races and, if they win one, they are still eligible to contest others.
Two of the qualifying races are classified as Wild Card events and will be run on the first two days of the Colliers Hawke’s Bay Spring Carnival, this Saturday and September 26. The first and second placegetters in both races will be exempt from the ballot for the East Coast Challenge.
Horses will be automatically nominated for the Final via qualifying results with final acceptances closing at 9am on Wednesday, October 7.
Normal nomination and acceptance fees will apply for the Final and apprentice allowances will also apply.
A travel subsidy of $1500 plus GST will be payable to any South Island-trained horses that competes in the Final.
Following this weekend’s racing the remaining qualifying races will be run at Matamata next Wednesday, Trentham on September 19, Te Rapa on September 25 and Hastings and Riccarton on September 26.
Well Written crowned Horse of The Year
An unbeaten season, six consecutive victories and a string of outstanding performances have seen Well Written take out New Zealand’s Horse of the Year title for 2025–26.
The Cambridge mare claimed the sport's highest honour at the New Zealand Thoroughbred Horse of the Year Awards last Sunday evening, capping a flawless three-year-old campaign that established her as one of the country’s most accomplished performers in recent times.
Well Written was also named Champion Three-Year-Old, after a season that saw her win all six of her starts, including a stunning six-length victory in the $1.5million TAB Karaka Millions 3YO (1600m).
Her success capped a remarkable season for Stephen Marsh, himself a finalist for Trainer of the Year. He, alongside bloodstock agent Dylan Johnson, personally selected and purchased Well Written for just $80,000 from the 2024 National Online Yearling Sale.
In a single campaign, Marsh guided Well Written from an unraced youngster to New Zealand's Horse of the Year and more than $2.6million in stakes earnings.
Well Written is the only New Zealand Champion Three-Year-Old this century to be unbeaten at three, with every other titleholder having been beaten at least twice. No other winner of the three-year-old category in the past 10 years won more than five times at that age.
In a fitting conclusion to a remarkable weekend, Well Written also claimed the $400,000 Group 1 Proisir Plate (1400m) at Ellerslie last Saturday, defeating older rivals in the first Group 1 race of the new season.
Lara Antipova was crowned Champion Two-Year-Old of the season. She completed an unbeaten four-start juvenile season highlighted by victories in the $550,000 Group 1 Sistema Stakes (1200m) and two Group 2 contests.
The Champion Sprinter-Miler title went to the rapidly emerging First Five, whose rise from a Rating 83 performer to dual Group 1 weight-for-age winner was one of the season's great success stories.
Five-time Group 1-winning mare Legarto collected her second Champion Middle Distance Horse title, before concluding a career that earned more than $3million on the track, while Trans-Tasman Group 1 Oaks winner Ohope Wins was recognised as Champion Stayer.
The Champion Jumper title went to Jesko whose Great New Zealand Steeplechase victory and strong Grand National festival performances helped him secure it.
Craig Grylls was named Jockey of the Year, after claiming a second consecutive New Zealand Jockeys’ Premiership and leading the country in black-type victories and stakes earnings, while Hamish McNeill secured his first Jumps Jockey of the Year.
Te Akau Racing’s Mark Walker and Sam Bergerson were again named Trainer of the Year, following a dominant season that produced 20 black-type victories from 787 domestic starts.
The Owner of the Year Award went to international racing and breeding powerhouse Yulong Investments, whose strategic investment in elite New Zealand bloodstock delivered immediate results through standout performers Well Written, Ohope Wins, Autumn Glory and That's Gold.
Two of the evening’s most significant honours were NZTR’s Special Awards, recognising outstanding contributions to the Thoroughbred industry.
The NZTR Award for Outstanding Contribution to Racing went to the Williams family, represented by three generations, including Sam and Dame Catriona Williams, Richard “Buzz” and Susie Williams, and Tom and Gay Williams. Their involvement in thoroughbred breeding and racing spans more than 85 years, with Little Avondale Stud now home to Champion sire Per Incanto, who won both the Dewar and Centaine Awards for the 2025–26 season.
The late Savabeel was named the 2026 recipient of the NZTR Award for Outstanding Global Achievement, recognising an extraordinary legacy on the track and at stud. A dual Group 1-winning three-year-old in Australia, he first made his mark with victories in the 2004 Spring Champion Stakes and Cox Plate. He went on to become a champion stallion at Waikato Stud, producing 36 individual Group 1 winners and 159 stakes winners.