Racing is likely to resume on the Hastings racecourse before winter, providing protocols set down by New Zealand Thoroughbred Racing, the Racing Integrity Board and the New Zealand Jockeys Association are met.

The re-cambering work on the course proper has been completed.

Initially it was planned that two bends would be re-cambered, the one going out of the home straight and the one at the 1400m mark.

But, with that work completed under schedule and under budget, it was also decided to improve the camber of the home bend entering the straight.

The re-cambering work involved using a special machine that cut out slices of turf on the course proper at a depth of 50 millimetres.

The machine rolled up these slices and they were then stored on wooden pallets.

Where the sections of turf were removed the underneath soil was sloped and additional soil added to establish a camber that measured as much as 1.5 metres on the outside of the track.

The strips of grass were then re-laid on top of the soil and the ground has been extensively watered so that the grass beads in well and to encourage root growth.

The whole process has gone smoothly up to this point, with a lush sole of grass presently covering the course proper.

With the original plastic running rail at the Hastings racecourse now being used by the Waipukurau Jockey Club, two new rails have had to be purchased for the Hastings track.

There is a necessity to have two rails erected, one on the inside and one on the outside, as there is now a significant drop down in certain outside areas due to the extra height caused by the re-cambering.

Darin Balcombe, the interim Chief Executive of Hawke’s Bay Racing, said this week that the two running rails are Australian-made and have been on order for some time.

“They will be shipped to New Zealand and should arrive either by the end of this month or early next month,” Balcombe said.

Once the running rails are erected horses should be able to gallop on the course proper by early April and then jumpouts or trials will be conducted after that.

Providing there are no problems, an official race meeting will then be planned before the winter sets in.

There will then be no racing on the Hastings track in June and July but it is hoped that another race meeting will be held in late August ahead of the traditional three-day spring carnival in September and October.

Gohugo caps consistent run of form

Consistency was rewarded when Hastings-trained Gohugo scored a brave win in a Rating 75 race over 1300m at Tauherenikau on Friday of last week.

Although it was only the seven-year-old’s third success, he has rarely run a bad race in his 37 starts and has 10 second placings and eight third placings to his credit.

The Per Incanto gelding has also had to overcome breathing issues throughout most of his career and trainers Guy Lowry and Leah Zydenbos try to keep his races spaced as much as possible and place him as best they can.

“The 1300-metre distance suits him best,” Guy Lowry said this week.

“With his breathing issues he doesn’t quite get 1400.”

Gohugo is best if he can be held up for one short sprint yet he raced keenly, three-wide near on the pace, for most of last week’s race.

He hit the front early in the home straight before being headed at one stage, only to fight back and get his head in front again on the line.

Gohugo was bred by Feilding farming couple Neil and Yvonne Managh who race the gelding in partnership with their son Andrew. He has now won them more than $112,000 in stakemoney.

He is out of the Perfectly Ready mare Mint, who was the winner of four races when also trained by Guy Lowry, in partnership with Grant Cullen.

Tulsa King taking step towards the Derby

Hastings trainer Aaron Bidlake is hoping history can repeat when his three-year-old Tulsa King contests this Sunday’s $40,000 K9 Petfoods Wairoa Cup at the Waipukurau meeting.

Bidlake is using the 2100m race as Tulsa King’s final lead up to the Group 1 $1.2million Trackside New Zealand Derby (2400m) at Ellerslie on March 7.

It is an unusual Derby preparation for Tulsa King, who is the winner of only one race from eight starts, but it is one that has proved successful in the past.

C’est La Guerre, a three-year-old trained by Wanganui’s Kevin Myers, won the 2008 running of the Wairoa Cup, when the race was run on Wairoa’s Te Kupenga track, and then went on to win that year’s Derby.

Tulsa King has not raced since finishing a game second behind Ammirati in the Listed Gingernuts Salver (2100m) at Ellerslie on January 11 but Bidlake has kept the horse up to the mark in training and gave him a 1200m trial at Foxton on February 3.

“I had to give him a trial because he was doing so well,” Bidlake said this week.

“He finished third and I was very happy with how he went.”

Tulsa King followed that trial placing with a strong gallop at Tuesday’s Hastings trackwork session and Bidlake is confident of another bold showing from the horse this weekend.

This Sunday’s Waipukurau meeting will be the second of three race days scheduled to be run on the Waipukurau track this season.

The first day, staged back on November 16, saw a huge crowd in attendance and was extremely successful. The third day is set down for Sunday, April 26.

Waipukurau Jockey Club president Kirsty Lawrence said this week everything is in place for another big day this Sunday and she is hoping that the rain that is forecast doesn’t come to too much.

“We’ve had thunderstorms, off and on, this week but the track is in good order and the fields are good,” Lawrence said.

She added that one of the highlights will again be the “Animal Race,” where people dress up in inflated animal costumes for a sprint up the home straight.

Ultimate Habit wins Te Aroha trial

Three-year-old filly Ultimate Habit took an important step toward her tilt at the Group 1 New Zealand Oaks (2400m) at Ellerslie next Saturday with a strong trial win at Te Aroha on Wednesday. 

The Robbie Patterson-trained filly, bred and part-owned by Hawke’s Bay couple Graham and Isabell Roddick, was a stunning last-start winner of the Group 2 Lowland Stakes (2100m) at Trentham and is rated a $9 chance in the Oaks, in a market headed by $1.90 favourite Ohope Wins. 

Ultimate Habit oozed quality when coming from last in an 1100m heat on Wednesday to win, under her own steam, in a trial against quality older horses. 

“I wanted to go to the Ellerslie trials on Tuesday but we couldn't get a suitable trial there so I have had to come here to Te Aroha,” Patterson said. 

“She finished off nicely against some good horses, and she's only three with a lot ahead of her in the future.” 

Patterson said Ultimate Habit had made good progress since her Lowland victory, which came at just start number four for the daughter of Embellish.

“She's progressed very well. She is a beautiful filly and easy to work with,” he said.

“She came home in 32.7 (for the last 600m) the other day over 2100m. They just don't do that, so she's something special and if we can get her to relax over the 2400m at Ellerslie, she's going to give Ohope Wins a run for her money, I hope.”

Patterson knows what it takes to prepare a New Zealand Oaks winner, having saddled last year’s winner Leica Lucy, who also progressed from a win in the Lowland Stakes.

Legarto to be sold at auction in May

After returning to her best form with a fourth Group 1 win in last Saturday’s Herbie Dyke Stakes (2000m) at Te Rapa, Legarto is likely to have just one more start before being sold as a broodmare.

The six-year-old daughter of Proisir had gone winless for almost a year when she repeated her 2024 Herbie Dyke Stakes win with a dogged victory over Victorian raider Kingswood, crediting her jockey Opie Bosson with his 100th elite win and trainers Ken and Bev Kelso with their 15th.

That took her record from 23 starts to 11 wins and stakes of almost $2.6 million, with earlier highlights being the Group 1 New Zealand 1000 Guineas (1600m) and Group 1 Australian Guineas (1600m) as a three-year-old. She was also placed second, third or fourth in another six Group 1 races, three of those in races immediately leading up to Saturday’s win.

Ken Kelso reported that Legarto came through her weekend exertions in excellent order, setting her up for the Group 1 Bonecrusher New Zealand Stakes (2000m) at Ellerslie on Champions Day.

“Beyond that we’ll have to talk things through. She’s rising seven and we’ve already decided this is her final preparation, but if she were to go well at Ellerslie we could perhaps look at a race like the Australian Cup (Group 1, 2000m).”

Philip Brown, speaking on behalf of the 12-strong ownership group that includes the Kelsos, confirmed that Legarto will go to auction at the Magic Millions National Broodmare Sale on the Gold Coast in May.

“Being a partnership, public auction is the proper way to realise her true worth. As a multiple Group 1 winner including one in Australia, she’s obviously a valuable mare, so it’s going to be an interesting exercise.