Atishu on her way to one of her many Australian wins. She will have her last race start in the Group 1 Queen Of The Turf Stakes (1600m) at Randwick on April 12.
John Jenkins is a longtime racing journalist based in Hawke’s Bay
OPINION
Contrary to earlier reports, last Saturday’s A$2.5 million ($2.7m) Australian Cup was not glamour racemare Atishu’s racing swansong as she is expected to have one more start before being offered for sale in May.
Atishu is owned by a group of 17 people with one of them being Dannevirke’s Dean Shuker, who owns a 5% share.
He and his wife were at the Flemington racecourse last Saturday to see their outstanding mare produce another courageous performance to finish fourth behind Light Infantry Man, Deny Knowledge and Zardozi in the A$2.5m Australian Cup (2000m). That followed a fifth placing in the Group 1 All-Star Mile (1600m) at Flemington on March 8.
Shuker was back home in New Zealand when contacted on Wednesday and said the plan was always to give Atishu two runs in Melbourne this autumn and then take her back to Sydney, where she will contest the Group 1 A$1m Queen Of The Turf Stakes (1600m) at Randwick on April 12.
“That will definitely be her last race,” Shuker said.
“She will then be sold on May 27 at the Magic Millions Gold Coast Broodmare Sale in Queensland.”
The daughter of Savabeel was set to go through the auction ring last year but her ownership group voted to extend her racing career, which paid dividends last spring where she went on to win the Group 1 Empire Rose Stakes (1600m) and place in the Group 1 Might and Power (2000m) and Group 1 Champions Stakes (2000m).
The mare was initially purchased by Go Racing out of the 2019 New Zealand Bloodstock Yearling Sales for $260,000 and has since gone on to record 11 victories, including three at elite-level, and accrued more than A$5.6m in earnings.
“She’s taken us on a fantastic ride, she’s a very special horse,” Go Racing’s Albert Bosma said.
“From day one she showed she was going to have an exciting future. She was able to run amazing sectionals in New Zealand from the outset.
“At home she won four straight before heading to Australia and winning first time out in Sydney. Two starts later, she won a Group 3 Bill Ritchie (Stakes).
“She’s one of those mares that has kept getting better and better, and she continues to race so well at the highest level, with a tremendous will to win.”
Atishu’s sale will be an emotional one for her connections, who have experienced the ride of a lifetime with their mare.
“It has been a fantastic journey and unreal really,” Shuker said.
“We have been to both Melbourne Cup carnivals in the last two years and, on both occasions, she has won a Group 1 race.
“Two years ago, she finished second in the Group 1 Empire Rose Stakes (1600m) and won the Group 1 MacKinnon Stakes (2000m) and then last year she won the Empire Rose Stakes and being there was something you only dream about.
“Not many people get to go to Flemington for the Melbourne Cup carnival, let alone have a horse race there and then to win a major Group 1 race each time was something else.”
Shuker said Atishu’s effort to finish fourth last Saturday was a good run, given that the race wasn’t run to suit her.
“The way the race was run didn’t help her chances. She got back in the running and they weren’t making ground from the back.
“She still picked up A$112,000 for running fourth, so that keeps things ticking over.”
Shuker said he and his wife will definitely be heading back across the Tasman to watch Atishu have her last race at Randwick next Saturday.
Atishu’s tremendous success on the racetrack has certainly whetted Shuker’s appetite to race more horses and he now has 5% shares in another five horses, all of them organised through Go Racing Syndications.
Four of them are being trained by Stephen Marsh, who was Atishu’s original trainer, and the other will be prepared by Awapuni-based Lisa Latta.
Little Black Dress, a Snitzel two-year-old filly who made an impressive winning debut over 1200m at Pukekohe on March 21, is one in the Marsh stable, and she will have her next start in the Listed $100,000 Star Way Stakes (1200m) at Ellerslie on April 19.
Two days after that another two-year-old filly called Dark Deluxe will make her race debut over 1100m at Otaki. She is a Tivaci filly trained by Lisa Latta who finished third in a 1000m Foxton trial last week.
Pinky Pie, another trained by Stephen Marsh, is a Dundeel three-year-old filly that has been placed three times from five starts and is back from a spell, while Alacritous is the name of a Dundeel two-year-old half-sister to Group 1 winner Velocious that Marsh intends to trial next week.
“They are the ones close to racing and I’ve also taken a share in a Wootton Bassett filly that Go Racing bought at January’s Karaka yearling sales and she will also be trained by Marshy,” Shuker added.
Awapuni track passes initial test
Awapuni racecourse’s renovated grass track was given its first test on Monday with four sets of jumpouts, and it was given the tick of approval by participants.
The Palmerston North track has been out of commission for 18 months as it has undergone renovations, and RACE general manager of racing, Brad Taylor, said it was great to see the track back in action.
“The feedback has been positive. The riders were all happy, the stewards were happy, and walking the track after the jumpouts, it was very consistent right the way over. Horses got their toe in, and it certainly wasn’t heavy. We were pleased with how it went,” he said.
Local trainer Peter Didham was pleased with the way the jumpouts went, and he is impressed with the state of the track.
“The track seemed great. I walked the straight and (saw) the imprints with the toe in, it was really good,” he said.
“Everyone is excited, it has been a long process. A couple of months ago, we were looking at it and were thinking, ‘is it going to come good?’ But it looks amazing, it is nice and healthy. It is obviously going to be a bit sand-based and there might be a bit of kickback for a while, but it is looking great.”
Awapuni are set to hold trials next week in a final test before returning to racing on Anzac Day, April 25.
Te Akau two-year-old domination
A sparkling performance by La Dorada in last Saturday’s Group 1 Courtesy Ford Manawatu Sires’ Produce Stakes (1400m) completed another Te Akau clean sweep of New Zealand’s biggest two-year-old prizes.
La Dorada had previously won the Karaka Millions 2YO (1200m) and Group 2 Matamata Breeders’ Stakes (1200m), while her unbeaten stablemate Return To Conquer strung together four black-type successes, including the Group 1 Sistema Stakes (1200m).
La Dorada’s chance of winning all three races by herself was extinguished by a temperature spike that forced her to be scratched on the morning of the Sistema Stakes. But she secured Group 1 redemption in Saturday’s $550,000 feature at Trentham.
She was given a perfect ride by Michael McNab, who slotted her into fourth spot and one off the rail as War Princess and Too Sweet set a breakneck speed out in front.
La Dorada cruised up behind the leaders coming up to the home turn, then pounced at the 300m mark. A brilliant burst of speed carried her well clear, racing away to win by three-and-a-half lengths.
La Dorada became Te Akau’s ninth winner of the Manawatu Sires’ Produce Stakes, joining Maroofity (2003), Kindacross (2005), Melody Belle (2017), Avantage (2018), Yourdeel (2019), On The Bubbles (2021), Maven Belle (2022) and Move To Strike (2024).
La Dorada was purchased by Te Akau principal David Elis for $190,000 from last year’s Karaka yearling sales and has now had five starts for four wins and a second, earning $1.06 million in stakes for the Te Akau Solid Gold Racing Partnership, with Waipukurau’s Michael Ormsby owning a small share.
Hayes trio to train Pivotal Ten
Multiple stakes winner Pivotal Ten is to continue her racing career across the Tasman at Lindsay Park with brothers Ben, Will and JD Hayes.
The daughter of Ten Sovereigns will relocate, in due course, to the family’s Euroa complex to prepare for a spring campaign in Melbourne.
The three-year-old’s sparkling run of southern form through the summer prompted Cambridge Stud to purchase a 50% holding in the filly from owner Colin Wightman.
Connections identified Lindsay Park as the ideal fit for Pivotal Ten, given she has previously thrived in rural surroundings.
“We feel that environment will be more conducive for her, they’ve got day paddocks there and all the facilities, it’s as good as anything you’d ever see,” said Brendan Lindsay, who owns and operates Cambridge Stud with wife Jo.
“It’s all about giving her the best opportunities and doing the right thing by the horse, and that has to be in Australia.”
Pivotal Ten won five of her eight starts under the guidance of trainer-rider Samantha Wynne, including consecutive Listed victories in the NZB Insurance Stakes (1400m), Gore Guineas (1335m) and Southland Guineas (1400m).
“Sam did a terrific job with the horse, there’s no doubt about that with the record speaking for itself,” Lindsay said.
She was unplaced for the new ownership group in the inaugural running of the $3.5m NZB Kiwi (1500m) and returned to Canterbury for a break after the Ellerslie feature.
“We’re not exactly sure what happened in The Kiwi and she didn’t perform to the level we thought she would,” Lindsay said.
“Maybe it was that way around (right-handed), maybe it wasn’t, and perhaps she had come to the end of it.
“She’ll spell for probably another five weeks and then she’ll go over to the Hayes boys at Euroa.”
Karl Lowe, 40, set up his son Kyan, 20, for a try with a clever kick.