Papa Surf at full stretch under the urgings of jockey Craig Grylls as he nears the finish of the $40,000 rating 65 race over 1200m at Whanganui last Saturday. It was the Dalghar gelding’s second success.
The addition of blinkers and a 10-out-of-10 ride from experienced jockey Craig Grylls paved the way for another success by Papa Surf at last Saturday’s Whanganui meeting.
The four-year-old Dalghar gelding is raced by a syndicate that includes four Hastings people — Neville Robertson, Darryl Morgan and Danny and Karen Tobec — and was recording his second win after taking out a 1200m maiden race at Awapuni in May.
That maiden win was only in a $15,000 race, but last Saturday’s rating 65 event at Whanganui carried a stake of $40,000 and took the horse’s stake earnings to more than $44,000. He has now had 13 starts for two wins, two seconds and a third, and seems to be getting better with age.
Papa Surf is trained on the Awapuni track by Mike Breslin who has always thought the horse had plenty of ability, but said he tended to spoil his chances by being a bit wayward in his races.
Breslin decided to add blinkers to the horse’s gear for his final serious track gallop before last Saturday and his rider, apprentice Jim Chung, said they seemed to spark the horse up.
Papa Surf wore blinkers for the first time in the 1200m Whanganui race and they certainly had the desired effect.
The horse was the subject of a betting plunge, coming in from a quote of $16 on fixed odds early in the week to start a $6 shot on the day.
Jockey Craig Grylls made the most of the horse’s No 1 barrier draw to settle him fourth on the fence and stuck to the inside coming to the home turn, securing a charmed rails run when the leaders drifted away from the fence.
Papa Surf accelerated quickly to take a clear lead early in the straight and kept up a strong run to the line to win by 2¾ lengths from Spencer, with Andit Hurts a further 1¼ lengths back in third.
Neville Robertson is the co-breeder of Papa Surf who is out of the Towkay mare Surf Patrol, winner of seven races and a descendant of a highly successful family founded by prominent Central Hawke’s Bay owner-breeder Sue Harty.
Surf Patrol is now deceased but also left Flying Surf (four wins) and Son Of Surf (three wins).
Robertson this week said Papa Surf was now likely to be aimed at a $40,000 rating 65 race over 1100m at Awapuni on September 23.
“Mike [Breslin] wants to keep him to the shorter distances at this stage and he only got four points for last Saturday’s win so he can stay in rating-65 grade,” Robertson said.
HB-trained horses out in force
Hawke’s Bay stables are well represented at today’s first day of the Colliers Hawke’s Bay Spring Carnival at Hastings, with no fewer than 29 runners scattered among the 10-race programme.
John Bary has 11 horses entered, including a two-pronged attack on the day’s feature event, the $400,000 Tarzino Trophy.
He will saddle up the three-time Gr.1 winner Callsign Mav and last year’s runner-up, Spring Tide, in the 1400m weight-for-age event.
Both horses are resuming after lengthy spells, with Callsign Mav not having raced since finishing last of 10 runners in a Gr.3 race over 1400m at Sandown, Victoria, in April. He has spent the past couple of years being campaigned in Australia, where he won the Gr.1 Rupert Clarke Stakes (1400m) at Caulfield 12 months ago. His other Gr.1 wins were in both the Tarzino Trophy (1400m) and Windsor Park Plate (1600m) at the 2021 Hawke’s Bay spring carnival. He has been given three barrier trials and a couple of jump-outs to prepare him for today’s assignment.
Spring Tide finished second behind Dark Destroyer in last year’s Tarzino Trophy and was also the runner-up behind Callsign Mav in the 2021 running of the race. He has not raced since December but has impressed when winning two recent Central Districts barrier trials, both over 1200m.
Bary’s other runners are Party Rocking in the listed $40,000 El Roca-Sir Colin Meads Trophy (1200m), Lilly Laguna and She’s So Reliable in the rating 75 2000m, Best Seller and Bold Iris in the rating 75 1400m, Blissful Belle in the rating 75 1200m, Sefton in the Rating 65 1600m, Rockburn in the rating 65 1300m, and Pegau in the Special Conditions Maiden (1200m).
Fellow Hastings trainer Guy Lowry will also have a busy day because he has nine horses entered at the meeting including Rosalita and Grid Girl in another feature, the Gr.3 $120,000 Gold Trail Stakes (1200m).
Rosalita is a Tivaci filly who has had one start for a seventh over 1100m at Taupō, while Grid Girl is a first starter, by Time Test, who finished second in a 1000m Foxton trial last week.
Lowry has two highly talented gallopers in The Stoney One and Candle resuming in the rating 75 race over 1200m and the promising Jimmysstar lines up in the rating 65 1300m. Eyegeegee, who was an impressive debut winner over 1200m at Hastings last month, will be one of the favourites for the Special Conditions 1200m while the other stable representatives are Gohugo and Belcamina in the rating 65 1600 and Penny Royal in the rating 75 1400m.
Patrick Campbell also has two talented gallopers resuming in Duncan Creek (rating 65, 1200m) and Karehana Bay (Special Conditions 1200m), while Lee Somervell has the Hastings track specialist One Deam One Soul entered for the rating 75 1400m.
Waipukurau-based Kirsty Lawrence will line up her stable stalwart Pep Torque in the Open 1600m and will also have Real Slim Tradie resuming from a spell in the rating 75 1200m.
John and James Bridge picked up a win with Supercell at Waverley two weeks ago and he is a dual acceptor, entered for both the rating 65 1300m and the Special Conditions 1200m. They also have Ravenna Rose in the rating 65 1600m while Mick Brown and Sue Thompson have Fancy Like Lass ready for a fresh-up run in the Special Conditions 1200m and Vicki Wilson has Red ‘N’ Surf in the rating 75 2000m.
Another black-type win for Sutherland
Hastings apprentice jockey Lily Sutherland brought up her third black-type victory with a well-judged ride aboard Chantilly Lace in last Saturday’s listed $80,000 Wanganui Guineas.
Sutherland settled the 3-year-old daughter of US Navy Flag second last in the eight-horse field in the early stages of the 1200m event, but commenced a swooping run starting the last 600m to join the leaders early in the home straight and edged clear soon after.
Lantern Way, under a vigorous ride from Jonathan Riddell, lodged a stern challenge in the final stages but Sutherland was able to extract extra reserves from Chantilly Lace and the filly held on for a half-head win.
The Wanganui Guineas was the second-to-last race at the meeting and Sutherland also took out the final event aboard the Kevin Myers-trained Valley King.
The 19-year-old is now just two wins away from chalking up a career tally of 60 and will again team up with Chantilly Lace when the filly lines up in today’s Gr.3 $120,000 Gold Trail Stakes (1200m) on the first day of the Colliers Hawke’s Bay Spring Carnival.
Sutherland is apprenticed to Hastings trainer Vicki Wilson but has been on loan for the past few months to Whanganui trainer Kevin Myers.
Chantilly Lace is prepared by Awapuni trainer Chrissy Bambry, who co-owns the filly with her parents, Tony and Judith, and cost $66,000 from the Valachi Downs Dispersal Sale, conducted by the Gavelhouse online selling platform.
The filly has now recorded three wins, a second and two thirds, and won more than $105,000 in prizemoney.
Melbourne Cup entries number 132
Winning the Gr.1 Melbourne Cup is the pinnacle for many in racing and connections of 132 horses are hoping their dream turns into reality at the famous Flemington racecourse on November 7.
New Zealand horses have a strong history in the race and 18 are among the nominations for the race that stops two nations.
Multiple Gr.1 winner Sharp ‘N’ Smart is among the entries and will kick off his preparation in today’s Gr.1 $400,000 Tarzino Trophy (1400m) on the first day of the Colliers Hawke’s Bay Spring Carnival.
Dark Destroyer, Ess Vee Are, Full Of Sincerity and Ladies Man are also among the other New Zealand-trained nominations.
Fifteen international horses have entered the fray, with representatives from Aidan and Joseph O’Brien, William Haggas, Dermot Weld, Willie Mullins among the nominations.
Victoria Racing Club racing manager Leigh Jordan said he was extremely pleased with the nominations for this year’s race.
“This year we celebrate 30 years since Vintage Crop began the wave of international horses competing in the Lexus Melbourne Cup and it is promising to see the quality of overseas contenders nominated,” Jordan said.
I Wish I Win team happy with run
I Wish I Win pleased his connections with his third placing in last Saturday’s Gr.1 Memsie Stakes (1400m) at Caulfield, and co-trainer Peter Moody reported on Monday that the New Zealand bred had pulled up well from his first-up run.
“He trotted up well, is in good order and ate well all weekend,” said Moody, who trains in partnership with Katherine Coleman.
“He left a double handful of feed Saturday night, so he knew he’d had a run, but then he ate up Sunday night.
“The vets trotted him up and flexed him up, so everything seems good.”
The A$20million ($21.7m) The Everest (1200m) now beckons the Waikato Stud-bred-and-raced gelding, who will fill the slot of Trackside Media and is unlikely to race again before the race on October 14.
There were 24,318 breath tests recorded in the region in just one month.