Jimmysstar and jockey Craig Grylls scoring an impressive win in a Rating 65 race over 1300m at Hastings last Saturday. It was the promising 4-year-old’s second success from three starts.
Hastings-trained Jimmysstar showed why he is held in such high regard by his connections and provided part-owner Sam Williams with a much-needed tonic when he scored an exceptional win in the $65,000 Remember ‘Jooky’ Premier at last Saturday’s first day of the Colliers Hawke’s Bay Spring Carnival.
The 4-year-old Per Incanto gelding was having his first start since winning a 1200m maiden at Whanganui back in April and had the extreme outside barrier draw to overcome in the 1300m event.
He was forced to race three-wide but jockey Craig Grylls managed to get some cover before angling him to the outside at the top of the home straight.
Jimmysstar then unleashed a powerful finish to sweep past his rivals and race away for a dominant 1½-length win.
It was a performance that vindicated the high opinion trainer Guy Lowry has of the horse.
“He is very exciting and has done a big job after having to race wide with 59 kilograms on his back,” Lowry said.
“He has run the fourth-fastest last 600m of any horse on the day and, with that weight on his back, it really was a special win.”
Jimmysstar was having his third start, after a debut second over 1400m at Ōtaki back in December and his Whanganui success in April.
Lowry said he had adopted a patient policy with the horse, saying he was from a slow-maturing family and needed time.
“I could have got him going earlier this year but there was nothing for him going into the winter and so I decided to give him a bit more time and aim him at this carnival.”
Jimmysstar is owned by Masterton’s Little Avondale Stud in partnership with Wairarapa couple Pete and Chrissy Algie and is by the stud’s sire Per Incanto out of the Zed mare Anniesstar.
Avondale Stud proprietor Sam Williams is ill with throat cancer, which made Saturday’s win by Jimmysstar even more significant.
The race the horse won is named after the son of Te Awamutu-based husband and wife training team Simon and Katrina Alexander, who died of cancer, aged 22, in 2019.
The first day of the Colliers Hawke’s Bay Spring Carnival is also known as Daffodil Day, with any money raised from gate takings and donations going to the Hawke’s Bay Cancer Society.
Experienced jockey Grylls has been aboard Jimmysstar in all of the horse’s three starts and was suitably impressed by Saturday’s performance.
“It has been a while between runs, but he has improved a lot. He was impressive when he won his first race and is stronger now.
“From the outside gate I was three-wide with cover and travelled nicely throughout and he got to the front really easy.
“If anything, he has still got a bit to learn. He gawked around when he hit the front but he had them well covered.
“I think he has quite a bright future.”
Lowry is now eyeing Australian races for Jimmysstar, saying there is not a lot for the horse domestically in the coming months.
“We will probably look at Sydney and that’s where I think his future is.”
Fancy Like Lass stays out in front
Hastings-trained Fancy Like Lass is proving to be a bargain buy for her Hastings owner Margaret Harkema.
The Australian-bred 4-year-old mare was a $2100 buy from the Gavelhouse online auction site in March last year and already has stake earnings of more than $40,000.
The daughter of Hellbent had banked $2800 from a fifth and a second in two starts earlier this year and then added another $37,375 when she led practically all the way in a $65,000 Special Conditions Maiden race over 1200m on last Saturday’s first day of the Colliers Hawke’s Bay Spring Carnival at Hastings.
Fancy Like Lass is prepared on the Hastings track by Mick Brown and Sue Thompson. It was a great training feat by the pair to get the mare to win fresh up after a break of nearly four months.
They got her ready by way of a quiet jumpout over 750m at Hastings in early August and an 850m trial at Foxton on August 29, where she finished a good second. She showed she was ready to fire fresh up with a strong solo gallop in trackwork at Hastings on Tuesday last week.
Hawke’s Bay jockey Kate Hercock was aboard Fancy Like Lass last Saturday and hunted the mare out quickly from an outside draw to get across the field and take a clear lead at the end of the first 200m.
Hercock then controlled the pace from the front before kicking her mount clear rounding the home turn.
Fancy Like Lass had a three-length break on the field starting the last 200m and, although starting to shorten stride late, she held on for a long head win over Super Wraith.
Fancy Like Lass is out of the Choisir mare Mandalong Belle, who recorded a win, two seconds and a third from only 14 starts in Australia.
Sharp ‘N’ Smart is Horse of the Year
Multiple Group 1 winner Sharp ‘N’ Smart was crowned Horse of the Year at the 2022-23 New Zealand Thoroughbred Racing national awards function in Auckland last Sunday night.
The Graeme and Debbie Rogerson-trained gelding had a standout 3-year-old season, winning the Group1 Herbie Dyke Stakes (2000m), Group1 New Zealand Derby (2400m), Group1 Spring Champion Stakes (2000m) and Group 2 Gloaming Stakes (1600m), and earned more than $3 million in prizemoney.
The son of Redwood edged out top mare Imperatriz by two votes, with five other horses receiving at least one of the 58 votes cast for SENZ Horse of the Year.
Between them, Sharp ‘N’ Smart and Imperatriz attracted 79 per cent of the votes this year, with Prowess the next popular, with eight votes.
Sharp ‘N’ Smart was bought from Westbury Stud’s 2021 Karaka yearling sale draft by Graeme Rogerson for $55,000. Fortunately for his connections, he failed to make his $90,000 reserve when offered at the New Zealand Bloodstock Ready to Run Sale later that year.
Rogerson remains a part-owner, as is the horse’s breeder Gerry Harvey, along with Merv and Meg Butterworth, Todd Bawden, Craig Leishman and Martin Waddy.
Sharp ‘N’ Smart was also named Champion 3-Year-Old, while Prowess won the Champion Middle-Distance category and Pennyweka claimed Champion Stayer, with Sharp ‘N’ Smart the runner-up in the latter two categories.
Imperatriz, who won the Group 2 McEwan Stakes (1000m) at The Valley last Saturday, dominated the voting for Champion Sprinter-Miler and her stablemate Tokyo Tycoon won the Champion 2-Year-Old category by a wide margin.
West Coast, who was unbeaten over fences last season, was crowned Champion Jumper.
Commentator George Simon, who has had a variety of roles within the industry, received the NZTR Outstanding Contribution to Racing Award and New Zealand Bloodstock’s Mike Kneebone, who has played a key role in attracting overseas buyers to the Karaka horse sales, was recognised with the NZTR Outstanding Global Achievement Award.
Mark Walker, who set a new mark for domestic training wins, was crowned Trainer of the Year, while Michael McNab retained his Jockey of the Year title and Shaun Fannin won the Jumps Jockey of the Year for a fourth time.
Ancroft Stud principals Catherine and Phillip Brown, who are the majority shareholders in multiple Group 1 winners Legarto and Levante, were named Owners of the Year. Legarto and Levante recorded seven wins and four placings from 13 attempts between them, including four Group 1 wins, and earned more than $1.7m in stakes.
Lickety Split retired
Time has been called on the racing career of Group 1 winner Lickety Split after she finished last in last Saturday’s Group 1 Tarzino Trophy (1400m) at Hastings.
The Andrew Forsman-trained mare has been a flagbearer for her sire Turn Me Loose, giving him his first Group 1 victory as a sire when winning the Sistema Stakes (1200m) at just her second start as a juvenile.
She went on to win the Group 3 Northland Breeders’ Stakes (1200m) before heading across the Tasman, where she won the Group 2 Edward Manifold Stakes (1600m) and placed in the Group 1 Thousand Guineas (1600m) and Group 2 Thousand Guineas Prelude (1400m).
Pennyweka to bypass last two HB Group 1′s
A trip to Sydney beckons for last season’s dual Group 1 Oaks winner Pennyweka after her satisfying performance in last Saturday’s Group 1 Tarzino Trophy (1400m) on the first day of the Colliers Hawke’s Bay Spring Carnival.
Trainer Jim Wallace was pleased with what he saw from his mare and has decided to bypass both the Group 1 Arrowfield Stud Plate (1600m) and Group 1 Livamol Classic (2040m), on the second and third days of the carnival, in favour of chasing the spring riches on offer in Sydney next month.
“She has come through Saturday’s run very well, we are very happy with her,” Wallace said this week.
“She was very strong through the line and that is what I expected. It was going to be too sharp for her at 1400m and I just wanted to see her go through the line. She was three-quarters up the back straight before Kate [Hercock] was able to pull her up, so I was very happy with it.”
Pennyweka is likely to have her next start in the A$2m Group 2 Hill Stakes (2000m) on October 7.
MetService says one of the first big low-pressure systems of the year is forming.