Hastings-trained Debbi Harri responds to the urgings of apprentice jockey Jim Chung to win a 1340m maiden race at Whanganui last Saturday. She will back up again at this Saturday’s Whanganui meeting.
OPINION
The connections of Hastings-trained filly Debbi Harri have had to play the waiting game until now but there are some big assignments planned for the three-year-old following her maiden win over 1340 metres at Whanganui last Saturday.
Debbi Harri is prepared by Hastings trainer John Bary and raced by the Challenge Evolution Syndicate, a group of more than 40 people managed by Hamilton-based bloodstock syndicator Adrian Clark.
Clark purchased the horse as a weanling from the Vilachi Downs Dispersal Sale for $12,500 and then set about getting a syndicate together to race the flashy chestnut.
“She is a chestnut with a big white blaze on her head and her nickname has always been Blondie,” Clark recalled this week.
“So that is why her race name is Debbi Harri, who of course is the singer Blondie.”
Debbi Harri showed immediate promise on the racetrack, following up a second in a barrier trial with a debut third behind subsequent Group 1 winner Savaglee in a 900m two-year-old race at Trentham.
She then finished sixth in the Group 2 Wakefield Challenge Stakes (1100m) at Trentham but was found to have a bone chip in a knee after finishing fifth in her third two-year-old outing and had to undergo surgery to remove it.
“She had to be boxed for six weeks and it has been a long road back to full fitness for her,” Clark added.
“John has taken his time with her to make sure she was right again and it looks likely to pay dividends.”
Debbi Harri didn’t race again for another eight months, resuming as a three-year-old in a 1400m maiden on the Awapuni synthetic track on October 6, where she finished second to another promising filly in Costae.
Bary then took Debbi Harri to Te Aroha at the end of October for another 1400m race but she struggled in the heavy-8 track conditions, finishing eighth of 12.
“She is very much a top of the ground horse and wet tracks have been a problem,” Clark said.
The filly appreciated the firmer footing at Whanganui last Saturday and finished the race off strongly, under the urgings of apprentice Jim Chung, to win by a long neck from Lets All Boogie.
Debbi Harri came through last Saturday’s win so well that Bary had no qualms about backing the Vespa filly up in this Saturday’s Listed $80,000 O’Learys Fillies Stakes (1340m) at Whanganui with the Group 3 $100,000 Eulogy Stakes (1600m) at Trentham on December 21 another immediate goal.
“There have been two Challenge Syndicate horses who have won the O’Learys Fillies Stakes in the past, Avisto in 2014 and Secret Spirit in 2015, so it will be good to have another runner in it,” Clark said.
“There are a lot of first-time owners in this syndicate and there were about 20 of them at Whanganui last Saturday when she won and they got a huge thrill.”
Debbi Harri is the only living foal out of the Redoute’s Choice mare Saint Angers, who raced nine times in Australia for three wins, three seconds and a third.
Debbi Harri has drawn well at barrier two for this Saturday’s O’Learys Fillies Stakes and is one of four Hastings-trained horses entered for the black type event.
The John Bary stable will have two representatives with Anushka Shesastar joining Debbi Harri. The Proisir filly is also backing up from last Saturday’s Whanganui meeting, where she finished a good third over 1200m. She has the coveted number one barrier.
The partnership of Richard McKenzie and Jordan Basset will line up another last start winner in Prestissimo, who has unfortunately drawn the extreme outside barrier, while the Fred Pratt and Caitlin Johnson stable has the maiden galloper Rocstockin Barrel entered and she has drawn barrier five.
Eparaima capitalises from a great ride
Hawke’s Bay-owned Eparaima made a return to the winner’s stall in style at last week’s Rotorua meeting, aided by a 10 out of 10 ride from jockey Sam Weatherley.
The Per Incanto mare took out a Rating 65 race over 1400m, coming from third last at the 600m to win by a short neck.
It was her third success from 16 starts and she has also recorded a second and three thirds.
Formerly trained at Hastings by Guy Lowry and Leah Zydenbos, Eparaima was having her first start from the Cambridge stable of Sam Mynott.
The mare has spoilt her chances by being slow away in the past and again dwelt at the start of last week’s Rotorua race, getting back to third last in a strung-out field in the early stages.
Eparaima was still giving the leaders a big head-start coming to the home turn but, while most runners skirted wide making the bend, Weatherley decided to stick to the inner and cut the corner.
He managed to save many valuable lengths and, by the time the field straightened for the run home, Eparaima was within striking distance of the leaders.
The mare then burst between runners inside the last 300 metres and dashed clear before staving off late challengers from the minor placegetters Hastobeawinner and Super Wraith.
Eparaima was bred by Hawke’s Bay’s Mick Ormond and is raced by him in partnership with several of his family members and friends. She is named after the family farm in Wallingford.
She is out of the Redoute’s Choice mare Eva Godiva, who is a daughter of the multiple stakes winning mare Gussy Godiva.
HBPB racing awards function Wednesday
The annual Hawke’s Bay-Poverty Bay Racing Awards for the 2023-24 season will be presented at a function to be held at the Cheval Room at the Hastings racecourse next Wednesday, December 4.
The awards will recognise the racing and breeding achievements of Hawke’s Bay thoroughbred breeders, owners, trainers and horses from the last racing season.
The function will begin at 6pm with the MC being well-known racing identity Andre Neill.
Those attending will be treated to a buffet meal, a complimentary drink on arrival, plus drink specials throughout the evening with a cash bar.
Tickets, at a cost of $65 per head, can be purchased online from the Hawke’s Bay Racing website or by contacting the Hawke’s Bay Racing office at (06) 8734545.
There will be 11 individual awards presented on the night as well as those for black-type winners bred by HBPB members.
The categories are:
Trainer of the Year on wins
Trainer of the Year on Strike-Rate
Chouxmaani Investments 3YO of the Year
Sprinter-Miler of the Year
Stayer of the Year (1700m+)
Jumper of the Year
Breeder of the Year NZ & Overseas progeny
Breeder of the Year NZ progeny
Owner of the Year
Broodmare of the Year
Horse of the Year
HBPB Black-Type winners
Jumps racing is given a lifeline
Jumps racing in New Zealand has been given a reprieve for at least the next three years.
With shrinking field sizes, and a constant struggle to maintain a pool of jumps jockeys, New Zealand Thoroughbred Racing formed a review panel to recommend to its board whether jumps racing should continue or be phased out.
The panel’s recommendation — that jumps racing continue for at least three years before another review — has been approved by the NZTB Board, but with changes to how and where jumps racing is staged.
The panel made 19 recommendations to strengthen jumps racing, including attracting and developing more jockeys, reviewing the calendar for when jumps races are held, a more consistent racing programme, and fit-for-purpose infrastructure.
This means the jumping season could be shortened, as some see May as too early to start because tracks are often too firm for jumps racing then.
Jumps racing is likely to be conducted on fewer tracks, with the tracks used having better jumping facilities. While the exact details of the future plan for New Zealand jumps racing won’t be released until March next year, it is envisaged that the historic Grand National meeting at Riccarton in August will be saved, while jumps racing as a whole could be seen more regularly on Sundays during the winter.
Race meetings carding predominantly jumps races and highweight races are also likely so as to utilizs the same jockey pool.
McDonald crowned world’s best jockey
Expat Kiwi hoop James McDonald celebrated winning the 2024 LONGINES World’s Best Jockey Award for the second time with a double at Sha Tin last Sunday.
McDonald was assured his second LONGINES World’s Best Jockey Award when Auguste Rodin finished eighth in the Group 1 Japan Cup (2400m) in Tokyo on Sunday under Ryan Moore, leaving the New Zealander with 160 points to Moore’s 150 for results in the World’s Top 100 Group One races.
“It’s a huge honour and it’s just reflective of all the good horses I’ve ridden. I could almost name it the Romantic Warrior Award, to be honest with you, because he was such a huge contributor,” McDonald said.
“He’s obviously a world champion in his own right, so you have to be part of those sort of horses, the Via Sistinas of the world, so those two horses [Romantic Warrior and Via Sistina] were huge contributors and it’s a huge honour.
“I’m very proud of my year.”
McDonald rode nine winners at the highest level since December 1, with Romantic Warrior providing four of those victories.
McDonald, who is presently back riding in Hong Kong for a short-term stint, previously won the World’s Best Jockey Award in 2022.
The Hawke's Bay Hawks play new NBL team Indian Panthers in Napier on March 12.