HB-owned Call Me Jack transformed into successful jumper

Call Me Jack’s Hawke’s Bay part-owner and breeder Tim Symes looks on as strapper and former top jockey Jim Walker discusses the horse’s win with successful jockey Dean Parker after his triumph in the maiden steeplechase at Waverley last week.

Whanganui trainer Kevin Myers showed why he is regarded as one of the best conditioners of jumpers in the country when he got the Hastings-owned-and-trained Call Me Jack to improve more than 20 lengths in the space of three days to win a maiden steeplechase at Waverley on Friday last week.

Myers is an astute all-round trainer of thoroughbreds, having prepared more than 1400 winners. But his record with jumpers is second to none.

He has had Call Me Jack in his care since the start of winter and has transformed the horse from a total novice jumper into a winner.

Call Me Jack is owned by Havelock North’s Tim Symes and his son Wilfred, who bred the now-8-year-old out of the Stark South mare Gizakiss.

Tim Symes himself trained the horse for the early part of his racing career and prepared him to win three races on the flat, the latest being an open 2200m event at Hastings in July last year.

He and Wilfred decided this year to try the horse as a jumper and what better person to send him to than Kevin Myers.

Call Me Jack didn’t take too kindly to the jumping game for a start, falling at his first point-to-point trial. But Myers’ horsemanship skills and perseverance are now starting to reap rewards.

The Jakkalberry gelding made his jumps debut in a maiden steeplechase over 3500m at Rotorua on August 22, where he misjudged most of his fences before finally finishing fourth out of eight and almost 20 lengths from the winner.

Myers, who had built the horse’s fitness up with three other flat races and two trials, had no qualms about backing the horse up three days later at Waverley.

He engaged promising jumps jockey Dean Parker, who took the horse to the front from the start of the 4000m event and got him to measure his fences well, setting a leisurely pace.

Call Me Jack looked under pressure when the pace quickened starting the last 800m and was only fifth with two fences to jump. But he rallied gamely in the final stages to wrest back the lead just short of the liner to claim a neck decision over the fast-finishing Captains Run, with a length back to third-placed Super Spirit.

Myers now has Call Me Jack entered for a maiden hurdle race at Sunday’s Egmont meeting at Hawera that will be the last jumps meeting in the Central Districts this year.

Deserved breakthrough for Supercell

Hastings-owned-and-trained Supercell made up for two unlucky minor placings from his last two starts when he scored a deserved maiden win at Waverley on Friday last week.

The Rip Van Winkle 4-year-old, owned and trained by the father-and-son combination of John and James Bridge, has always promised to win a race but has not had a lot of luck on occasions.

He finished second to the very promising Mr Bully Tee over 1400m at Hastings in June, where he over-raced in the early and middle stages and was also caught three wide without cover.

He was then freshened and resumed with a third over 1400m at Hastings on July 20, where he again had to work hard in the running and was left vulnerable after challenging early in the straight

Experienced jockey Jonathan Riddell had been aboard Supercell in those two Hastings runs and was keen to stick with the horse at Waverley.

He hunted him out from the No 1 barrier to take up a handy position on the rails and took the lead early in the home straight.

The challengers started to come inside the final 300m but Supercell responded well to a vigorous ride from Riddell to outlast Bow Street by a neck, with Our Sassie Anne three-quarters of a length further back in third place.

Supercell is bred to win races because he is out of the Fastnet Rock mare Harmonize, who is out of a Zabeel mare.

John Bridge said Supercell might now be aimed at a $65,000 Special Conditions Maiden race over 1200m next Saturday, the first day of the Colliers Hawke’s Bay Spring Carnival.

The Cossack’s great dress rehearsal

Star Hawke’s Bay jumper The Cossack showed he is on target for the $150,000 Great Northern Steeplechase at Te Rapa on September 17, with a commanding victory in the $60,000 Pakuranga Hunt Cup Steeples on the same track last Saturday.

Despite having to lump topweight of 71.5Kg, the Mastercraftsman 10-year-old was still sent out a $2 favourite and, apart from misjudging the second-to-last fence, his supporters never really had any concerns.

Hastings-born jumps jockey Aaron Kuru, now domiciled in Australia, made a special trip to take the mount on The Cossack and rated the horse perfectly. He settled him behind the pacemaking Des De Jeu and saved as much ground as he could before pushing the button at the 1000m and shooting to the front.

The Cossack blotted what would have been a faultless display of jumping when he hit the penultimate fence. But he was able to recover quickly and was untroubled thereafter, crossing the line 5¼ lengths clear of his rivals.

The race resulted in a Hawke’s Bay trifecta with Donardo, trained by Waipukurau’s Lucy de Lautour, making ground strongly to grab second from The Cossack’s stablemate Raucous.

Kuru, while full of praise for his mount’s performance, admitted it was not as easy a ride as it looked.

“He is probably not as straightforward as he looks on TV at times,” Kuru said.

“This time he was a different animal as he was on the bridle and travelling and I was confident a long way out.

“We hit the second last fairly hard and I thought it might empty him out, but he just took off again.

“I was just flowing down to the last fence and after that he idled down to the line.”

Kuru is keen to return and ride The Cossack in the Ben & Ryan Foote Racing Great Northern Steeplechase (6400m), one of the few major jumping races on the New Zealand calendar that has so far eluded him.

A Great Northern Steeplechase win has also eluded Hastings trainer Paul Nelson, who prepares The Cossack in partnership with Corrina McDougal.

Kuru partnered The Cossack to win the Great Northern Hurdle (4200m) when it was run at Te Aroha two years ago.

“If we could win it [the Great Northern] it would complete the set for both him and us as we’ve never won it, with a runner-up the best I think we have done,” Nelson said.

Nelson produced Amanood Lad to finish second in the 2016 running of the Great Northern Steeplechase and filled the same placing with Perry Mason two years later.

The Cossack took his record to 17 wins from 55 starts and has now amassed more than $596,000 in prizemoney for his Hawke’s Bay owners. He is raced by Nelson in partnership with Peter Grieve and his son, Doug, along with John Frizzell.

Thirteen of the horse’s victories have been over fences including the Great Northern Hurdle (twice), Waikato Steeplechase and Grand National Hurdles.

Stars to battle for Tarzino Trophy

The cream of New Zealand’s thoroughbreds will do battle in the first Gr.1 race of the season, the $400,000 Tarzino Trophy, at next Saturday’s first day of the Colliers Hawke’s Bay Spring carnival at Hastings.

The 1400m weight-for-age feature regularly attracts the best and this year is no exception, with no fewer than 10 G.1 winners likely to line up including Sharp ‘N’ Smart, Legarto, La Crique, Pennyweka, Mustang Valley, Dark Destroyer, Pier, Lickety Split, Callsign Mav and He’s A Doozy.

The first three home in last year’s Tarzino Trophy were Dark Destroyer, Spring Tide and La Crique, and all three are expected to contest the race again; while the 2021 winner, Callsign Mav, is back after being campaigned in Australia for 18 months.

The Tarzino Trophy will be one of three black-type races on the first day of the carnival, the others being the Gr.3 $120,000 HBPB Thoroughbred Breeders Gold Trail Stakes (1200m) for 3-year-old fillies and the listed $90,000 El Roca-Sir Colin Meads Trophy (1200m).

There will be a 10-race programme, with the first timed for noon and the last at 5.08pm.

The day is known as the Daffodil Raceday with general admission to the course by way of a donation to the Hawke’s Bay Cancer Society.

Access to the members stand will be at a cost of $30 a head.

I Wish I Win kicks off new campaign

New Zealand-bred sprinter I Wish I Win will begin his march towards the A$20 million ($21.7m) The Everest (1200m) when he lines up at today’s Caulfield meeting.

The Savabeel gelding will contest the Gr.1 A$750,000 Memsie Stakes (1400m), and trainers Peter Moody and Katherine Coleman are looking forward to seeing what he can do fresh up.

“He’s such a laid-back customer, but even over the last week I can tell the difference in him,” Coleman said.

“He’s starting to have a play and a bit of a squeal here and there and feeling pretty happy in himself, so he’s ready to get back to the races.

“Obviously, we’re not there to give him a gut-buster first up. I think you’ll see him run well, but with a heap of improvement to come.”

I Wish I Win was bred by Waikato Stud and is raced by the stud’s principal, Mark Chittick, in partnership with Moody.

He will be representing New Zealand in The Everest with Trackside Media taking up the slot formally owned by Inglis.