Best Seller has her ears pricked as she passes the winning post, a decisive winner at the Hawke's Bay/Poverty Bay Thoroughbred Breeders' Gold Trail Stakes at Hastings. Photo / Supplied
Best Seller has her ears pricked as she passes the winning post, a decisive winner at the Hawke's Bay/Poverty Bay Thoroughbred Breeders' Gold Trail Stakes at Hastings. Photo / Supplied
Opinion
By John Jenkins
Hastings trainer John Bary achieved a special personal milestone when Best Seller raced away with last Saturday's Gr.3 $100,000 HB/PB Thoroughbred Breeders' Gold Trail Stakes on the first day of the Colliers Hawke's Bay spring carnival.
Bary has now recorded at least one win in each of the group races run on his home track, one of them three times and another twice.
The Gold Trail Stakes had been the only Hastings group event missing from Bary's record book and Best Seller could not have been a more convincing winner of the 1200m feature.
The daughter of Wrote wanted to over-race midfield in the early rush for positions so rider Sam Spratt restrained her back to second last and got her travelling kindlier in the running. They were still a fair way off the pace coming to the home turn, but once Spratt angled her to the outside rounding the home bend the filly started to hit top gear.
Sans Doute and rider Opie Bosson looked set for victory when clear in the lead 300m from the finish, but Best Seller maintained her strong finishing burst down centre track to sweep past that filly and then race clear for a 1-3/4-length victory.
There are seven group races run on the Hastings track during the racing season, but there used to be eight and Bary has now won them all.
The most prestigious is the Gr.1 Livamol Classic and Bary won it back in 2011 with his great galloper Jimmy Choux, when it was known as the NZ Bloodstock Spring Classic.
Jimmy Choux had won the Gr.2 Hawke's Bay Guineas as a three-year-old and also took out the Gr.1 Windsor Park Plate during the 2011 Hawke's Bay spring carnival, a race Bary won again last year with Callsign Mav.
Bary also prepared Callsign Mav to score back-to-back wins in the Gr.1 Tarzino Trophy, in 2020 and last year, after previously winning the race in 2013 with Survived, when it was known as the Makfi Challenge Stakes.
Survived's other wins included the 2013 Gr.3 Hawke's Bay Cup, a race that has now been demoted to listed level.
Bary's other group race victories at Hastings have been the 2014 Gr.2 Lowland Stakes with Miss Selby and the 2017 Gr.3 Red Badge Sprint with Miss Wilson.
He was obviously thrilled to add another home track black-type success last Saturday and will now plot a path for Best Seller towards the Gr.1 $400,000 New Zealand 1000 Guineas (1600m) at Riccarton on November 12, a race in which she has now been installed a $3.50 favourite.
"I thought she over-raced a little early and I think Sam didn't want to fight her so she dragged her back to where she would settle," Bary said.
"She is still doing a bit wrong, but she's a classy filly and that gets her a long way."
Bary said the Gr.2 $140,000 Hawke's Bay Guineas (1400m) on October 1 was now the immediate goal for Best Seller and then maybe the G.2 $140,000 James & Annie Sarten Memorial Stakes (1400m) at Te Rapa on October 22 before she heads south.
Best Seller has now had six starts for two wins and was also runner-up in last season's Gr.2 Cambridge Breeders' Stakes (1200m) at Te Rapa.
Her success last Saturday is another feather in the cap for Challenge Syndications principal Adrian Clark, who experienced the highs of racing with Jennifer Eccles a few seasons ago, with the daughter of Rip Van Winkle winning the Gr.1 New Zealand Oaks (2400m), Gr.2 Eight Carat Classic (1600m), Gr.2 David and Karen Ellis Fillies Classic (2000m) and Gr.2 Lowland Stakes (2100m) on her way to being crowned New Zealand Three-Year-Old Filly of the Year.
John Bary has now won each of the group races run on the Hastings track. Photo / Supplied
Jennifer Eccles was purchased by Clark for just $5000 with Best Seller another bargain buy after he went to $12,000 to secure her out of Highview Stud's 2021 Karaka yearling sale draft. She has now won more than $111,000 in prizemoney and becomes the first stakes winner for Wrote, a son of High Chaparral who stands at Highview Stud.
Best Seller is raced by the Challenge Zen Syndicate, a group of more than 30 people and many of whom also shared in the ownership of Jennifer Eccles. The syndicate members include Brian and Lorraine Heneker, Tony White, Richard Koorey, Ian and Wendy Jeffery and Neil and Denise Whitmore from Hawke's Bay and Taupo couple Allan and Judy Payne.
Hastings partners hog awards
As expected, the Hastings training partnership of Paul Nelson and Corrina McDougal dominated proceedings at this year's annual Hawke's Bay/Poverty Bay thoroughbred racing awards.
The awards function was held at the Hastings racecourse on Friday last week and recognises the achievements from the last season of local thoroughbred breeders, owners, trainers and horses.
Nelson and McDougal took the award for Trainer of the Year on wins for the first time since they joined forces two seasons ago by producing 24 winners from just 97 starters.
It was 11 more than John Bary and the Guy Lowry/Grant Cullen stable who saddled up 13 winners apiece and it also had the Nelson/McDougal partnership win the strike rate award. Their winning strike rate of 4.04 was the best among the top 20 trainers on the national trainers' premiership.
The Cossack, the star performer from the Nelson/McDougal stable, was crowned both the HBPB Trained Horse of the Year and the HBPB Owned Horse of the Year.
The Mastercraftsman gelding was unbeaten in five jumping starts last season, winning the Grand National Hurdle at Riccarton, Great Northern Hurdle at Te Aroha, K.S. Browne Hurdle at Hastings, Hawke's Bay Hurdle at Hastings and a maiden steeplechase at Te Rapa. He also won a 3210m flat race at New Plymouth and is owned by Paul Nelson in partnership with Peter Grieve and his son Doug and John Frizzell.
The Cossack's deeds also helped Paul Nelson take out the HBPB Owner of the Year award, with No Tip, Argyll and Nedwin also earning him significant points.
No Tip won three races including the Ferguson Gold Cup Steeplechase at Hastings and Manawatu Steeplechase and was also placed in the Great Northern Steeplechase, Hawke's Bay Steeples and the Wellington Steeples. He is owned by Nelson in partnership with his wife Carol.
Argyll won both the Waikato and Hawke's Bay Steeplechases and the Nelsons share in the ownership of the Gallant Guru gelding with the horse's Waipukurau breeders Garry and Jan Sherratt and Cambridge couple Ben Foote and Kim Rogers.
Nedwin won three hurdle races in a row including the Wellington Hurdle, and is raced by the Nelsons in partnership with Gisborne couple Mick and Suz Gardner.
The Cossack was bred by Ivan Grieve and he was presented with the awards for HBPB Breeder of the Year on points and HBPB Breeder of the Year by New Zealand-bred progeny.
Ivan Grieve and Chris Russell were joint winners of the HBPB Breeder of the Year on wins with both picking up eight wins from progeny they bred.
The Cossack won six races while his younger half-brother Galileo Express won two for Grieve while Russell bred New York Jazz (three wins), No Time To Jazz (three wins), Manhattan Jazz (one win ) and Maria Dior (one win).
Stellardelmar, the dam of The Cossack and Galileo Express, was crowned HBPB Broodmare of the Year with Ivan Grieve still breeding from the daughter of Galileo mare and has a two-year-old filly by Turn Me Loose coming on.
The Chouxmaani Investments Three-year-old of the Year on stakemoney won was Duchy Of Savoy, a filly by Snitzel out of Saavoya, who amassed A$62,400 with a win and a second from five starts in Australia. She was bred by Murray, Jo and Tracy Andersen, Gavin Triplow, Mike and Sharyn Craig and Dave and Jenny Morison.
Murray Andersen, in his presentation speech, said that unfortunately he and his partners recently lost a foal by Maurice out of Saavoya after it developed complications soon after being born.
Verry Elleegant third in France
Champion New Zealand-bred mare Verry Elleegant gave her supporters a sight but came up short in last Sunday's Gr.2 Prix Foy (2400m) at Longchamp, finishing third behind multiple French stakes winners Iresine and Bubble Gift.
Verry Elleegant attempted to lead throughout in the traditional Prix de l'Arc de Triomphe lead-up for horses aged 4 or older, ambling through the first 1400m in 1:35.85 on ground officially rated soft.
Christophe Soumillon rode the perfect race aboard Verry Elleegant, the only mare in the field, asking her to quicken at the 500m mark once balanced in the home straight.
The 11-time Gr.1 winner responded bravely when challenged by Bubble Gift, who raced on her hindquarters into the home straight, only to be swamped inside the final 100m by noted wet-track performer Iresine.
Iresine won by 1-1/4 lengths with Bubble Gift edging out Verry Elleegant for second by a head.
Verry Elleegant's trainer, Francis Graffard, said the seven-year-old mare is looking healthier in condition compared with when she finished last in her European debut over 2000m on August 21.
The daughter of Zed's placing in the Prix Foy will be enough to quell any retirement calls, which emerged following her European debut failure, but may not be enough to warrant connections paying the A$180,000 late-entry fee for the Arc by the September 28 deadline.
