"Wally said to me a while ago 'are you still aiming the horse for the Kiwifruit Cup?' and I said 'yes' so he said he'd be there," Lord recalled this week.
"I rang him up on the day and said it was pretty cold but he said he would put on a decent jacket and get there and I was thrilled that he did."
O'Hearn received the gold cup trophy on behalf of the syndicate, a moment he will no doubt treasure.
The close association between Lord and O'Hearn dates to 1978 when Lord, who was then a successful jockey, arrived at an airport one day and O'Hearn was there to pick him up.
"He has followed me right through my career since then and we have become the best of mates," Lord said.
John McGifford and Lord have also been great mates since the days they rode together over the jumps and another member of the syndicate, farrier Kim Hughes, has basically been Lord's right-hand man since he decided to take up racehorse training several years ago.
The other syndicate members in Valante are another farrier and close friend Peter Reid, Te Aroha Racing Club president Wayne Lowen, Palmerston North policeman Paul Claridge, Melissa Armit and Matamata couple Peter and Kim McKay.
McGifford and Hughes also raced the top hurdler D'Llaro with Lord; that horse's 11 wins included the 2016 Great Northern Hurdles.
Peter McKay originally trained Valante but told Lord, after the horse went no good at Te Aroha one day, that he should take him over and try him as a jumper.
"Peter said he and Kim would keep a share in him and for me to find some others to come in.
"He still had flat ability at that stage so It thought I'd give him a go. I rang Wally and a few of the others and they all said they were in."
Valante had won two races at that time and has since had 20 starts in Lord's care for another three wins, four seconds and three thirds.
"He tries hard and goes in all track conditions so he is a gem to train," Lord said.
"He has just been beaten by a better horse on the day a few times but last Saturday he proved he was the best."
Valante likes to race in or near the lead and was taken on all the way last Saturday, first by Meeska Mooska, then by Highlad and finally by Redcayenne. But the Tavistock 7-year-old refused to yield in the very testing heavy-11 track conditions and fought like a tiger up the home straight to win by a short neck from The Kipling Girl, with Redcayenne a nose back in third.
The winning jockey was Donavan Mansour, who was blowing just about as much as the horse immediately after the race.
"They certainly make you earn your riding fee out here," Mansour said.
"Coming to the 600 I wasn't that confident but he stuck to it well in the straight."
"The puggy track was what he had been waiting for all winter," Lord said immediately after the win.
"This was one of the races I had been setting him for since he finished second in the Wairoa Cup in February and when we went to Ruakaka last week it was a bit of a bonus running third. If he had won, we knew he would still be getting into this on the minimum [weight].
"He won at Waipa a year ago on a puggy track and to have 53kg on his back today was a bonus. He's one tough boy and I'm just rapt."
Lord said he will now give Valante a three week break to get over last Saturday's taxing run and will then decide what to set him for next.
"There is the Taumarunui Cup at Rotorua at the end of July but he has raced three times there and it can get shifty which he doesn't like," Lord added.
Nelson/McDougal runners look top chances
Hastings trainer Paul Nelson will be trying to claim a fourth Hawke's Bay Steeplechase victory and a second Hawke's Bay Hurdles when he lines up a two-pronged attack in each of the feature jumping races at tomorrow's Hawke's Bay meeting.
Nelson, who is now training in partnership with Corrina McDougal, will be represented by No Change and Ooee in the $50,000 Te Whangai Romneys Hawke's Bay Hurdle (3100m) and the partners will then saddle up Perry Mason and Zardetto for the $50,000 Animal Health Direct Hawke's Bay Steeplechase (4800m).
Nelson won the 2010 running of the Hawke's Bay Hurdle with Ho Down and came within an ace of landing the race again last year when No Change finished a gallant second behind the ill-fated Monarch Chimes.
No Change is well seasoned for tomorrow's race, having had four starts already in a new campaign but Ooee has only had one start this time in for a fourth over hurdles at Hastings on May 22.
No Hero carried the famous Nelson colours to victory twice in the Hawke's Bay Steeplechase, in 2003 and 2005, while the trainer also produced Just A Swagger to take out the energy sapping event in 2007.
The Nelson/McDougal partnership will be represented by Perrry Mason and Zardetto in tomorrow's running and both horses look close to another win after recording recent minor placings.
This year's Hawke's Bay Steeplechase sees the return of Animal Health Direct as the race sponsor.
The Hastings-based company has been a great supporter of Hawke's Bay Racing and sponsored the Hawke's Bay Steeplechase for eight years in a row, from 2009 to 2017.
Animal Health Direct is a supplier of dairy, sheep, beef and equine health products nationwide and is 100 per cent New Zealand owned and operated.
Another loyal supporter of the Hawke's Bay winter race meeting is the Birchleigh Polo Club, which will sponsor the Rating 65 race over 2200m at tomorrow's meeting.
The Birchleigh Polo Club is based at Pakipaki, south of Hastings, and has been in operation for 10 years. It runs programmes in conjunction with schools such as Flaxmere College, Iona College and Woodford House to teach young people the art of polo playing.
The club became associated with Hawke's Bay Racing five years ago when they sponsored the time honoured Duke of Gloucester Cup, the prestige event for amateur riders in New Zealand and a race that is run at a different venue each year.
Spokesman for the Birchleigh Polo Club, Richard Kettle, says he and his members see it as "a good fit" for their club to be involved in thoroughbred racing.
"Our aim is to get new people into the game of polo and we see amateur riders as some who could easily get involved," Kettle said.
"You can learn to play polo at a level that suits you, be it social or competitive."
Four in a row for HB-bred stayer
Chouxting The Mob, bred and part-owned by Hawke's Bay couple Richard and Liz Wood, brought up his fourth win in a row and his seventh from only 17 starts when taking out another A$140,000 ($146,000) race over 2520m at Flemington last Saturday.
The 5-year-old son of Jimmy Choux, aided by a vigorous ride from champion Australian jockey Damien Oliver, got up in the last few strides to score by half a length.
Stewards issued an eight-meeting suspension to Oliver, who used the whip 10 times before the 100m, which is five more than permitted under the rules.
Chouxting The Mob is trained at Ballarat by Simon Morrish and it was the promising stayer's fourth success at 2400m or further, following victories at Sandown (2400m), Cranbourne (2540m) and Flemington (2500m).
The Woods bred the gelding out of the Reset mare Bidthemobgooday, which they bought from Australia when in-foal to Duporth.
They sold the resultant foal, now called Duplicity, and it has won five races and finished second in last year's New Zealand Cup (3200m).
They sold Chouxting The Mob for $60,000 as a weanling at the 2014 Karaka mixed bloodstock sale but retained a 10 per cent share in the horse.
Talented filly to target HB spring features
Matamata trainer Jacob McKay is confident that Group 1-performed juvenile Aalaalune can go on to better things in her Classic next season and has earmarked two black type races at Hastings as possible early assignments.
"Like everyone we will be trying to get to Hawke's Bay in the spring. There are a couple of options for her there, the Group 3 Gold Trail Stakes (1200m) and the Group 2 Hawke's Bay Guineas (1400m).
Aalaalune, who was purchased for NZ$230,000 out of Westbury Stud's New Zealand Bloodstock Book 1 Sale draft, is still a maiden but was runner-up behind Yourdeel in the Group 1 Sistema Stakes (1200m) at Ellerslie and a close fourth in the Group 1 Manawatu Sires' Produce Stakes (1400m) at Awapuni.
McKay said the Group 1 One Thousand Guineas (1600m) at Riccarton in November will be the filly's main mission.
