Apprentice jockey Temyia Taiaroa guides Hastings-trained The Stoney One across the line for a half-length win in a rating 75 race over 1200m at last Saturday’s Hawke’s Bay meeting.
The saying “when the going gets tough the tough get going” was never more evident than when Hastings-trained Rhodesian out-slogged his rivals to win the final event last Saturday, the second day of the Colliers Hawke’s Bay Spring Carnival.
On a day when a bitterly cold southwesterly wind and hail-like rain spoilt what would have been a perfect race day, the 2100m last race on the card proved to be a survival of the fittest.
By that stage of the day, track conditions had deteriorated from a slow-7 at the start of the day’s racing to a heavy-9, resulting in several late scratchings including one of the pre-post favourites for the Gr.1 Arrowfield Stud Plate in La Crique.
Rhodesian is prepared by the training partnership of Paul Nelson and Corrina McDougal and, if any stable can get horses to perform at their peak in testing track conditions, they can.
Rhodesian was race fit, having his fourth start for the season. He had stamina built into his legs from working over the hills at Paul Nelson’s Air Hill Stud property, and his one previous win had been over 1610m at Hastings in July, when the track was rated a heavy-10.
Despite these facts the Rip Van Winkle 6-year-old started one of the outsiders in the 15-horse field, returning a dividend of $35.60 for a win and $9.40 for a place.
It was fitting that Rhodesian was ridden to victory by Jonathan Riddell, a jockey who has had a long, successful association with Paul Nelson’s stable, especially in jumping races.
Riddell was one of the country’s best jumps jockeys for several seasons and won most of the country’s major hurdle and steeplechase races on horses prepared from Nelson’s Air Hill Stud property. Nowadays, while keeping his weight constantly in check, he concentrates on only flat-race riding.
Rhodesian’s book weight last Saturday was 58kg, which is about a kilogram more than Riddell can comfortably ride at. He rode two winners on the day, the other being aboard Lantern Way in the Gr.2 $175,000 AHD Animal Health Direct Hawke’s Bay Guineas (1400m), where he rode at half a kilogram overweight at 57.5kg.
Riddell bounced Rhodesian out well from an inside draw to have him in a perfect trailing position on the inside and bided his time until just before the home turn. He then urged his mount forward to take the lead rounding the home turn and kicked him clear early in the straight.
Race favourite Canheroc started to mount a challenge inside the final 250m but there is probably no more vigorous rider in a finish than Riddell, and he was able to extract every inch of energy out of Rhodesian to win by a long neck.
Rhodesian is out of the Zabeel mare Laezeel and started out in the Matamata stable of Pam Gerard and Mike Moroney, before being transferred to Nelson and McDougal in April this year.
The horse is raced by Waikato-based Ray Batten and his wife and was sent to Nelson and McDougal to be tried as a jumper.
Paul Nelson says the horse already jumps okay and is bred to excel over fences because he is a half-brother to Laekeeper, the winner of eight races and six of them in hurdle races.
What Hastings-trained 5-year-old The Stoney One lacks in stature, he more than makes up with in heart, as he showed when scoring a gutsy win in a $65,000 rating 75 race at Hastings last Saturday.
The Pierro gelding was the smallest of the seven runners in the 1200m event, but showed size doesn’t always matter.
Apprentice jockey Temyia Taiaroa bounced The Stoney One out quickly from the barrier and they were caught three wide on the speed in the early running.
She moved her diminutive mount forward to challenge leader Iffshecan approaching the home turn and took the lead soon after.
Taiaroa then kept her mount balanced and brought him down the middle of the track, in the best footing, and he fought off the challengers to win by half a length.
It was The Stoney One’s third win from only 12 starts and he has been a model of consistency for his Hastings trainer Guy Lowry, having also chalked up five seconds and two thirds.
“He’s a tough little horse who tries hard,” Lowry said.
“He is now having a quiet 10 days to get over the run and will be aimed at a $40,000 rating 75 race over 1200m at Trentham on November 4.”
Temyia Taiaroa has been aboard The Stoney One in his last two wins, but Lowry said he may have to find another rider for the horse in that Trentham race.
“He is now rated on 75 points so he will be at the top of the handicap. I might have to get an apprentice that can claim 3 or 4kg,” Lowry said this week.
“Temyia rides the horse well and he runs for her but she can only claim 1kg.”
The Stoney One is raced by Cambridge-based Tony Rider and Peter Jeffares, from Auckland, and was a $45,000 purchase from the 2020 Karaka yearling sales.
He is Australian bred and is out of the Charge Forward mare Western Gem, the winner of four races from 10 starts in Western Australia.
Tony Rider operates Milan Park Stud in Cambridge and has been one of the most loyal clients of the Lowry stable.
The Gr.1 Melbourne Cup (3200m) dream is over for this year for the connections of Sharp ‘N’ Smart.
The reigning New Zealand Horse of the Year has been ruled out for the rest of the spring after a veterinary examination revealed he has a viral infection.
The Graeme and Debbie Rogerson-trained gelding put in an uncharacteristically poor showing when last in Saturday’s Gr.1 Arrowfield Stud Plate (1600m) at Hastings, with Monday’s blood test revealing the reason.
“He has got a viral blood disorder,” Graeme Rogerson said.
“He hasn’t got a bacterial infection, he has a viral one, so we are treating him. We are going to do another blood [test] in 12 days’ time and that will say what we do with him this time in.
“The horse comes first and all the owners are right behind us.”
As a result, Sharp ‘N’ Smart has been ruled out of immediate targets, including the Gr.1 Livamol Classic (2100m) at Hastings on October 14, the Gr.1 Cox Plate (2040m), and Gr.1 Melbourne Cup (3200m).
While his Australian hopes have been dashed this spring, Rogerson is holding out hope they may still get to Hong Kong in December with his charge, but said they have another plan if that doesn’t eventuate.
“He has been inoculated for Hong Kong, but we will see what happens. We will see whether he gets there or whether he races in the autumn and goes up there for the Queen Elizabeth (Gr.1, 2000m) in April.”
Talented mare Campionessa is another horse who will be missing from the G.1 $450,000 Livamol Classic on the last day of the Colliers Hawke’s Bay Spring carnival after suffering an illness.
The Contributor mare, winner of seven races from 24 starts, beat only one runner home in last Saturday’s Gr.1 Arrowfield Stud Plate (1600m) at Hastings, and has since been found to have picked up a bug.
“She had a bit of a temperature on Sunday morning and so she is going to go out for a short break,” co-trainer Sam Bergerson said.
“She had a blood taken and it didn’t come back that flash, so we are just going to treat her with antibiotics and give her a quiet couple of weeks and then build her towards racing over the summer.”
It was better news for the Te Akau stable’s other runner in the Arrowfield Plate, Aromatic, who finished a good seventh after suffering severe interference at the top of the home straight.
“I thought she was strong through the line and we are going to have a crack at the Livamol Classic with her,” Bergerson said.
“The step up in trip will really suit her.”
Exciting 3-year-old Tokyo Tycoon has been ruled out of the Gr.1 Al Basti Equiworld Dubai New Zealand 2000 Guineas (1600m) at Riccarton next month.
The heavy going proved too tough at Hastings on Saturday for the Mark Walker and Sam Bergerson-trained runner, with the $1.40 favourite finishing fifth in the Gr. 2 Hawke’s Bay Guineas (1400m).
Bergerson was met with a very tired horse after the race, and the decision was made to send the talented son of Satono Aladdin for a spell and shift their focus towards the $1.5 million Karaka Million 3YO Classic (1600m) in January.
“The track didn’t suit and his jockey, Opie Bosson, said he never felt comfortable,” Bergerson said.
“It was quite loose, and he couldn’t accelerate on that ground. I looked at him in the tie-up stall after the race and he was pretty knackered.
“He left feed over the weekend. We chucked him on the scales and he was pretty light for him.
“We are going to give him three weeks out in the grass and let him recover, and then just aim him for the Karaka Million at the end of January.”
For single Hawke’s Bay residents, Valentine’s Day isn’t usually a banger.