Lamborghini had to produce a big performance to win last week's Waipukurau Cup. He wanted to over-race when the pace was very slow in the early stages but jockey Johnathan Parkes then got him to settle at the rear of the field going down the back straight and waited until the last 600m before asking the horse for an effort.
Lamborghini was still equal last and the widest runner when the field swung into the home straight but he then unleashed a powerful finishing burst that saw him bound to the front inside the last 300m and then race away for a 2-1/4 length win.
Lamborghini has now recorded two wins and two thirds from his last four starts, after being successful over 1900m at Wairoa last month. He is owned by Cambridge-based Tony Rider, who has been a long time client of the Lowry/Cullen stable.
The horse is out of the Fiesta Star mare Outraging, who won two races, and was bought for $28,000 from the Select session at the 2012 Karaka yearling sales.
Mare proves too good
Talented Hastings mare Goodsav returned to her best form with a dominant winning performance in a Rating 75 race over 1400m at Waipukurau last week.
It was the Savabeel mare's first success since she took out a 1400-mertre Rating 65 race at Hastings in November 2015.
Trainer Patrick Campbell said Goodsav has had more than her fair share of problems in the interim and he was both relieved and delighted to see her back in the winner's stall.
He said Goodsav had also shown a tendency to be reluctant to take tight gaps between horses in some of her races which had contributed to her disappointing last start performance over 1600m at Trentham in December.
Campbell decided to freshen Goodsav after that race but has had a frustrating time getting her back to the races, with a foot injury and a back problem both flaring up in recent weeks.
She resumed at Waipukurau in great order and proved a class above her five rivals. Jockey Lisa Allpress settled the mare at the tail of the field until the home turn and once she angled her to the outside the acceleration the mare showed was electric. She quickly put a space on the field and cruised to the line 4-3/4 lengths clear of second placed All Charm, with Notionannagins half a length back in third.
Goodsav is now the winner of three races from only 13 starts and has also chalked up two seconds and two thirds, with one of those placings being a second in the Group 3 Cuddle Stakes (1600m) at Trentham this time last year.
The mare is owned by Waikato Stud who race her in partnership with the Goodfellas Syndicate, a group of 15 people who all live in and around the Wellington area. The syndicate is managed by bloodstock agent Phil Cataldo.
Campbell said this week that Goodsav had come through her Waipukurau race in great order and would now contest a $25,000 Rating 85 race over 1400m at Hastings on April 15.
Home track success
Perseverance paid off for Waipukurau couple Tony and Penny Ebbett when their mare Royal Ruby broke through for a well deserved win on her home track last week at her 15th start.
The Ebbett's have bred and raced horses for many years, with Belfast Lad probably their most successful one. His 12 wins included a Foxton Cup (2040m) at Wanganui.
Tony Ebbett is the current course manager at Waipukurau and he and wife Penny are hobby trainers, never having more than one or two horses in work at a time.
Royal Ruby had recorded a second, two thirds and two fourths before last week's win but hadn't raced since October last year.
Penny Ebbett said this week the Per Incanto mare was a bit weak as a young horse and had needed time to strengthen and mature. The intention was for her to resume at the Waipukurau Christmas meeting last December but she kicked a post and injured a leg.
"She has always been a bit weak so by getting injured it probably gave her a bit more time to strengthen up a bit," Ebbett said.
Royal Ruby finished second in a 1000m jumpout at Hastings at the beginning of this month and the Ebbetts have since given her extensive work on their farm property, where there is a steep hill that assists in building up muscles and stamina.
Top South Island jockey Chris Johnson was aboard Royal Ruby last week and bounced the mare away quickly from the 1200-metre barrier to take a clear lead at the end of the first 200m. They never looked like being headed from then on and crossed the line with a three-quarter length advantage over their rivals.
Penny Ebbett said winning a race on their home track was extra special, with so many well wishers and friends passing on their congratulations.
The Ebbetts race Royal Ruby on lease from her Hastings breeders, John and Colleen Duncan.
"We had just lost Belfast Lad and the Duncans said they had this filly that they didn't know what to do with so we took her," Penny recalled.
She is one of two horses they have in work at the moment, the other being an unraced two-year-old gelding by Handsome Ransom.
Significant win for Bary
The win by Chouxperb in a Maiden 1400-metre event at Waipukurau last week was especially significant for his Hastings trainer John Bary.
Bary not only prepares the three-year-old but he also trained the gelding's sire Jimmy Choux and his dam Xpectacular.
Jimmy Choux was an outstanding performer, winning 12 races and five of them at Group 1 level. His New Zealand victories included the New Zealand 2000 Guineas, New Zealand Derby, Windsor Park Plate and the Hawke's Bay Spring Classic while he also won the Rosehill Guineas in Sydney.
Xpectacular only had two race starts for a win and a fifth. She was raced by Bary in partnership with long-time stable client Ivan Grieve. The pair also share in the ownership of Chouxperb along with Bary's mother Ann, Havelock North's Tony Clark, Auckland-based Narendra Balia and two Gisborne men, Alan White and John McLaughlin.
Chouxperb was having his 10th start when he lined up at last week's Waipukurau meeting and was rated perfectly in front all the way by rider Jonathan Riddell. The horse skipped clear rounding the home turn and managed to stave off late challenges from race favourite Ravenhill and Wotamission to hold on by a nose.
Brisbane trip planned
Hawke's Bay-bred All Roads is likely to be campaigned in Brisbane this winter after his powerful winning performance in last Saturday's Group 2 $100,000 Windsor Park Stud Japan/NZ Trophy Race at Tauranga.
It was the horse's sixth victory from only 19 starts and he had also been runner-up three times this campaign, including an unlucky run when cramped for room in the Group 2 Rich Hill Mile at Ellerslie.
The Road To Rock five-year-old was bred by well known Hawke's Bay owner-breeder Don Gordon who sold a majority interest in the horse but still retains a share in him.
Jockey Kelly McCulloch has now been aboard All Roads in five of the horse's six wins. She gave the horse time to find his feet in the early stages of the 1600m feature and then improved his position coming to the home turn. She was able to get a good run through the field and All Roads shot clear before holding out the fast finishing Scapolo by a short neck.
All Roads is likely to have his next start in the Group 1 $200,000 Easter Stakes (1600m) at Ellerslie on April 22 and another top performance there will probably confirm his trip to Queensland.
Saint Kitt adds to SI record
Hastings-trained stayer Saint Kitt added to his impressive form line this season with another game win in last Saturday's $30,000 Hororata Gold Cup at Riccarton.
The seven-year-old Keeper gelding was having his first start for seven weeks when he lined up in the 1800m event and ran the race out strongly to win by half a head in a close four horse finish.
Saint Kitt is raced by Hastings trainer Kelly Burne and her Perth-based son Vinnie Meenehan but has been temporarily placed in the care of Riccarton trainer Pam Robson and has recorded three wins, two seconds, a third and a fourth from his last seven starts in the South Island. His stake earnings from those seven races amounts to $70,850.
Plans are for the horse to remain in Robson's care for three more races at Riccarton over the next month. The first of those is a $30,000 Open 2000m event tomorrow week, followed by the Group 3 $100,000 Canterbury Gold Cup (2000m) on April 22 and the $60,000 Great Autumn Handicap (2500m) on May 6.
Burne said the horse would then return to Hastings and be put aside for a winter spell.