“It’s always frustrating when you have to run two nice horses against each other in the same race,” Sanders said.
“I know John doesn’t like to do it but, with a lack of suitable races for these type of horses, he had no option.”
Jockey Craig Grylls settled Lavita Vishvi midfield on the rails and saved every inch of ground before angling to the outside coming to the home turn.
The mare was the widest runner turning in but maintained a sustained finish to the line.
In comparison, stablemate She’s So Reliable was caught three wide for the entire race and, after taking the lead at the top of the home straight, she was very tenacious in defeat.
“It was a great ride by Craig that won the race on Lavita Vishvi while She’s So Reliable just did too much work in the running but certainly lived up to her name as she didn’t give it away,” Sanders said.
“They are both nice horses and they have both come through the race well.”
While Lavita Vishvi is likely to line up in the Manawatu Cup at her next start, She’s So Reliable will now contest a $35,000 rating 75 race over 2200m at Awapuni on December 10.
Lavita Vishvi is owned by Auckland-based Narendra Balia, who has been a loyal supporter of the John Bary stable. He paid $340,000 for the horse from the 2019 Karaka yearling sales, when offered by Waikato Stud.
She is a full sister to Dannevirke Lad who has been a winner in Australia, while another full brother sold for $100,000 at this month’s Ready To Run Two-year-old sale when bought by Cranbourne-based expat New Zealand trainer Trent Busuttin.
Jericho Cup win huge thrill for HB owner
Hawke’s Bay thoroughbred owner-breeder Mick Ormond celebrated one of the most special wins when Bastida claimed last Sunday’s A$288,000 Jericho Cup (4652m) at Warrnambool, in Australia.
Ormond bred Bastida in conjunction with friend Belinda Scott, the pair having raced the horse’s dam Sirani (by Galileo), who won three races in New Zealand when trained by John Sargent.
Sargent, who is now based in Sydney, purchased Bastida for $41,000 when the horse was offered on Gavelhouse and Ormond decided to retain a share. He also made a special trip across the Tasman to watch the horse contest Sunday’s feature.
Bastida won his way into the race after bolting in over 3400m at Canberra the previous Sunday and rider Darryl Horney jnr settled the horse midfield for most of the race.
The son of Pierro unleashed a powerful finish to win the stamina-sapping event by two lengths from the Kevin Myers-trained raider Botti and another Kiwi-bred in Epizeel third.
Inaugurated in 2018, the Jericho Cup is open to only Australian and New Zealand-bred horses to mark the Anzac origins of the race, commemorating the light horse involvement in World War I, and run on the fourth Sunday after the Gr.1 Melbourne Cup (3200m).
The original Jericho Cup was run in 1918 over 3 miles through desert sands and its 100th anniversary was marked with the introduction of the modern Jericho Cup.
Bastida’s win held special significance for Ormond as his great-grandfather’s brother fought in World War I and rode in the light infrantry.
“I’ve not been nervous before a race like this, but the buildup to this is something special,” Ormond enthused post race.
“This is really good. You call him a New South Wales horse but Sarge [John Sargent] is a Kiwi, I’m a Kiwi and Bastida is a Kiwi!
“It doesn’t matter where we’re from. It’s a wonderful bloody race.”
Ormond paid a special tribute to Sargent for his training ability, saying he was able to get Bastida to run 8000m in two weeks and win twice.
The win capped a memorable weekend for Sargent, who also trained the New Zealand-bred Gin Martini to win the listed A$175,750 Sandown Cup (3200m) at Caulfield on Saturday.
The expat New Zealand trainer says his secret to training stayers is fairly simple: get the right horse, and a lot of long slow work.
Sargent’s record with stayers also includes two Wellington Cup wins (Young Centaur in 2008 and Red Ruler in 2010), a New Zealand Cup (Everswindell in 2007) and Oaks victories on both sides of the Tasman.
He attributes his record to the education he got while working in Britain and the way he sources horses.
“I did five years in Newmarket and learned a lot about staying training. It showed me how much more long, slow work you can give them — we don’t have the same facilities but you can still do a lot of that type of work around the track,” Sargent said.
“That type of long slow work, along with a lot of walking and swimming, is especially good for getting these horses out to 2 miles and even 4652m.”
Bastida comes from the family of the United States grade one winner Black Mamba, Gr.1 Australian Derby (2400m) winner Roman Emperor and Gr.2 Wellington Guineas winner Rios.
Hastings races Wednesday
Hawke’s Bay Racing will stage a twilight Christmas race meeting at the Hastings racecourse on Wednesday next week.
An eight-race programme has been scheduled, with the first timed for 2.45pm and the last at 6.39pm.
The gates will be open from 1.30pm with an admission charge of $10 and under-16s free.
The Sasanof, Desert Gold and Committee rooms in the members stand will be open to the public.
The feature race on the day will be a $19,000 Dunstan Feeds Qualifying race over 2200m.
NZTR posts $10.7m surplus
New Zealand Thoroughbred Racing recorded a surplus of $10.7 million for the 2021-22 racing season, slightly exceeding the previous year’s result of $10.57m.
Higher funding than budgeted and lower stakes expenditure compared with budget due to some lost meetings, were two major contributory factors.
NZTR’s funding from Racing NZ increased to a total of $99.6m, up from $85.2m in the previous year.
The funding increase was assisted by improved TAB NZ profitability and duty payments being higher than budgeted, including back payments held over from the previous season.
Racefields payments increased on budget, with a number of new, smaller operators signed with Racing NZ and back payments bolstering this funding stream.
Point of Consumption Commission was also received by Racing NZ from the Department of Internal Affairs for the first time, with NZTR receiving just under $1m.
Enhancement funding of $1.3m supported overall income received.
NZTR stakes funding increased from $51.8m in a Covid-19-affected 2020-21 year to $63m.
Due to the loss of some meetings to Covid-19 or weather, and the impact of ongoing restrictions on on-course funding streams, club funding was down slightly from $14m to $13.8m.
Compensation payments to owners, trainers and jockeys for abandoned meetings increased from $96,900 to $434,500.
NZTR infrastructure expenditure of $3.1m represented a significant spend on behalf of the industry, directed mainly at the three synthetic track projects and the reconstruction of Te Aroha.
Salaries and other staff costs have increased to 5.1 per cent of total revenue. The increase is made up of $563,953 in contractors and other one-off costs, $454,412 for new roles and $271,332 in re-baselining salaries to the market due to staff turnover.
Stakes increases of $7m for the 2021-22 season were announced by NZTR in July 2021 for the period August 28, 2021, to April 2, 2022.
These increases included industry minimum stakes increasing from $10,000 to $12,000, iconic minimums from $40,000 to $50,000, premier minimums (outside maidens) from $30,000 to $40,000 and feature race increases of between $2500 and $7500 to minimums between $15,000 and $40,000.
Group and listed race minimums were also lifted, with Gr.1s increased $20,000 to $220,000 and the remainder up $10,000 – Gr.2s to $110,000, Gr.3s to $80,000 and listed races to $60,000.
