Cross, who is an equine physiotherapist in Australia, purchased Callsign Mav for $3000 as a weanling and races him partnership with Bary and five other Australians. The horse has been at Bary's Hastings property since he was broken in.
"He's always been a beautiful moving horse," Bary's racing manager Mike Sanders said this week.
"He has got that really fluid motion that you love in a horse."
Callsign Mav was bred by Windsor Park Stud and is out of the talented Volksraad mare Raadisi, who only raced 15 times for three wins, three seconds and two thirds. She is now deceased but also left the winners Sea Major and Elegant Assassin.
Sanders said Callsign Mav is now likely to have another mid-week race within the next few weeks before being aimed at the Group 2 $100,000 Sacred Falls Hawke's Bay Guineas (1400m) at on the final day of the Hawke's Bay spring carnival on October 5.
Veuve Clicquot a cheap buy
Hastings-trained Veuve Clicquot, who took out a 1400m maiden race on her home track last week, is proving to be a bargain buy for her Taradale owner Neil Kirton.
Kirton, a current board member on the Hawke's Bay Regional Council, bought the Rock 'N' Pop 4-year-old through the thoroughbred auction site Gavelhouse for only $1000 and she has now won him almost $10,000 in stakes.
Formerly trained at Awapuni, Veuve Clicquot had 16 starts before being bought by Kirton and had contested several stakes races as a 3-year-old. She has now had four starts from the Hastings stable of Lee Somervell for a win, a second and a third.
"She has always been able to gallop but is a horse that has just needed time," Somervell said this week.
"She was a good second at Hastings in May in her first start for us and then got bogged down on a very heavy track at Wanganui in her next run. She then went another good race for third at Hastings last month and it was a really good win last week."
Veuve Clicquot certainly had to be tough to win as she was tightened for room soon after the start which put her back to midfield. She was then forced to race three-wide for the entire journey but ranged up to the leaders on the home turn and apprentice Holly Andrew kicked her to the front soon after. She was entitled to get a bit tired in the final stages but maintained a strong run to the line to win by three-quarters of a length.
Another Hastings-trained horse, the first starter Overstayer, produced a huge run for second when coming from near last on the home turn while the form runner Lincoln Town was a neck back in third.
Somervell said he has now turned Veuve Clicquot out for a 10-day break and, when she resumes full work, he intends aiming her for a $22,500 Rating 65 race over 1400m on the first day of the Hawke's Bay spring carnival on August 31.
Veuve Clicquot is out of the American-bred mare Megan's Tough Love who has also produced the two-time winner Flying Meg.
Pincanto caps consistent form
Hawke's Bay owned and trained Pincanto finally broke through for another win after a string of minor placings when she put up a gutsy performance to take out a Rating 65 race over 1200m at last week's Hawke's Bay meeting.
The 5-year-old Per Incanto mare last graced the winner's stall when she scored a runaway victory in a 1300m maiden race at Awapuni in November 2017. However, since that success she has chalked up four seconds, seven thirds and four fourths and has been narrowly beaten in several of those runs.
Pincanto produced a tough performance to win last week. She drew the outside barrier and was forced to race at least three-wide for the entire journey.
She was five-wide making the home turn but kept up a strong finishing burst down the outside of the track, for apprentice Eilish McCall, to get up and win by a head from Not Usual Delight.
The win followed Pincanto's good second at the last Hawke's bay meeting, on June 29, where she tried to lead all the way over 1400m but was run down late.
Pincanto is trained at Waipukurau by Penny and Tony Ebbett who race the mare in partnership with her Havelock North breeders Dave and Jenny Morison and three others.
The Ebbetts have an 80 per cent lease in the horse with the Morisons and the other three men leasing the other 20 per cent between them.
Taupo-based Roger Harvey, a close friend of the Morisons, and his brother Graeme have taken a racing share along with Taupo stock agent David Gash.
Pincanto was originally trained by the Cambridge partnership of Murray Baker and Andrew Forsman and had seven starts from that stable for two seconds and three fifths.
"She has always shown she can gallop and finished fifth in a Listed race at Ellerslie as a 2-year-old, but I don't think the big stable environment suited her," Dave Morison recalled.
The Ebbetts only train one or two horses at a time but have a good set up in Waipukurau where they are able to have access to hills as well as being able to do fast work on the Waipukurau track. The smaller stable environment seems to have made all the difference for Pincanto.
Friedrich head of Chinese venture
Des Friedrich, a former CEO of Hawke's bay Racing, is one of two New Zealanders helping to develop a new racing venture in China.
Friedrich, who has a wealth of Australasian experience in thoroughbred administration, and Robbie Hewetson, a former assistant trainer, have been employed to help with the racing management of a state-of-the-art racecourse at Hohhot, the capital of Inner Mongolia.
Friedrich, who has been appointed the CEO of racing, and Hewetson, the senior racing steward, arrived at Hohhot on May 8 and the venue was officially opened on June 29.
"It truly is a world-class facility and it really impressed everyone," Hewetson said.
"It's a brand new track which has been built within the last couple of years.
"There's a 2200m grass track, a sand track of 1750m and it's a lot like Sha Tin. It's the same profile and there's stabling for 348 horses at this stage.
It is a combined venture under the name Mengxing Rider by an Inner Mongolian government company, which owns 51 per cent, and Mr Lin Lang, the Inner Mongolia Rider Horse principal known as "Mr Wolf," whose company has the other 49 per cent.
With stints as secretary of the Egmont Racing Club and Counties Racing Club and chief executive of Hawke's Bay Racing and the same roles in Australia at Darwin and Alice Springs, Friedrich was looking to ease into semi-retirement when the opportunity arose to help steer the Hohhot ship.
"The offer came out of the blue and it's a challenge too good to pass up," he said.
"It cost NZ$250 million to set up and the infrastructure is unbelievable. As well as the racecourse, there is a horse arena alongside a function centre. Truly, it has everything."
The six-storey grandstand also caters for accommodation with approximately 100 hotel rooms and the racetrack has already proved a winner.
The racecourse has been built to cater for all breeds of horses and, of the thoroughbreds, Friedrich said close to 95 per cent of them are New Zealand-bred.
Though racing officially began for the weekend of June 29-30, the next race meeting is not until August 3 and racing will then be held each Saturday and Sunday through to early October.
A rating system has been created along with a simplified Rules of Racing and the prizemoney has been set for the major races.
"The Group One races will be run for the New Zealand equivalent of $225,000 and the Group Twos for $110,000," Hewetson said.