Pep Torque gave her one of the most satisfying wins of her career when he powered to victory in the $65,000 Feilding Gold Cup (2100m) while, in the previous race, Zappa Jak dead-heated for first in a $30,000 Rating 65 race over 2100m.
Both horses were recording back-to-back wins, with Pep Torque backing up from a fresh-up success in a Rating 75 race over 1650m at Waverley on October 21 and Zappa Jak coming off a maiden victory over 2100m at Woodville on October 17.
Lawrence's other win this season was recorded by Real Slim Tradie in a $60,000 Rating 75 race over 1200m on the last day of the Hawke's Bay spring carnival, on October 15.
Real Slim Tradie is the only horse Lawrence is taking to Te Rapa on Saturday, where he will again tackle a Rating 75 race, but this time it will be over 1300m. The extra 100m should suit the big Showcasing gelding, who came from near last on the home turn to win last start.
Real Slim Tradie showed he has trained on the right way since his last start by recording one of the best gallops at Tuesday's Hastings trackwork session, working over 1000m in company in 1:01.8, coming home the last 600 in 35.4.
Kirsty Lawrence is best remembered as the trainer of Intransigent, a horse that became a cult figure after he won three consecutive Kiwifruit Cups at Tauranga, in 2013, 2014 and 2015 as well as the 2013 Taumarunui Cup at Te Rapa and 2014 Hawke's Bay Cup.
She is now following another Cup's path with Pep Torque, saying this week that the horse will now be aimed at the Listed $65,000 Wanganui Cup (2040m) on November 26.
"We did look at running in the Counties Cup the week before but I don't think he is up with those real top-class open handicap horses up there so Wanganui looks a better option."
Pep Torque may be nine years old but he belied his age when scoring a dominant win in last Saturday's feature race at Awapuni.
Aided by a great ride from Kate Hercock, Pep Torque settled perfectly in a trailing position behind the leaders before angling out to lodge a challenge at the top of the home straight. He surged to the front with 300m to run and held on determinedly to score by a length over Zee Falls.
Asked after that win what she thought has brought about the great run of form she is experiencing, Lawrence said being able to work her horses at speed on the Hastings track has been hugely beneficial to both her and Otane-based trainer-jockey Kate Hercock.
"Kate and I have been getting up at half past four in the morning and travelling to Hastings every day to work our horses because our track at Waipukurau has been so wet," Lawrence said.
"It has been hard work but that has probably been the key to our success this year as we have been able to get the work into the horses and get them fit."
Pep Torque had been off the winner's list since February 2021 before scoring his fresh-up victory over 1650m at Waverley, although he had managed four runner-up finishes between the victories including close seconds in both the Listed $50,000 Kaimai Stakes (2000m) at Te Rapa and $40,000 Summer Cup (1550m) at Awapuni.
Lawrence was quietly confident of a good performance from her stable favourite and got the exact result she had desired.
The horse was a $2600 purchase from the thoroughbred online auction site Gavelhouse and has now won nine races and just under $250,000 for his owners, who are Kirsty Lawrence and her husband Steve, their stable employee Susan Best and Gisborne sisters Christina and Dinah Newman.
"He's a real stable favourite and is just really neat to have around," Lawrence said.
"He was very fit going into last Saturday's race and I thought he would relish the good footing.
"I love this little horse and he deserved that win."
By Nadeem out of the Star Way mare Cosmic Flight, Pep Torque comes from an extended family that includes multiple stakes winner Cog Hill and Australian Group 1 winner Ark Regal.
Lawrence said Zappa Jak was a tired horse after last Saturday's gut-busting performance to dead-heat over 2100m and will not race again until the Otaki meeting on November 24, where there is a $30,000 Rating 75 race over 2200m.
Sequoia Star shines bright
The win by Hastings-trained Sequoia Star in a $14,000 maiden race at Rotorua on Thursday of last week brought a huge amount of joy to her connections, some of whom are first-time racehorse owners, while for others it was their first taste of success.
The three-year-old Redwood filly was having only her fourth start when she lined up over 1400m and the victory followed a close second over 1400m at Taupo last month.
Sequoia Star started a warm favourite at Rotorua and was well ridden by promising apprentice Kelsey Hannan. She took the initiative early in a slowly run race, urging her mount forward to sit outside the leader and then kicked her to the front rounding the home turn.
The filly maintained a strong run to the line to win by a neck from Ghazzah, with 1-1/4 lengths back to third-placed Full Of Sincerity.
Sequoia Star is prepared by John Bary and raced by the Red On Red Syndicate, a large group of racing enthusiasts who hail from both the North and South Islands.
The syndicate has leased the filly from her Auckland breeders Daniel and Elias Nakhle and there are a number of Hawke's Bay people involved, including Neil Murphy, Wayne Wooster, Dave de Lange, Ken Taylor, Ray Holder, Wayne Hudson, John Byrne, Vicki Small, Wayne and Andrea Percival, Alan Rigby, Mike Strange, Stephen Wollard, Kylie and Taylor Wakely, Kaine Wilson and two others both with the names Joanne Wilson.
Sequoia Star is bred to be a stayer as she is out of the Red Ransome mare Red Ransom and a full-sister to Suliman, whose eight wins have included two over hurdles.
Bary's racing manager Mike Sanders this week said Sequoia Star will now be aimed at a three-year-old 1600m race at Otaki on November 24, with long-term ambitions including a possible start in the Group 1 New Zealand Oaks (2400m) at Trentham in March next year.
Mick Dee is living the dream
Former Hawke's Bay-based jockey Mick Dee continued his special spring when he got the Chris Waller-trained Manzoice home first in last Saturday's Group 1 A$2 million ($3.46m) Penfolds Victoria Derby (2500m) at Flemington.
It was the 26-year-old's second major success over the Melbourne spring carnival after he landed the A$5 million Caulfield Cup (2400m) on another Waller-trained runner, Durston, on October 15.
This year's VRC Derby developed into a battle between two expat Kiwi jockeys, as James McDonald drove the New Zealand-trained Sharp 'N' Smart to a clear lead in the straight and appeared to have a winning break. The only threat was going to be Manzoice, who was starting to wind up down the outside of the track under the urgings of Dee.
As has been his customary trait, Sharp 'N' Smart gave his all again but couldn't quite hold out the fast-finishing Manzoice and went down by half a length.
For Dee, who has been a quiet achiever among the Victorian metropolitan jockeys ranks since moving there several years ago, the victory was another huge moment in his career.
"If you said to me before this spring that I'd have two major Group 1s coming up. I'd probably laugh," Dee said. "It's pretty surreal and hopefully it can continue."
Dee, who is zeroing in on a career tally of 600 wins, started out in the Hastings stable of Guy Lowry and Grant Cullen before a brief stint with Wanganui trainer Kevin Myers. He then decided to head across the Tasman, where he completed his apprenticeship with Mick Price before freelancing as a fully-fledged jockey.
He missed out on a chance to ride in Tuesday's Melbourne Cup when his mount Lunar Flare was withdrawn on the morning of the race because of a minor hoof injury, but will get a chance to add to his spring tally in today's final day of the Melbourne Cup carnival.
Manzoice is a three-year-old colt by Cambridge-based sire Almanzor and was a A$340,000 yearling purchase by Chris Waller Racing and Mulcaster Bloodstock.
His six-start career has now produced two wins, two placings and more than A$1.4m in stakes. His only two unplaced performances have been when he was ninth in the Group 3 Ming Dynasty Quality (1400m) in September and a strong finishing eighth in the Spring Champion Stakes (2000m) at Randwick on October 22.
Manzoice was bred by Blenheim-based Stephanie Hole and is one of 13 winners from Almanzor's first southern hemisphere crop.
The dam of Manzoice is the Mastercraftsman mare Choice, a winner of the Group 3 Eulogy Stakes (1600m) at Awapuni when prepared by New Plymouth trainer Robbie Patterson.
