A gear change brought about a required form improvement by Lady Guinness at Gisborne last Saturday. The mare had proved hard to handle at her last start when she laid out entering the home straight at Tauherenikau and threw away an advantage she had on her rivals at that point.
Campbell opted for a one-cup blinker on the off-side of the horse's head for last Sunday's contest and the change worked the oracle. The plan was to try and settle the mare in the trail but, with no early pace, rider Sam Weatherley took her straight to the front and dictated the pace to a nicety. He kicked her clear on the point of the home turn and she ran straight as a gun-barrel up the home straight to hold out the fast finishing Tavigarde by half a neck.
"She had been going well but she pretty much threw it away last time when she went a bit rank on the home bend," Campbell said.
"I had a bit of a tinker with her gear and worked her in a one-cup blinker during the week which seemed to suit her."
Campbell is part of the large syndicate that races the mare on lease from her breeder Windsor Park Stud and is keen to find a black-type assignment for her in the future.
"She is a handy galloper who can handle a bit of cut in the ground, so she should be suited by the autumn tracks," he said.
Jason Brittin manages the syndicate that races Lady Guinness and has a 20 per cent share. The other members are Don, Rob and Alistair Poulgrain, Aaron Brittin, Nick Dorwood, Aaron Bourke, Jamie Flett, Mark O'Shaughnessy, Kelly O'Rourke, Eddie and Scotty Burn and Kim Bone.
Two big racedays at Hastings
Hastings racegoers are in for a bonanza week. Two feature meetings are now scheduled to be run on the Hastings track within the next six days, both carding important black type races.
With the Otaki track, at this stage, deemed unsuitable for racing tomorrow's Otaki-Maori meeting has been transferred to Hastings. It is the club's biggest raceday of the year and features the running of the Group 1 $200,000 Haunui Farm Weight-for-age Classic.
The 1600m event has drawn small fields in recent years but the change of venue has enticed a number of extra horses from northern stables and there is a full field of 14 entered. They include last season's New Zealand champion horse of the year Bonneval, last season's champion sprinter Start Wondering, other Group 1 winners Authentic Paddy and Consensus, outstanding performer Scapolo and the highly talented trio of Beefeater, Devise and Savvy Dreams.
Gates open at 11am and there is free admission to the racecourse and free access to the Hylton Smith Members Stand.
The first race is timed for 12.33pm and the last at 4.38pm.
There will also be free admission to next Thursday's Hawke's Bay meeting at Hastings, which will feature the running of the Group 3 $70,000 Little Avondale Lowland Stakes.
The 2100m event is one of the races in the New Zealand Bloodstock Filly of the Year series and is expected to draw a high-class field of three-year-old fillies including the Group 1 New Zealand 1000 Guineas winner Hasahalo, the exciting Cambridge-trained pair of Treasure and Milseain and the Michael and Matthew Pitman trained stablemates Savvy Coup and Pinup Coup.
The Lowland Stakes has proven to be a tremendous guide to the Group 1 New Zealand Oaks (2400m) to be run at Trentham next month, with the seven of the first four horses home in the last two runnings of the Hastings race going on to fill a first-four placing in the Oaks.
Two years ago Sofia Rosa took out the Lowland in front of Strada Cavallo, Amazing Lady and Fanatic. The following month Sofia Rosa was again first past the post in the Oaks from Fanatic and Strada Cavallo, with the first two placings reversed after an inquiry.
Last year Bonneval won both the Lowland Stakes and New Zealand Oaks double. Savvy Dreams finished second to her in the Lowland and filled third place in the Oaks while Devise was third in the Hastings race and second in the Oaks. Nicoletta was fourth in both races.
There will be an eight race programme next Thursday and it will be a twilight affair. The first race is timed for 2.12pm and the last at 6.27pm. The gates open at 1pm and there will also be free access to the Hylton Smith Members Stand.
HB breeder shares in win
Lubaya, a three-year-old co-bred by Hawke's Bay's Doug Phillips, broke through for an impressive maiden win at last Friday's Wanganui meeting.
The three-year-old Rip Van Winkle Mare came from near last at the 600 metres to get up and snatch a long neck victory over Detonate over 1360m.
Lubaya is out of the Generous mare Lioness and was bred by Phillips in partnership with Windsor Park Stud and was sold for $85,000 at the premier session of the 2016 Karaka yearling sales.
The filly is a half-sister to Lion Tamer, who won six races from the Murray Baker stable including two Group 1 races, the VRC Derby (2500m) and the Underwood Stakes (1800m).
Miss Wilson back next week
Multiple stakes winner Miss Wilson will be back in action on her home course next Thursday.
The Hastings mare has been freshened since she finished a luckless eighth in the Group 1 Telegraph (1200m) at Trentham last month.
"She copped a couple of checks and was last at the crossing before she got put off balance again, but that's Group 1racing," trainer John Bary said.
"She ran the third fastest last 600m so under those circumstances it was a good run."
The younger half-sister by Stratum to the Hawke's Bay conditioner's former champion three-year-old and multiple Group 1 winner Jimmy Choux has won six of her 23 starts.
Miss Wilson doubled her black type tally in the spring when she was successful in the Group 3 Red Badge Sprint (1400m), having won the Group 3 Cuddle Stakes (1600m) last season.
"We'll take the softer option and she'll run in the open 1400m here at Hastings on March 1 and then we'll make a plan from there," Bary said.
"She could defend her Cuddle title and then maybe look at Te Aroha again."
Placed at the recent Foxton trials over 1000m, Miss Wilson ran fourth in the last edition of the Group 1 New Zealand Thoroughbred Breeders' Stakes (1600m) at Te Aroha in April last year.
By-monthly award winners
Megan Harvey and Sam Nelson, the owner-breeders of Kaipawe, are the recipients of the Kevin Wood Memorial by-monthly trophy for December and January.
The award is presented by the Hawke's Bay Racehorse Owners Association and Kaipawe won a 1300m maiden race at Hastings on December 13 at his third start, after a fourth placing over 1200m on the same track in November.
Top mare bound for Brisbane
Volpe Veloce will chase top Australian honours at the Queensland winter carnival.
The high-class four-year-old broke through at the highest level during her summer campaign when she won the Group 1Railway (1200m) at Ellerslie on New Year's Day and was a luckless seventh in the Group 1 Telegraph (1200m) at Trentham in January.
Her Ellerslie success completed her full house of black type credits after roup Two, Group Three and Listed successes last season.
Volpe Veloce was given a break after her Telegraph outing and is now back in pre-training.
Graham Richardson, who trains the mare in partnership with Gavin Parker, said she might have one race here before she goes to Brisbane, where the Stradbroke and the Tatts Tiara will be her main assignments.
The Group 1 Stradbroke Handicap (1350m) will be run at Eagle Farm on June 9 with the Group 1 Tatts Tiara (1600m) at the Gold Coast a fortnight later.
Brisbane plans for Queen
The Queensland winter carnival remains firmly on the radar of the multiple stakes winner Prom Queen.
"She's fine and she'll likely kick off in mid-April, there's a race at Te Rapa for her and a week later one at Doomben, but we'll give her a trial first and take it from there," co-trainer Kenny Rae said.
Prom Queen has won eight of her 11 starts, four of them at black type level, and was fourth last time out in the Group 3 Bonecrusher Stakes (1400m).
"She had four or five weeks off. She's come back a bit bigger and stronger," Rae said.
