Free Thyme looked a sitting duck to be run down in the final stages but fought gamely, sticking his head out close to the line to score a long-neck win.
The gelding was having his 16th start and had recorded two seconds and three thirds previously.
Co-trainer Jordan Bassett said this week that Free Thyme had shown good promise early in his career but was then sidelined for several months when he suffered a bone chip in a knee.
“He has always been a pretty tough horse and tries hard all the time,” Bassett said.
“He has gone close to winning before but we thought the day would never come.”
Free Thyme was bred by Richard McKenzie and is out of the High Chaparral mare Erbe, who raced only five times for a win and two minor placings when prepared by the then-Hastings partnership of Guy Lowry and Grant Cullen.
“She [Erbe] had plenty of ability but broke down,” Bassett said.
Free Thyme is the first foal out of Erbe and was initially sold as a yearling for $85,000 at the 2018 Karaka sales. But Bassett said the buyers didn’t want him and McKenzie was able to buy him back.
“We wanted to keep the breed going and the mare has since left a three-year-old gelding by Darci Brahma and a yearling filly by Darci Brahma.”
The three-year-old has just come back into work and is the only other horse McKenzie and Bassett are training on the Hastings track at the moment.
Stakes race for in-form mare
Hastings trainer Lee Somervell is now seriously considering tackling next Saturday’s Gr.3 $100,000 Cuddle Stakes (1600m) at Trentham with One Dream One Soul after the mare’s dominant win in a rating 75 race over the same distance at Awapuni on Wednesday last week.
The Ekraar four-year-old mare was one of the lowest-rated horses in the Awapuni race but gave her rivals a head start and a sound beating.
After being squeezed up at the start, jockey Joe Kamaruddin found himself back third last on One Dream One Soul when the field settled down, but didn’t panic.
He waited until the last 600m before asking the mare to improve and she worked around the field to be the widest horse rounding the home bend.
The leaders had a good break at that stage but One Dream One Soul then hit top gear and powered home down the outside of the track to race clear in the final stages and win by 1¼ lengths.
“It was a great win and well deserved as she has had no luck in just about all her starts this time in,” Somervell said this week.
“They say she has only won three races from 24 starts but she should have won more as she has been so unlucky.
“She ran the last 600m of last week’s race in 33.44s so it was some effort.”
Although she has graced the winner’s stall only three times, One Dream One Soul has chalked up five seconds and a third and has amassed $86,790 in stake earnings.
She ran second in the Gr.2 Lowland Stakes (2100m) at Hastings 12 months ago and Somervell believes she is capable of picking up a good stakes race.
“She was a pretty good three-year-old last season and is even better now, and I think she will be even better as a five-year-old,” Somervell added.
He said he would have liked to have had Joe Kamaruddin back on the mare if she runs at Trentham next Saturday, but he has commitments at the Tauranga meeting that day so he has tentatively booked another in-form jockey in Kosi Asano.
One Dream One Soul is a younger full sister to One Prize One Goal, a horse that Somervell trained to win five races and more than $100,000 in stakemoney a few seasons ago, and she is also a half-sister to the four-race winner Jacob Gambino.
They are all out of the now-deceased Towkay mare Sheeza Kinda Magic.
One Dream One Soul is raced by Somervell’s partner Shirin Wood in partnership with her Australian-based son Calvin, close friend Pene Wisdom and the Ryan Boys Syndicate, which includes two of Wood’s grandchildren.
Dominant two-year-old win
Cu Chulainn, an impressive debut winner of the two-year-old race at Wingatui last Saturday, has a strong Hawke’s Bay connection.
The Burgundy gelding is out of Per Incanto mare Niamh Elizabeth, who was bred by Hawke’s Bay Racing board member Ken Browne, and descends from a great Okawa Stud family.
Browne bought Niamh Elizabeth’s dam Trove from Tom and Jane Lowry at Okawa Stud and she won him two races.
He then bred Strive (two wins) Gusto (one win) and Thrive (five wins), with Niamh Elizabeth being the fourth foal out of the mare to race.
Te Akau principal David Ellis purchased Niamh Elizabeth for $62,500 at the 2014 Karaka yearling sales and is now breeding from the mare in partnership with close friends Glenn and Cathie Holmes
Niamh Elizabeth won only one race from 13 starts but is proving a success at stud, having also left the two-race winner and multiple stakes-placed Irish Red as well as Sorcha, who recorded her fifth consecutive minor placing from as many starts when a close third over 1200m at Taupo on Wednesday.
Cu Chulainn is raced by the Te Akau Irish Warrior Racing Partnership, a large group that includes several Hawke’s Bay people.
Cu Chulainn went into last Saturday’s Wingatui race on the back of two good trial performances, a win over 700m at Tauranga and a close second over 800m at Avondale.
He jumped away well in the 820m event before being steadied off the leaders’ heels by jockey Joe Kamaruddin.
Once the field straightened up for the run to the line, Kamaruddin brought Cu Chulainn into the clear and the two-year-old cruised past his rivals to score by four lengths.
Trainer Mark Walker was delighted by the horse’s debut performance and said all going well, the horse will now be aimed at the listed $65,000 Berkley Stud Champagne Stakes (1200m) at Riccarton on May 6.
“It was a really good win by a horse with a bright future and it was a tough effort considering he only left our Matamata stable the previous Tuesday and travelled nearly 1300km to get to Wingatui.”
Cu Chulainn was one of two impressive winners produced by Mark Walker at Wingatui last Saturday, the other being Romancing The Moon in the listed $65,000 NZB Insurance Stakes (1400m).
The El Roca three-year-old was also ridden by apprentice Joe Kamaruddin and made her rivals look second rate as she trailed the leaders to the home turn before racing away for a 5½-length victory.
Romancing The Moon is raced by the Te Akau Moonstruck Syndicate, with one of the members being Waipukurau’s Michael Ormsby.
The filly was purchased by David Ellis for $50,000 at the 2021 Karaka yearling sales and now has a record of three wins and four seconds from only 10 starts.
Walker said the filly will now contest the Gr.1 $350,000 Levin Classic (1600m) at Trentham on March 18 and is then likely to be spelled.
“She’s had a pretty long campaign, but has really impressed winning two of her last four starts,” Walker said.
“There is no shortage of toughness in her attitude to racing and the way she won last Saturday suggests she’ll go well in the Levin Classic too.”
Cambridge Stud public visit
Ever wanted to get a glimpse behind the farmgate at world-renowned thoroughbred nursery Cambridge Stud?
On Sunday, March 12, the public will get a chance to visit one of New Zealand’s most famous thoroughbred stud farms.
Visitors will have an opportunity to view the Heritage Centre, which showcases the achievements of the stud’s original owners, Sir Patrick and Lady Justine Hogan, as well as learn about the new era of the stud, including touring the facilities on a six-seater golf cart.
Visitors must register at: openfarms.co.nz/visit-a-farm
