Apprentice jockey Jim Chung drives Duncan Creek to the line for a three-quarter length win in a Rating 75 race over 205om at Wanganui last Saturday. He will now contest today’s Hawke’s Bay Cup.
John Jenkins is a longtime racing journalist based in Hawke’s Bay.
After several close minor placings, Hastings trainer Patrick Campbell would like nothing more than to win a Hawke’s Bay Cup and he will get another chance for an elusive victory when he starts Duncan Creek in today’s 2200m feature at Trentham.
Campbell has spent most of his life based in Hastings and started his training career there in partnership with Bruce Marsh in the early 1970s.
The two went their separate ways after a few years, Marsh shifting to Woodville while Campbell remained in Hastings where he built a highly successful stable, training a string of top class gallopers including Group 1 winners Burletta, Avedon and Merry Maiden.
He also had another great earner in his stable back in those days in the way of budding jockey Jimmy Cassidy. He served his apprenticeship under Campbell before, first moving to Palmerston North and then to Sydney, where he went on to become one of Australasia’s most successful jockeys.
Cassidy kicked home his first ever winner aboard the Patrick Campbell-trained Tarlton at Hastings in August 1978.
Eight months later Tarlton, with Cassidy aboard, lined up in the 1979 Hawke’s Bay Cup and fought a neck and neck tussle to the line with Lone Hand (ridden by Des Harris) before going down by half a head.
Campbell has had a burning desire to win a Hawke’s Bay Cup ever since. He went close again in 1988 when Lagerfeld was beaten a neck by Finezza Belle and, five years later, he produced Val D’Arno to finish second behind Surfers Paradise.
Campbell then spent several years training overseas and, upon returning, he trained Royal Jazz to finish third in the 2010 running of the Hawke’s Bay Cup before preparing Hunta Pence to contest the race five times between 2018 and 2023, his best placing being a third behind Richie McHorse and Our Abbadean in 2018.
Duncan Creek earned a start in today’s Listed $120,000 Hawke’s Bay Cup when scoring an all-the-way win in a Rating 75 race over 2050m at Wanganui last Saturday, in the hands of apprentice Jim Chung. It was just his second start over a middle distance and followed a third over 2040m at Wanganui on March 15.
It was also his first win since taking out a 1300m Rating 75 race at Trentham in December 2023.
Campbell said this week Duncan Creek has come through last Saturday’s race in great order but is the first to admit the gelding is not an ideal type for a Hawke’s Bay Cup, given his lack of experience in distance races along with his breeding and general demeanour.
The 5-year-old is bred to be a sprinter, being by Super Easy out of a King’s Chapel mare. He will be stepping up to 2200m for the first time and does have an attitude that can be very unpredictable.
As a young horse Duncan Creek was a real handful to just get on and off the track on training mornings, ducking and diving in different directions or just being plain stubborn.
Campbell has done a marvellous job to get the horse to be a lot more settled in his work and also to run out a middle distance strongly when he has previously been suspect at anything beyond 1400m.
But Campbell is also mindful that the horse can decide to switch off when in front in races and thought as much when the horse started to waver early in the home straight last Saturday.
“You could see he was thinking about it but Jim kept at him and he really put in the last bit,” Campbell said.
Duncan Creek is owned by his Dannevirke breeder Alex Smith and now boasts a record of four wins, 11 seconds and a third from 42 starts. He has now won more than $216,000 in stakemoney.
Duncan Creek has drawn barrier four in today’s Valley D’Vine Hawke’s Bay Cup and gets in on the minimum weight of 53kg, which is 6kg less than he carried to victory at Wanganui last Saturday.
Chapinteel bounces back to form
Hawke’s Bay thoroughbred owner-breeder Peter Grieve’s racing colours were back in the winner’s stall on Thursday of last week when Chapinteel bounced back to form with fresh up success in a Rating 75 race over 1600m.
The Savabeel 5-year-old mare was having her first start since November last year and scored a game half-neck victory over Royal Valour.
Grieve bred Chapinteel in partnership with Christchurch-based Barry Thomas and the pair race the mare together. She is trained at Riccarton by Terri Rae and has now won four of her 11 starts and more than $70,000 in stakemoney.
Grieve said this week Chapinteel showed her potential when winning three races in a row early last year but never came up when campaigned in the spring and was unplaced in three starts.
“We turned her out after that and she came back and finished a good third in a trial at Riccarton last month. That set her up for her fresh up run,” Grieve said.
“I think she is a good mare and certainly capable of winning another couple.”
Chapinteel is out of the High Chaparral mare Chapinta, who won six races for Grieve and Thomas and has been a good producer.
Her first foal was Gold Mag, who won three races in Australia, while Island Hop (six wins) and Indian Gold (one win) have been good performers in New Zealand.
Peter Grieve and his son Doug are now breeding and racing progeny from Chapinta and have a promising 2-year-old called Professional Lad coming on.
The Proisir gelding was a trial winner at Ashburton in February before recording an unlucky debut second over 1100m at Wingatui on March 1.
“He has been freshened since but is set to have a trial at the end of this month and will then probably have one more start before going out for a spell,” Grieve said.
“We think he is pretty smart and we’ve got big plans for him as a 3-year-old next season.”
Chapinta has since produced a yearling filly by Proisir and a foal colt by Satono Aladdin but is not in foal at the moment.
“We left her empty last year and, hopefully, we can get her an early mating next season,” Grieve added.
Awapuni track gets green light
Awapuni’s renovated grass track was given its biggest test on its return when it held 11 heats of trials under torrential rain on Tuesday.
The track held up well and the trial meeting concluded without incident, much to the satisfaction of local trainers, including Roydon Bergerson.
“It was thumbs up from everybody, it was just great to get back there,” Bergerson said.
“It poured with rain before the first heat and if a horse were to slip it would have been today. But they got around that corner really well and all of the jockeys were happy. There wasn’t as much kick-back and the track held up really well. Everyone was happy in the end.”
Bergerson is looking forward to racing returning to his home track on Anzac Day and said it has been a trying last couple of years having the track out of commission for renovation work.
“It has been amazing the success the Awapuni horses have had after not having a course proper or grass to gallop on,” he said.
“It is really good to have nice grass to gallop on and a course proper to race on now. We did go through hell for a while but now everything is tickety-boo.
“There’s nothing like getting up and going across the road to the races. We have really missed it all for the last two summers and it’s good to save the owners a bit of money now too.”
Big test for cup topweight
Whangaehu proved himself up to the country’s top middle-distance gallopers over the summer and he’ll aim to complete a top campaign at Trentham in this Saturday’s Listed Valley D’Vine Restaurant Hawke’s Bay Cup (2200m).
The talented 6-year-old kicked off his hot streak winning the Listed Wanganui Cup (2040m) and Group 3 Trentham Stakes (2100m) before making a serious impression with top-four finishes in the Group 1 Herbie Dyke Stakes (2000m) and Group 1 Bonecrusher New Zealand Stakes (2000m) behind Hong Kong-bound El Vencedor.
After a string of standout efforts, it looked to be his time to shine in last month’s Group 2 Awapuni Gold Cup (2100m) but, after getting back early and staying on the rail into the straight, he searched for clear air until the closing stages and flashed home for fifth.
While the result wasn’t as his trainer Bill Thurlow had hoped, he acknowledged the efforts of Whangaehu’s jockey Craig Grylls in what has been a phenomenal season for the stable.
“The way it panned out for him, it just didn’t work out,” Thurlow said. “Normally Craig would get it right 19 times out of 20, and it just didn’t happen that day.
“We’ve had a lot of luck too and Craig has ridden some winners for us that probably wouldn’t have won without his decision-making, so it’s just the way it is.
“He’s still gone super and come through it well, the biggest worry now is the weight he’ll be giving away on Saturday. But it’s a last run for the season and there’s nothing else for him, so we’ll take a throw at the stumps and hopefully he can carry the weight and run the trip out.”
As a 100-rated galloper, Whangaehu will carry a clear topweight of 59kg in the feature, with his closest rival Mehzebeen on 54.5kg. He has drawn well at barrier three and Craig Grylls has retained the mount.
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