John Jenkins
An extraordinary sequence of events unfolded when Hawke's Bay-trained Oh If Only won at Saturday's Otaki-Maori Racing Club's meeting.
Not only did the four-year-old mare provide Waipukurau trainer Kirsty Hutchsion with her first success but she also presented Levin apprentice Jonathan Parkes with his first winning double and credited the broodmare Also with a winner in consecutive races.
Oh If Only followed up a decisive three length win at last week's Waipukurau trials with a 1 1/4 length victory in the $6000 Majestic Horsefloats Maiden (1600m) at the Otaki meeting.
The Classic Fame mare, in the hands of Parkes, produced a strong finish down the outside of the track to sweep past race favourite Waki and the outsider Rockmolymikesh.
Just one race earlier Parkes, who is apprenticed to Levin trainer Grant Searle, had ridden the Levin-trained Our Marciano to victory in the Creative Catering Maiden (1400m).
For Parkes, who only began race-riding last year, it was the first time he had ridden two winners in a day let alone in consecutive races.
Both Our Marciano and Oh If Only are out of the Epidaurus mare Also and were bred by Greg Lambert at Palmerston North's Lambourn Stud.
Oh If Only is one of only two horses new Waipukurau trainer Kirsty Hutchison has in work, the other being an unraced two-year-old filly by Shinko King.
Hutchison has leased Oh If Only from Lambert and races the mare with her fiancee Steve Lawrence, his Whakatane-based brother Colin and Napier's Dave Gearey.
Gearey is best known for his deeds on the soccer field, being a striker for the Napier City Rovers premier team.
Hutchison, 29, was granted a permit to train licence at the beginning of this season. It means she can have up to six horses in work and is keen to increase her numbers.
The Shinko King filly she has is out of the Volksraad mare Reflecting On and is also on lease, from Graham and Isabell Roddick of Montana Lodge Stud.
The filly is a full-sister to Big Turnout, who has been a good performer in Singapore.
Kirsty Hutchison is Hawke's Bay-born but has spent much of her earlier years away from the district. She was based in Auckland for a time before shifting to Wellington six years ago.
An accomplished equestrian rider, Hutchison also took up trackwork riding while in Wellington for trainer Mike Bentley.
She has also been a strapper for the Takanini training partnership of Colin Jillings and Richard Yuill and has helped out Riccarton trainer Kevin Hughes.
Hutchison moved back to Hawke's Bay in May of last year. She is presently leasing stables off the Waipukurau Jockey Club but she and Lawrence are also looking at the possibility of purchasing a property in Waipukurau.
* Hawke's Bay-owned Hagar showed great resilience on the weekend.
The five-year-old Jahafil gelding scored a decisive length win over 1400m at Awapuni last Thursday and then fronted up at Otaki two days later and finished a game second over 1600m.
Hagar is trained by Wayne and Anne Herbert at Riwa Park, just out of Palmerston North, and is owned by his breeder Judy Holland.
Holland and her husband John farm a block in the Tuki Tuki Valley and have raced and bred thoroughbreds for over 30 years.
Hagar is out of the Avaray mare Picaresque, who won five races from the Hastings stable of Davey Jones and has also left the winners Prince Of Tides, Nick Nolte, Sea Me Run and Baresque.
Hagar has now had 13 starts and has been a model of consistency. He has recorded three wins, three seconds and a third and has not finished further back than fifth in eight starts this season.
* Wairoa owner-trainer Frank Brown tasted success again after a break of three years when Earaheedy scored a debut win at last Thursday's Feilding meeting at Awapuni.
Brown owns a farm in Wairoa but has also spent a lot of time based in Hastings in recent years.
He owned and trained the useful mare Desert Doll and produced her to win a maiden race at Hastings in January of 2002.
Earaheedy is trained for Brown by Stephen Marsh, at his Woodville stable.
The three-year-old Danasinga filly was placed in a 1400m barrier trial at Foxton earlier this month as a lead-up to her race debut in the Manawatu Owners & Trainers Maiden (1600m) at Awapuni last week.
Ably ridden by the country's leading jockey Lisa Cropp, Earaheedy held out the fast finishing Fine Effort by a neck and they were 1 1/4 lengths clear of third placed In The Crush.
Marsh said the addition of blinkers to Earaheedy's gear made all the difference and he predicts the filly should really excel once she is stepped up to a middle distance as a four-year-old.
"She's still a bit weak but is improving all the time and doesn't mind the sting out of the track," Marsh said.
* Former successful New Zealand galloper Seasquill was recently retired from the racetrack after a long career and will now be put to use in a pony club in North Yorkshire, England.
Seasquill, by the Australian sire Squill, was part-owned by Napier's Derek Hill when trained in New Zealand by Graeme Rogerson and Keith Hawtin.
He won twice on New Zealand tracks and was placed fourth in the New Zealand Derby (2400m) before going to Australia where he won a listed 2000m race at Adelaide and ran second in the South Australian Derby (2500m).
He went on to race well against the best company in Australia and then in Dubai before being sold to England where he has been steeplechasing for the past few seasons with moderate success.
RACING: HB winner part of unique three-way run of firsts
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