Patrick Campbell trained Burletta to win the 1983 Levin Bayer Classic, ridden by Jim Cassidy. Photo / Race Images
Patrick Campbell trained Burletta to win the 1983 Levin Bayer Classic, ridden by Jim Cassidy. Photo / Race Images
Robert Muldoon was Prime Minister of New Zealand and Andy Dalton captain of the All Blacks when Patrick Campbell first trained the winner of the Levin Classic.
That was 40 years ago. Now, the talented Hastings horseman has a chance to do it again.
Campbell saddles up Duncan Creek in the $350,000 Gee and Hickton Funeral Directors Levin Classic (1600 metres) at Trentham this Saturday, a Group One race that had been good to him in the past and held fond memories.
He prepared star filly Burletta to win in 1983 when it was known as the Levin Bayer Classic. The grey wonder Avedon won it again for him in 1994, while in between was a second-placing in the race with Straight Order in 1988.
While a few years have passed since Burletta’s triumph - back then, the race meeting was staged at the Levin racecourse on Mako Mako Road - it was an occasion Campbell said he was unlikely to forget.
First held in 1981, the Levin Classic captured the imagination of the small town in short time. There were 10,000 people at Levin racecourse that day for what was essentially a midweek meeting in November, and it duly boasted an atmosphere and an on-course turnover to match.
“That was a real occasion. I remember the whole town was behind it for the entire week. You were flat getting a seat. It was fabulous,” he said.
It was an era where the very best New Zealand three-year-olds weren’t lured away by Australian riches, as they can be in the present climate. At its inception in 1981, the $100,000 stake of the Levin Classic was on par with the Caulfield Guineas, a 1600m event in Australia now worth $3 million.
And while it can be hard to compare horses of different eras - Burletta and Avedon were champion three-year-old milers of their year - when pressed for his opinion Campbell said Duncan Creek deserved a crack at a Levin Classic on the score of toughness, and heart would take him a long way.
“In boxing terms, he’s what you would call a journeyman. He’s tough. He can be a handful,” he said.
Duncan Creek hadn’t fared well with barrier draws in the past, and had again drawn wide at barrier 16 on Saturday.
Campbell said the wide barrier draw would limit options for horse and rider in the early running and likely see him settle back in the field again, but he was confident Duncan Creek would hit the line hard, as he had done in recent races.
Imperatriz winning the 2022 Wellington Seamarket Levin Classic at Trentham last season. On The Bubbles was second and I Wish I Win was third. Photo / Race Images
“He’ll run, even with the bad draw. The more pace the better, and it’ll be that old thing about needing some luck in the running,” he said.
Duncan Creek was currently at nine-to-one odds with the New Zealand TAB early market for the Gee and Hickton Funeral Directors Levin Classic, while the early $4.50 favourite was Cambridge gelding The Intimidator, who had drawn barrier two.
A big plus was that Irish jockey Joe Doyle was sticking with Duncan Creek. He has had three rides on the horse for three second-placings, which included an eye-catching effort in the Wellington Guineas (Group 2) at Trentham in January.
Duncan Creek was raced by his Dannevirke breeder Alex Smith. By Hallmark Stud stallion Super Easy, he traced from a female family that included Alynda, Penny Gem, Altrista, Alinsky, Capestad and Zalinda, the dam of stallion Fast n’ Famous.
Campbell started his training career in Hastings in 1973 in partnership with Bruce Marsh, going it alone in 1976, and had trained a string of top horses including Burletta, Avedon, Claymore Boy, Out Of The Blue, Tarlton, Our Buddy, Lagerfeld, Val d’Arno, Straight Order, Merrett, Merry Maiden, Hunta Pence, Maximum Star and Wexford King.
After 18 years away, with time spent based in Palmerston North, Australia and Malaysia, he returned to Hastings in 2005, where he had been based since.
Meanwhile, the Gee and Hickton Funeral Directors Levin Classic was first held in late November at Levin in 1981 and raced there every season before a move to Ōtaki in 1991. The race was then moved to Trentham in 2014 with a January date, before moving to its current March date for the first time last season.
Some fine horses had won the Levin Classic over the years, including Altitude, Bonecrusher, Veandercross and O’Reilly - and Imperatriz.
A large contingent of the Levin Racing Club members had booked a bus to travel to Trentham this Saturday.
