Nelson and McDougal had mixed fortunes in last year’s Great Northern Hurdles, with Nedwin winning the race and Taika unfortunately losing rider Jack Power when he hit a fence with 1300m to run.
“He (Taika) has been unlucky. He was going very well in the Northern Hurdles last year and fell so he’s a pretty good horse,” Nelson said last Saturday.
“Him getting the win today was good, and just seeing Nedwin back and finishing on, I was rapt.”
Punters kept the faith in Taika backing him into a $3.20 favourite ahead of Mont Ventoux ($3.50) in last Saturday’s race.
Defending champion English Gambler took up his anticipated role as pacemaker through the opening lap but, entering the last 1200m, Taika took over and was challenged by Invisible Spirit at the 800 metres.
Invisible Spirit looked to be travelling the better around the home turn, but Taika was up for the fight and jumped the final three fences beautifully, pulling away in the closing stages to hold off the former by a length, with Mont Ventoux three-quarters of a length back in third.
Nedwin was carrying topweight of 73kg and, after looking under pressure with 600m to run, he rallied well in the home straight to finish only three-quarters of a length behind Mont Ventoux.
Taika’s jockey, Hamish McNeill, was suitably impressed with the performance of his mount, saying he felt stronger than when he finished third behind Nedwin and Invisible Spirit in the Wellington Hurdles (3200m) at Trentham on July 3.
“I know I ran third behind him (Invisible Spirit) at Wellington but if you go watch it again, in the last 50m Taika was coming back at him again,” he said.
“I knew at the 600m today I was in for a war, but I knew I was on the right animal.
“He jumped perfectly, he came up a bit long on a couple but he’s an absolute tank and you don’t feel anything on him.
“I can’t have any complaints, I won this race last year on English Gambler and said the same sort of thing, but he (Taika) is definitely a horse that will improve over the next three weeks and he was pricking his ears coming into the last.
“He’s had a few weeks in between runs, one on the flat but nothing to test him like today, so I’m quietly confident.
“I don’t think the extra distance will bother him, he settled well for me today and jumps well.”
Stablemate Nedwin has had a mixed year over fences, his win in the Wellington Hurdles tempered by fourth placings in the Waikato Hurdles and last Saturday’s Pakuranga Open Hurdles and he was pulled up in the final stages of this month’s Grand National Hurdles (4200m) at Riccarton.
The Niagara 10-year-old has climbed to the top of the weights and had to lump 73kg in last Saturday’s Te Rapa feature, compared with Taika’s 66kg.
Paul Nelson part-owns Taika with his brother Mark and Waikato-based Ken Garnett.
The eight-year-old was bred by the late Karen Remetis, and he has now won five races and $126,584 in stakes earnings through his career. His half-brother, Shackletons Edge, out of Remetis and Garnett’s mare Isabella Soraya, finished second in the 2021 Hawke’s Bay Steeplechase (5500m) when trained by Nelson and McDougal.
Wewillrock to miss Tarzino Trophy
Hastings trainers Guy Lowry and Leah Zydenbos have decided not to push on to next week’s Group 1 $400,000 Tarzino Trophy (1400m) with talented sprinter Wewillrock and the horse will instead be freshened and won’t race again until later in the month.
The El Roca gelding only managed eighth in last Saturday’s Group 2 Foxbridge Plate (1200m) at Te Rapa, with Lowry saying this week he felt the horse was not quite 100 per cent and he will now bypass the feature race on the first day of the Colliers Hawke’s Bay Spring Carnival.
“He went okay but was a bit below what he is capable of,” Lowry said.
“The field for the Tarzino is going to be strong and he may be suspect at 1400 anyway,” he added.
Wewillrock will now contest a $50,000 open sprint over 1200m at Wanganui on September 21.
The six-year-old has had two starts on the Wanganui track for a win and a second and both races were over 1200m.
Pearl Of Alsace will be another notable absentee from the first Group 1 race of the new season, the Tarzino Trophy on September 7, with the mare expected to contest a $50,000 open sprint over 1400m at Ruakaka on the same day.
Trainers Shaun Ritchie and Colm Murray were a bit perplexed when the six-year-old was well beaten in an 1100m trial at Taupo last week and have since stepped her work up, including an eye-catching exhibition gallop between races at Wednesday’s Cambridge meeting.
Ritchie said Pearl Of Alsace will now be aimed at the other two Group 1 events at the Colliers Hawke’s Bay Spring Carnival, the $400,000 Arrowfield Stud Plate (1600m) on September 28 and the $550,000 Livamol Classic (2040m) on October 12. She was placed third behind Ladies Man and Platinum Invader in last year’s Livamol Classic.
Skew Wiff ready to defend Tarzino crown
Te Akau Racing are hoping Skew Wiff’s placing in last Saturday’s Group 2 Foxbridge Plate (1200m) at Te Rapa bodes well for her Group 1 title defence at Hastings on September 7.
The Waikato Stud-bred and raced mare placed in the same race last year before winning the Group 1 Tarzino Trophy (1400m), and the now five-year-old appears to be on a similar trajectory.
“We are really happy with her. I thought it was a really good first-up effort,” said Sam Bergerson, who trains the mare in partnership with Mark Walker.
“She loomed up to win and blew out that last little bit on that testing track (Heavy9) and the one draw played against us a little bit.
“That should clean her up nicely for Hawke’s Bay and she seems to have come through it well.”
Last year Skew Wiff headed across the Tasman where she won the Group 3 Hong Kong Jockey Club Stakes (1400m) at Flemington on Melbourne Cup Day, but she will likely remain in New Zealand this spring, with plans to be firmed following her Tarzino run.
“We will get through the Tarzino and then sit down and have a team talk with Mark Chittick (Waikato Stud principal) and see what he wants to do,” Bergerson said.
“I imagine she will stick around here in New Zealand, just what we do after the Tarzino will be dependent on how she runs.”
Skew Wiff is currently a $6 second-favourite, alongside Bonny Lass, in the TAB’s Tarzino Trophy futures market, with the Danny Walker and Arron Tata-trained Crocetti the clear top pick at $2.20.
Grays are back training together in NZ
The father and son combination of Kevin and Stephen Gray have joined forces in training again and had their first two runners together in nearly 25 years on the Awapuni synthetic track on Friday of last week.
The duo lined up first starter Oscar in the maiden 1200m race and, while he was unplaced, they picked up a third placing with their other runner at the meeting, Clickety Click in the Rating 65 race over 1000m.
Under their Copper Belt Lodge banner, the Grays were a major force to be reckoned with over many years and sent out more than 400 winners before Stephen departed in 2000 for a successful solo career in Singapore.
He prepared 825 winners there, including feature events such as the Singapore Derby (1800m), Singapore Gold Cup (2000m), Queen Elizabeth II Cup (1800m), Lion City Cup (1200m), Stewards’ Cup (1600m) and the Kranji Sprint (1200m).
Emperor Max won an edition of the Stewards’ Cup for Gray and subsequently took him to England where the prolific sprinter finished a respectable seventh of 20 in the Group 1 Champions’ Sprint (1200m) at Ascot.
In the wake of the bombshell announcement of the Singapore industry shutting down, Gray and wife Bridget returned home earlier this year to settle in the Manawatu.
“There’s been a lot of change, as you would expect, but it’s been good and we’re getting there slowly,” he said.
“I’ve brought my treadmills back from Singapore and put some new paddocks in and we’re employing a few more staff.
“We’ve got some nice young horses around us, so we’ll see how it goes.
“We’ve got 30 in work with 15 two-year-olds and the response from owners has been very good.”
The team has also been bolstered with a handful of proven horses from Singapore, including Gray’s multiple stakes winner Hard Too Think.
