Miracle horse in with a shot at glory

Masterton couple Wayne and Connie Stewart are realising a dream just by having their mare Cullini involved in the Harness Jewels promotion at the Ashburton Trotting Club's meeting at Ashburton on Saturday.
It is the country's richest harness racing meeting with no fewer than eight group one races carded on the programme and Cullini will contest the very first of them, the $200,000 4YO Diamond for mares and fillies.
The Stewarts have long had a hankering to own a horse good enough to compete at group one level and in Cullini they have a hugely-talented youngster who has won at six of her 13 starts, the last three in succession.
Form like that suggests she must be a strong winning chance in the Diamond but one thing the Stewarts have learned is that racing has its ups and downs, and so they are travelling south with the idea of enjoying the occasion rather than anticipating a big pay day.
"Honestly, we'll be absolutely rapt if she makes the first three," Wayne Stewart said yesterday. "She's in with a show but then so are the other 12 runners, they've all earned the right to be there and they'll all be hoping for something special just like we are."
Cullini was foaled at Little Avondale Stud in Masterton and is by the champion pacer Christian Cullen out of Blondini, who is also owned by the Stewarts and whose own dam, Seance, was actually gifted to Wayne Stewart by his grandmother as a birthday present.
Her present formline might suggest everything has gone swimmingly for Cullini since her birth, but nothing could be further from the truth.
As a yearling she got caught up in a fence and the injuries were so extensive it was thought she might never even make it to the races.
Happily, that wasn't the case but because the recovery process took between six to eight months it did mean any chance of racing her as a 2-year-old went by the board.
Then after qualifying for her Canterbury-based trainers Greg and Nina Hope as a 3-year-old Cullini had a second setback when she got kicked by another horse and fractured a bone in her leg.
Unfortunately that meant any prospects of her being ready to contest the rich fillies races for that age group were dashed and her 3-year-old campaign involved just four races towards the end of the season. From them she had a third and a win and the promise she showed gave hope of a successful 4-year-old preparation.
Those hopes were raised further when she won a junior drivers race at Oamaru on February 1 but then a fortnight later, at Waikouaiti, came further bad luck when she was trailing a horse who propped and fell, and Cullini went over the top of it.
Yet again the best cure for the injuries received was rest and it was not until April 5 that Cullini faced the starter again, this time at a Banks Peninsula meeting where she ran a game second.
Time, however, was still against qualifying her for the Jewels but with the Hopes convinced of her ability to make the grade they pressed on and Cullini brilliantly rewarded their perseverance, guaranteeing a spot by winning at Addington on April 11, Forbury Park on April 23 and Addington again on May 9
For Wayne Stewart, president of the Wairarapa Harness Racing Club, Cullini's making the Jewels was a huge thrill, for while he was always of the view she would turn out to be the best pacer he had bred something he now attests to he felt the time element would beat her.
"She had to win three in a row to get there and that's a big ask for any young horse," he said. "It was always worth a go but to actually make it, well, it was a dream come true for Connie and myself."
Top Canterbury horseman Ricky May has been in the sulky for the last two of Cullini's victories and he will be there again on Saturday when Cullini will start from a second-line draw of 11 over the 1609m journey.
It's not by any means the perfect draw with Cullini needing the horse drawn directly in front of her to begin quickly and put her in the race from the word go but at least May has the advantage of knowing the best-backed of his rivals, Kiwi Ingenuity, has an even more difficult draw of 13.
Wayne Stewart says he is "more than happy" to allow the experienced May to decide what tactics to apply and he confidently expects Cullini to give of her best no matter where she ends up in the early running.
"Obviously it would be nice to get a good sit and come at them with the last run but she's brave enough to do a bit of work and still kick on," Stewart said. "She'll do us proud whatever happens."