Davies settled the gelding at the tail of the seven-horse field until the final 600m and then improved around the field to lodge a challenge at the top of the home straight.
Four horses were fighting out the finish inside the last 100m but then Zappa Jak put in three giant bounds close to the line and got up to snatch a last-stride win by a head.
The first four home were all separated by heads, with You Know second, Heart Of Gold third and Jimmy Dean fourth.
Lawrence has had next week’s special conditions 2000m race in mind for Zappa Jak since he returned from a spell a few months ago and said this week she was delighted the plan was finally coming to fruition.
“It’s just so satisfying when you set a target for a horse and you’ve got there,” she said.
One of the conditions attached to next Thursday’s race is that a horse must have started a minimum of three times on one of the three New Zealand synthetic racetracks since May 1 last year.
Once that criteria has been met, the order of entry into the final field is determined by horses’ performances on synthetic tracks since that date.
Zappa Jak has had seven starts on synthetic tracks in that time, six at Awapuni and one at Cambridge, and he has won his last two starts on the surface.
He is now the winner of five races from 25 starts and has also recorded three seconds and a third.
Toni Davies is presently serving a six-day suspension so Zappa Jak will have a change of rider when he contests next Thursday’s Cambridge event.
“I’ve booked Kate Hercock and she has won two on him so she knows him well,” Lawrence said.
“I think he will get into the race on 54.5kg which is only half a kilogram more than he carried when winning last week so that will be good.”
Lawrence and her husband Steve race a 75% share in Zappa Jak after acquiring the horse from his Hawke’s Bay breeder Doug Phillips.
They have taken in some other close Hawke’s Bay friends to help race the horse - Simon and Wendy Collin, Rod and Donna Overend, Shane Overend, Kevin McCoy and Mike Ju.
The syndicate recently exercised a right of purchase on the horse.
Call Me Jack jumps to another victory
Hastings-owned Call Me Jack notched up his second victory over the big fences when he outstayed his stablemate, and race favourite, Interllectus in the $30,000 Bob Baker Steeplechase over 4000m at Waverley last Sunday.
The eight-year-old gelding, bred and owned by Tim Symes and his son Wilfred, was a maiden steeplechase winner on the same track in August last year but his Whanganui trainer Kevin Myers then reverted him back to hurdling.
He was a hurdle winner over 3100m at Te Aroha on June 27 before finishing fifth in the Hawke’s Bay Hurdles (3100m) two days later.
Apprentice jockey Joshua Parker was aboard when Call Me Jack won at Te Aroha and was again entrusted with the mount at Waverley last Sunday.
He got the horse to settle perfectly in third place in the early stages of the race and, apart from one mistake at the fourth to last fence, the Jakkalberry gelding measured his jumps well.
Interllectus and Dal Kilchoan looked set to fight out the finish when they moved clear of the field approaching the home turn but Call Me Jack was closing on them and there was little between the trio as they negotiated the second to last fence.
Interllectus then took a clear lead jumping the last but Call Me Jack rallied strongly on his inside and got up to win by a head, with Dal Kilchoan weakening to be 3-3/4 lengths back in third.
It was Call Me Jack’s seventh win from 46 starts and took his stake earnings to more than $88,000.
Tim Symes trained the horse himself in the early part of his career, preparing him to win three races on the flat including an open handicap over 2200m at Hastings in July 2022. He and his son Wilfred bred him out of the Stark South mare Gizakiss.
Holiday success for Hawke’s Bay owner
Hastings owner Peter Grieve’s Rarotonga holiday became even more enjoyable when his horse Island Hop made it back-to-back wins on the Awapuni synthetic track on Wednesday last week.
Grieve and his wife are holidaying on the Pacific island which meant he was not on course to see Island Hop post his fifth win from 25 starts.
He owns the Swiss Ace seven-year-old in partnership with close friend Barry Thomas, who lives in Queenstown.
The two men bred Island Hop out of the High Chaparral mare Chapinta, who won six races from only 17 starts.
Island Hop started his racing career in the South Island, winning two races from the Riccarton stable of Kevin and Pam Hughes before he was transferred to Whanganui trainer Kevin Myers at the beginning of the just-completed racing season.
He notched his first win from his new stable when taking out a Rating 65 race over 1300m at Tauherenikau in January and brought up the second when winning a Rating 75 race over 1400m on the Awapuni synthetic on June 21, which just happened to be Grieve’s birthday.
Island Hop began awkwardly in last week’s $17,000 Rating 75 race and was a clear last on settling.
Apprentice rider Lily Sutherland kept a cool head and bided her time until the last 600m when she started to urge her mount along to take closer order.
They were still giving the leaders a good head start entering the home straight but then Island Hop showed an amazing turn of foot in the final 300m, bursting between horses and racing away for a 1-3/4 length win.
The win took Sutherland to equal first with Niranjan Parmar in the chase for the title of champion apprentice jockey for the 2023-24 season. Sutherland then went two clear when she kicked home a brace of wins at last Saturday’s Ōtaki meeting.
The former Hawke’s Bay-based rider finished the season on 52 wins, three more than she achieved in the 2022-23 season, taking her career tally to 105. Four of her 52 wins last season were in black type races.
The 20-year-old began her apprenticeship from the Hastings stable of Vikki Wilson before transferring to Myers early last season.
Swazi adds to great synthetic record
Hastings-trained Swazi showed why he is regarded as a synthetic track specialist when he capped off a string of minor placings with another deserved win over 1000m on the Awapuni surface on Wednesday last week.
The speedy Choisir four-year-old, prepared by John Bary, was having his eighth start on a synthetic track and has not finished further back than fourth in all of them.
It was also his sixth race start for this year and the win followed three seconds and two-thirds from the previous five.
Swazi led all the way when he won a 1000m maiden race on the Awapuni synthetic track in July last year and apprentice rider Jim Chung adopted similar tactics on the horse last week.
He bounced the gelding out quickly from an inside draw to dispute a fast pace with Super Warrior.
The two horses had a good break on the rest of the field coming to the home turn where Swazi managed to kick clear and he kept up a strong run to the line to win by a length from Super Warrior, with 2-1/2 lengths back to third placed Covermeinsunshine.
Swazi’s overall race record now stands at three wins, four seconds and five thirds from 19 starts and has earned his connections more than $62,000 in stakemoney.
Bary bought the now five-year-old for $80,000 at the 2021 Ready To Run Two-year-old sale and he races him in partnership with the Swazi Syndicate, a group that includes several Hawke’s Bay people.
Swazi’s win saw Bary claim the title of Hawke’s Bay Trainer of the Year for the 2023-24 season with 16 wins, three ahead of Guy Lowry and five clear of the third-placed combination of Paul Nelson and Corrina McDougal.
