KEY POINTS:
A trainer-owner combination that was formed six years ago had its greatest highlight when Dorabella won the $275,000 1000 Guineas for 3-year-old fillies at Riccarton on Saturday.
Dorabella is trained north of Wellington at Otaki by the husband and wife combination of Howie and Lorraine Mathews and is owned in Otaki by Peter and Nancy Izett.
The Mathews were working with horses in Japan when they received an invitation from the Izetts to return to New Zealand.
"Peter and Nancy persuaded us to come back from Japan," Howie Mathews said.
The Izetts at the time had a couple of promising gallopers, Doyle and Rising Heights, and were keen for the Mathews to train them.
Doyle had won the Wellington Stakes for 3-year-olds at Trentham when trained by Richard Dee.
The Izetts had seen an advertisement for a training job in Otaki and Peter Izett said Howie Mathews did not take long to respond when advised of the details.
"He was over in three or four days," Peter Izett said.
The Mathews made the return to New Zealand and although the training job at Otaki did not work out, that was where they remained.
The Izetts showed their commitment to the Mathews by selling their supermarket in Turangi, near Taupo, and shifting to Otaki as well.
"They sold up and moved their horses and everything down to Otaki with us," Howie Mathews said.
Doyle and Rising Heights, who won a Marton Cup, were the flagbearers for the trainer-owner combination but they have since been retired.
But Dorabella has emerged as a greater prospect.
Dorabella has raced five times for three wins, a second and a third and Saturday's winning purse of $172,000 took her earnings to $210,000.
Dorabella was earmarked by the Mathews as a potential guineas horse early in the season and was sent south for the $50,000 Canterbury Belle Stakes (1200m) for 3-year-old fillies at Riccarton on September 23.
A comfortable victory confirmed her guineas potential.
She had one further race before Saturday which was at Hastings on October 28 when a strong-finishing third over 1400m in a 3-year-old handicap in which she carried topweight of 57kg.
Dorabella is by Postponed out of Kaapstad mare Caserio and was bred by the Izetts.
They purchased Caserio as a broodmare for $26,000 and sold her first two foals, of which the second was Crusoe, by Volksraad, who finished third in last year's 2000 Guineas (1600m) for 3-year-olds at Riccarton last year.
Dorabella is Caserio's third foal but Peter Izett said he decided she would not be for sale from the time he first saw her.
"I said I'm not selling this filly, even though she was only three weeks old at the time," Izett said.
"This filly just had a presence about her."
Dorabella's win on Saturday was the Mathews' first at group one level in New Zealand. But for Howie Mathews it was far from his first big race win.
Mathews, 52, trained Big Gamble to win the 1978 Wellington Cup when the group rating system had not been introduced.
Big Gamble was owned by Hec Tapper for whom Mathews was his private trainer.
Mathews and Tapper also won a Railway Handicap at Ellerslie with Extra Flash, once again prior to the group rating system.
Mathews had his first group one win in Australia when Coshking won the 1989 Brisbane Cup while other top gallopers he trained included Bourbon Boy who was a top winter miler. One of Bourbon Boy's wins saw him defeat Bonecrusher in the Tim Rogers Stakes at Wanganui.
Dorabella, who paid $18.15 to win on Saturday, was ridden by Christchurch jockey Jamie Bullard.
He made use of the horse's No 1 draw to race about three back on the inner and angled away from the fence as the home turn loomed.
Princess Coup, the third favourite, loomed up on Dorabella's inside after coming from last and this pair settled down to fight out the finish over the last 200m. Dorabella held the advantage by half a neck at the finish.
Three-quarters of a length back third was Velvet And Satin who ran home well wide out on the track while fourth was Miracle Miss and fifth, the $1.95 hot favourite Naturo.
The latter broke down during the running and consequently her effort was courageous after reaching the lead at the top of the straight.
Naturo was found to have injured a fetlock and although it will be a few days before the full extent of the injury is known it appears her racing future is in much doubt.
A disappointment in the race was second favourite Imananabaa who finished 11th after being handy, but wide, during the running.
Cameron Lammas, rider of Imananabaa, said: "I couldn't slip in and then she over-raced. She just did too much [in the running] to really kick on."
- NZPA
