Whanganui Chronicle
  • Whanganui Chronicle home
  • Latest news
  • Sport
  • Business
  • Opinion
  • Lifestyle
  • Property
  • Death notices
  • Classifieds

Subscriptions

  • Herald Premium
  • Viva Premium
  • The Listener
  • BusinessDesk

Sections

  • Latest news
  • On The Up
  • Sport
  • Business
  • Opinion
  • Lifestyle
  • Property
    • All Property
    • Residential property listings
  • Rural
    • All Rural
    • Dairy farming
    • Sheep & beef farming
    • Horticulture
    • Animal health
    • Rural business
    • Rural life
    • Rural technology

Locations

  • Taranaki
  • National Park
  • Whakapapa
  • Ohakune
  • Raetihi
  • Taihape
  • Marton
  • Feilding
  • Palmerston North

Media

  • Video
  • Photo galleries
  • Today's Paper - E-Editions
  • Photo sales
  • Classifieds

Weather

  • New Plymouth
  • Whanganui
  • Palmertson North
  • Levin

NZME Network

  • Advertise with NZME
  • OneRoof
  • Driven Car Guide
  • BusinessDesk
  • Newstalk ZB
  • Sunlive
  • ZM
  • The Hits
  • Coast
  • Radio Hauraki
  • The Alternative Commentary Collective
  • Gold
  • Flava
  • iHeart Radio
  • Hokonui
  • Radio Wanaka
  • iHeartCountry New Zealand
  • Restaurant Hub
  • NZME Events

SubscribeSign In

Advertisement
Advertise with NZME.
Home / Whanganui Chronicle / Sport

Blood Brotha helps Allpress' win chase

By Jared Smith, jared.smith@wanganuichronicle.co.nz
Whanganui Chronicle·
27 Jan, 2013 08:08 PM3 mins to read

Subscribe to listen

Access to Herald Premium articles require a Premium subscription. Subscribe now to listen.
Already a subscriber?  Sign in here

Listening to articles is free for open-access content—explore other articles or learn more about text-to-speech.
‌
Save

    Share this article

Advertisement
Advertise with NZME.

Lisa Allpress found the way to break her dry spell - team up with an old friend.

The upset win for Blood Brotha in the Group 2 Pacific Jewellers Wellington Cup has surprised both Whangaehu trainer Raymond Connors and jockey Allpress as she finally got victory number 997 on her way to becoming the first woman to reach 1000 New Zealand career wins.

And it was a thrilling run at Trentham on Saturday afternoon for Blood Brotha to add the Wellington Cup to his two New Zealand Cup wins at Riccarton.

Allpress had the 7-year-old Danzighill gelding up there with a chance for most of the 2400m race, challenging for the lead at the head of the straight.

The Wanganui pair had to see off the late dash on the inside coming from Vinnie Colgan on the back of Dolmabache and then the fast-finishing Annie Higgins, ridden by Leith Innes, to claim the top mark of the $200,000 purse.

Advertisement
Advertise with NZME.
Advertisement
Advertise with NZME.

The win is the eighth for the Wanganui stayer from 45 starts and takes him past the half-million dollar mark in prizemoney.

Foremost on Connors' mind has been preparing Blood Brotha for the Auckland Cup in March at Ellerslie, so Saturday's unexpected victory was a "great result".

"We were just lucky really. You try to have him ready for every race. I just thought Auckland was more his distance.

Advertisement
Advertise with NZME.

"It was a just a nice, positive run that had him there. When it's close like that, it was a good ride."

For Allpress, who in her last 20-odd starts had several top three finishes but was frustrated she just could not nail "the elusive wins", the Cup victory was a wonderful surprise on "just a good, honest horse". "I didn't think he was a huge chance because that's not the race he was set for, but it just shows that class comes through."

She will definitely be on Blood Brotha for the Auckland Cup, as well as the Avondale Cup a few weeks before as Connors looks to complete preparations. "I'll ride him wherever he goes, a Travelling Wilbury really."

Connors said it was clear after inspecting Blood Brotha yesterday that his champion had given a massive effort. The hope is to get him recovered now for the big races coming up in Auckland.

"He's obviously tried really hard. Hopefully he can keep trying hard," Connors said.

For Allpress, now only three away from those 1000 New Zealand wins, a bit of confidence is back. She was racing last night in Auckland and with meetings at Whakatane today, Hawke's Bay on Wednesday and Christchurch next weekend, the record will surely fall.

The 37-year-old says what has helped is her recent decision to go out alone again rather than have a manager. Making her own decisions means she can talk with trainers about accepting certain rides but declining others if her experience tells her the track or conditions make victory unlikely.

It is not always a pleasant business, as she must now catch the heat a manager would absorb if people get upset when Allpress turns their horse down.

However, "loyalty doesn't also pay the mortgage", and Allpress says she would rather use her own judgement to make honest assessments to find her best chances.

Save

    Share this article

Latest from Sport

Sport

Rugby: Tough preseason ahead for Steelform Whanganui

Sport

Rugby: Marist Clovers reclaim title with dominant win

Whanganui Chronicle

Endurance ace ready for 'Wimbledon' of trail running


Sponsored

Solar bat monitors uncover secrets of Auckland’s night sky

Advertisement
Advertise with NZME.

Latest from Sport

Rugby: Tough preseason ahead for Steelform Whanganui
Sport

Rugby: Tough preseason ahead for Steelform Whanganui

Whanganui face former All Blacks in their preseason Classics game.

17 Jul 05:00 PM
Rugby: Marist Clovers reclaim title with dominant win
Sport

Rugby: Marist Clovers reclaim title with dominant win

17 Jul 05:00 PM
Endurance ace ready for 'Wimbledon' of trail running
Whanganui Chronicle

Endurance ace ready for 'Wimbledon' of trail running

15 Jul 05:00 PM


Solar bat monitors uncover secrets of Auckland’s night sky
Sponsored

Solar bat monitors uncover secrets of Auckland’s night sky

06 Jul 09:47 PM
NZ Herald
  • About NZ Herald
  • Meet the journalists
  • Newsletters
  • Classifieds
  • Help & support
  • Contact us
  • House rules
  • Privacy Policy
  • Terms of use
  • Competition terms & conditions
  • Our use of AI
Subscriber Services
  • Whanganui Chronicle e-edition
  • Manage your print subscription
  • Manage your digital subscription
  • Subscribe to Herald Premium
  • Subscribe to the Whanganui Chronicle
  • Gift a subscription
  • Subscriber FAQs
  • Subscription terms & conditions
  • Promotions and subscriber benefits
NZME Network
  • Whanganui Chronicle
  • The New Zealand Herald
  • The Northland Age
  • The Northern Advocate
  • Waikato Herald
  • Bay of Plenty Times
  • Rotorua Daily Post
  • Hawke's Bay Today
  • Viva
  • NZ Listener
  • Newstalk ZB
  • BusinessDesk
  • OneRoof
  • Driven Car Guide
  • iHeart Radio
  • Restaurant Hub
NZME
  • NZME Events
  • About NZME
  • NZME careers
  • Advertise with NZME
  • Digital self-service advertising
  • Book your classified ad
  • Photo sales
  • © Copyright 2025 NZME Publishing Limited
TOP