All eyes on Hastings races from across the Tassie

Callsign Mav, with jockey Jonathan Riddell, goes to the line to win the big race a fortnight ago. Photo / Supplied

The tantalising TAB odds on Hastings racehorse Callsign Mav are only part of the story for its Australian owners, who will again have to watch from the distant lounges of their homes in Melbourne, the Gold Coast and Perth as it bids for the second leg of Hawke's Bay Racing's Spring Carnival triple crown tomorrow

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Syndicate manager Jeremy Cross said from Melbourne none of his "eclectic" syndicate of six put together to race a horse that cost just $3000, are big punters, despite what could have been made when the 4-year-old won the 1400-metres Tarzino Trophy race on the opening day on September 19.

The big prize was joining the list of elite who have owned a winner of a Group 1-classified race, a target again on the table today as Callsign Mav tackles the 1600-metres Windsor Plate on the same course.

Despite good form on the Hastings course, it was the rank outsider and paid $82.60 to win and $14.20 for a place for the big race a fortnight ago, and at one stage was at 90-1 in Australian markets.

At mid-afternoon Friday, the 4-year-old was at $31 to win in New Zealand TAB fixed-odds betting, although there were signs the local punters were climbing in as the horse tries its hooves at another $200,000 race, with $188,000 already in the bank and a Hastings track record of four wins in six starts, which include second placing in last year's Hawke's Bay Guineas.

Cross, who was on-course for that Guineas performance, having missed out on witnessing an earlier win by just a few minutes, said he would have been in Hastings today if not for the restrictions of the Covid-19 crisis.

But he says it will still be good watching it on-screen at home with the family, proud just to have a horse at what he rates as one of the great racing carnivals.

He had just spoken with Hastings trainer John Bary and while the race distance of 1600m hadn't "been kind" to Callsign Mav in the past, there were hopes it would now step up as an older and bigger horse.

It will thus become part of a classic day at the Hastings racecourse, glamourised by the appearance of mare Melody Belle, which last year became the first horse to win the triple crown, staged over three Saturdays spaced a fortnight apart and ending with the 2040-metres Livamol Classic on October 17 – election day.

Tomorrow

there are 10 races, with a total of $570,000 in stakemoney up for grabs. The first is at 12.20pm, the Guineas is at 3.50pm and the Windsor Plate, the second-to-last of the day, is at 5pm.