Vroom (outside) gets up in the last few strides top score a long neck win in a maiden 1600m race at Gisborne last Sunday.
Vroom, a $200 purchase as a weanling, is proving to be a real bargain for her Hawke's Bay owners, the newly engaged couple Grant Cullen and Nikki Lourie.
The 5-year-old Nadeem mare chalked up her first win when claiming victory in a $10,000 maiden race over 1600m at Gisborne last Sunday. She has also recorded a second, a third and two fourths from six previous starts and has now built her stake earnings to $10,250.
Cullen and Lourie bought Vroom as a weanling from the 2015 Karaka Mixed Bloodstock sale, believing that with time she could develop into something a lot better than her purchase price indicated.
They have had to wait four years for a return but, in the meantime, they have also had a boost on their investment through the achievements of a full-sister to Vroom called Tinkalicious.
That 6-year-old mare is trained at New Plymouth by Janelle Millar and has recorded five wins and 10 minor placings from 27 starts to date for stake earnings of more than $110,000.
Cullen, who trains Vroom in partnership with Guy Lowry, said they bought her on type and because she was going so cheap.
"We always knew she would take time and so we haven't been in any hurry with her," Cullen said this week.
"We didn't break her in until she was a late 3-year-old and we have just given her time to mature."
Vroom only started racing in July last year and showed very little in her first two starts before an encouraging third over 1200m at Waipukurau in December. She followed that up with a second over 1400m at Hastings and has not finished further back than fourth in three starts since.
Before her Gisborne success, Vroom had recorded two fourths over 1400m, at Otaki and Hastings, where she had got back in the running and was running on strongly at the finish. The extra 200 metres at Gisborne last Sunday proved to be ideal.
Rider Holly Andrew settled the mare back second last for the first half of the race before starting a forward move that had her just in behind the leaders turning into the home straight. She then had to come across the heels of horses in front to get a run but once Vroom got into the clear she charged home to win by a long neck from Piping Hot, with Rocking Along half a length back in third.
Cullen said Vroom has come through her win in great order and will now line up in a $22,500 Rating 65 race over 1600m at Hastings next Wednesday.
"The step up to 1600 metres obviously helped at Gisborne and it looks like she could get up to a middle distance," Cullen added.
Lowland Stakes now for Unlaced
Hastings-trained 3-year-old Unlaced earned a start in the $100,000 Little Avondale Lowland Stakes (2100m) at next Wednesday's Hawke's Bay meeting with a dominant winning performance at Gisborne last Sunday.
Trainers Guy Lowry and Grant Cullen have had the Group 2 Hastings feature in mind for the Niagara filly since she won a maiden race over 1600m on her home track last month but she had to produce another good performance at Gisborne to confirm a start.
Unlaced certainly lived up to her high rating by scoring by one-and-a-half lengths in a Rating 65 race over 1600m at Gisborne. The filly wanted to over-race in the early stages but once rider Lisa Allpress got her to settle behind the pacemaking Beau Geste she travelled nicely up to the home turn.
Unlaced shot to the front early in the straight and kept up a strong gallop to beat stablemate Swish Az, who just headed off third-placed Prodigal Son.
"She went a bit keenly early and will need to settle a bit better if she is to run out the distance of the Lowland but it was her first start for a while and it should have taken the edge off her," Cullen said.
Unlaced has now had four starts for two wins and two seconds. She is owned by Auckland-based racing photographer Trish Dunell, who bred the filly out of the Keeninsky mare Laced Up.
Laced Up only had two starts, when trained at Hastings by John Bary. She finished second on debut over 1200m at Hastings but then sustained a severe laceration to one of her legs when next produced and never raced again.
Dunell bought the mare for $5000 from a 2014 Karaka Mixed Bloodstock sale when she was offered by her Hawke's Bay breeders Richard and Liz Wood.
Unlaced is certainly bred to be good as her dam Laced Up is a half-sister to the former top class galloper Jimmy Choux, who was the winner of 12 races and five of them were at Group 1 level.
He was also trained by John Bary and recorded New Zealand Group 1 victories in the New Zealand 2000 Guineas (1600m), New Zealand Derby (2400m), Windsor Park Plate (1600m) and NZ Bloodstock Insurance Spring Classic (2040m) as well as the Group 1 Rosehill Guineas (2000m) in Sydney. The son of Thorn Park also finished second behind Pinker Pinker in the 2011 Cox Plate (2040m) in Melbourne.
Magic result for mare's trainer
Hastings trainer Fred Pratt thinks Magic Incanto has finally turned the corner after he has had to endure a frustrating run of problems with the mare over the years.
The 7-year-old daughter of Per Incanto recorded her second win when she led practically all the way in a Rating 65 race over 1350m at Wanganui last Friday.
That success by Magic Incanto followed a close second behind the highly rated Serena over 1300m at Hastings on January 29 and Pratt thinks the mare is finally reaching her true potential.
"We've had that many problems with her which is why she hasn't had many starts," Pratt said.
Magic Incanto was having only her 17th start when she stepped out at Wanganui. She bares a huge scar on her offside hind-leg, the result of her going through a fence as a young horse. She also had to be late scratched from a Waipukurau meeting last year when she injured herself during the float trip from Hastings to the races.
She broke through for a maiden win over 1400m on her home track three starts back and is likely to have her next start in a $25,000 Rating 72 race over 1300m at next Wednesday's Hawke's Bay meeting.
Magic Incanto was bred by Woodville butcher John Shannon and Wellington's John Fokerd and is raced by Shannon's wife along with several other butchers' wives from around the central districts, and some other family friends.
Fred Pratt is a former successful jumps jockey who has dabbled at training for many years. He was based in Woodville for a start before crossing the Tasman where he spent 20 years training with success in Victoria.
He decided to return to New Zealand about eight years ago, first spending time assisting Levin trainer Peter McKenzie before shifting to Hastings, where he is now employed at the local freezing works.
Magic Incanto was ridden to victory last Friday but 52-year-old Tony Allan, who is best remembered as the winning jockey aboard Empire Rose when she took out the 1988 Melbourne Cup.
Allan managed to work Magic Incanto over from an outside draw and had her in front at the end of the first 200 metres. They were taken on by another runner in the middle stages but Allan always had his mount travelling well and she produced a good kick at the top of the straight to put a winning break on the field.
At the line she was a decisive three-quarters of a length in front of second placed Remarx.
Hastings races Wednesday
Group racing returns to the Hastings track next Wednesday when Hawke's Bay Racing will stage the Little Avondale Lowland Stakes twilight raceday.
The Group 2 $100,000 Little Avondale Lowland Stakes (2100m) will be the feature event on the eight-race programme and is the eighth race in the New Zealand Bloodstock Three-year-old Filly of The Year series.
The other major races on Wednesday's card are a $35,000 open sprint over 1400m and a $25,000 race for 3-year-olds over 1400m.
The first race is timed for 2.09pm and the last at 6.15pm and there will be free admission on to the course and also to the Members Stand.
Allpress to ride in Saudi Arabia
Last season's New Zealand Premiership-winning jockey Lisa Allpress has been invited to compete in the inaugural Kingdom Day Jockey Challenge in Saudi Arabia next month.
While she is looking forward to the new experience, it won't be the first time she has represented her country internationally.
"I was lucky enough when I was an apprentice to go to Macau to represent New Zealand," Allpress said.
"I would have been 23 and I loved it. I had a second-placing in Macau, it was my first time riding on the dirt, it was great."
"This will be my third time at a major international competition, I am really looking forward to it," she said.
The jockeys' challenge includes four races on the dirt, ranging from 1200m to 1600m.
The competition will be made up of 14 international jockeys, seven from either sex, and Allpress said she is looking forward to competing against some of the biggest names in thoroughbred racing.
"Frankie Dettori is heading up the men's team, he has been my idol since I first started. I know there are some pretty famous jockeys in there like Mike Smith from America, Yutaka Take from Japan, and James Doyle. They are very good jockeys.
"Sophie Doyle is heading up the female jockeys. I know there will be Emma-Jayne Wilson, and also jockeys from Germany, France, and England."