Trainer Aaron Bidlake and his partner Michelle Young converse with winning jockey Elen Nicholas after Tulsa King’s win in the opening race at last Saturday’s Taranaki meeting.
John Jenkins is a longtime racing journalist based in Hawke’s bay.
Hastings-trained Tulsa King, a horse that cost his new owners just $1500, provided them with an instant return when taking out a $40,000 race at New Plymouth last Saturday.
The Staphanos gelding, prepared by Aaron Bidlake, caused an upset when scoring at odds of 12 to one in the 3-year-old race at the Taranaki Extreme race meeting.
Tulsa King was the slowest to begin from the 1200m barrier and settled a clear last in the five-horse field until the home turn. Rider Elen Nicholas then angled him to the outside of the track and he started to mount a run, in the driving rain and extremely heavy track conditions.
Luminance, one of two race winners in the field, had skipped clear early in the straight and looked set for victory. But she started to shorten stride in the testing ground whereas Tulsa King kept coming and he managed to surge past that runner to score a 1-1/2 length win.
It was the horse’s third career start and his first since Bidlake and his partner, Michelle Young, outlayed $1500 to buy him from the equine auction site Gavelhouse three months ago.
The couple have retained a 45 per cent ownership of Tulsa King and have sold the other 55 per cent to family members and the Grassroots Racing Kings Syndicate.
“My parents, Graeme and Karen, are in the horse and travelled from Masterton to New Plymouth to watch him race,” Bidlake said this week.
“My uncle and aunty from Hamilton, Barry and Teresa Bidlake, are also shareholders along with the Grassroots Syndicate.”
Michelle Young has been instrumental in setting up the Grassroots Kings Syndicate, which is primarily aimed at getting people involved in racing ownership at a lower level of expenditure.
“The syndicate has been very well received. We have got several Hawke’s Bay people involved and quite a few of them are first-time racehorse owners,” Bidlake said.
Tulsa King managed to beat only one home in two starts as a 2-year-old last season, when trained by Waikato-based Barry Donoghue.
Because the horse was small in stature his owners thought there was not much future in continuing to race him and thus offered him for sale on Gavelhouse.
Aaron Bidlake said he became interested in the horse given his breeding, as he is out of an Encosta De Lago mare and a half-brother to a Savabeel filly that sold for $80,000 at last January’s Karaka yearling sales.
“He is only very small, which is why he would never have sold as a young horse, but he looks to have a big heart and shows plenty,” Bidlake said.
He said he was unsure how the horse would perform first up as he had only given him a couple of gallops to get him race fit.
“To be perfectly honest I didn’t really know much about the horse and I was using the race as more like a trial,” he added.
“But he won well and I think he’s got a bit of a future.”
Bidlake said he was giving Tulsa King a few quiet days to let him get over the long trip and hard race and will probably look at starting him next in another 3-year-old race at either Hawera on October 4 or Otaki on October 11.
Aaron Bidlake has been training thoroughbreds for two decades, originally based in his home town of Masterton before moving to Hawke’s Bay about 18 months ago.
Tulsa King is his first winner from his new base but he has only had a limited number of starters and only has half a dozen horses in work at the moment.
He got his grounding in thoroughbreds working for four years at Masterton’s Ardsley Park Stud, where his duties were shared between looking after the horses in Jim Wallace’s racing stable and preparing yearlings for the sales.
He says veteran Opaki trainer Alby MacGregor was a great help and mentor for him in his younger days, as was Jim Wallace’s son James.
Bidlake initially held a permit-to-train licence and it was through his friendship with the Wallace family that he was able to acquire the best horse he has trained in Eric The Viking.
Bidlake was able to lease the horse and took in his brother Nigel and three other friends to help race him.
Eric The Viking went on to win nine races and more than $260,000 in stakemoney.
The Viking Ruler was also small in stature but big in heart and proved hugely successful both on the flat and over fences.
His wins on the flat included the Whyte Handicap (1600m) at Trentham and the Listed Opunake Cup (1400m) at Hawera while his jumping victories included the 2014 Grand National Steeplechase (5600m) at Riccarton and the 2016 Wellington Steeplechase (5500m).
Spark fired well in top company
Well-related Hastings-trained filly Spark showed she has inherited a good measure of the family ability with a bold debut performance in black-type company at Riccarton last Saturday.
The daughter of Time Test overcame the outside barrier to finish a gallant fourth in the Listed Canterbury Belle Stakes (1200m) for her co-trainer, breeder, and owner Guy Lowry.
“We do rate her very highly and she had to do a bit from the wide draw,” said Lowry, who trains with Leah Zydenbos.
“We weren’t worried about the ability, we were just worried about her greenness, given how little she had done.”
Spark had trialled twice last month at Foxton, winning the second of them with an eye-catching frontrunning display.
“She has showed us plenty and we’ll now put her out for three weeks,” Lowry said.
“We’ll work out a plan and maybe look at some of the three-year-old fillies’ races over Christmas.”
Spark is a daughter of the No Excuse Needed mare Flare, who is out of a three-quarter sister to the former two-time Hong Kong Horse of the Year Ambitious Dragon.
Ambitious Dragon spent a short time with Lowry, whose father Pat bred the multiple Group 1 winner, before he was transferred to Tony Millard’s stable in Hong Kong.
Spark is also a half-sister to Candle, a three-time winner for Lowry before adding two more victories from Richard Didham’s Riccarton stable.
Livamol Classic still a Group 1 race
The Livamol Classic, the richest race run by Hawke’s Bay Racing in recent years, has retained its Group 1 status for now after a New Zealand Thoroughbred Racing reshuffle of some of New Zealand’s elite races, prompted by a review by the Asian Pattern Committee.
Under Asian Pattern Committee rules, a vote is triggered when a race records three consecutive runnings below the International Group 1 benchmark and tolerance levels.
As a result of the review, the Harcourts Thorndon Mile (1600m) has been downgraded from Group 1 to Group 2 status. The decision reflects the race’s recent performance history. It will continue to carry prizemoney of $500,000 and will be staged at Trentham on Saturday, January 17, 2026.
The APC also confirmed continued Group 1 status, for now, for the New Zealand Oaks and New Zealand Thoroughbred Breeders’ Stakes, supported by calendar and venue changes for both races, and for the Livamol Classic and Telegraph, based on overall field quality and historical standing.
Two of the nation’s premier Group 1 races will move venues and dates this season in a step to protect their international status and strengthen the industry’s racing calendar.
The $1 million Group 1 Al Basti Equiworld Dubai New Zealand Oaks (2400m) will be run at the Ellerslie racecourse on February 21, two weeks before the $1.25m Group 1 Trackside New Zealand Derby (2400m) at Auckland Thoroughbred Racing’s Champions Day meeting.
The $600,000 Group 1 New Zealand Thoroughbred Breeders’ Stakes (1600m) will return to its traditional late-March timing at Awapuni on Saturday March 28.
The New Zealand Oaks, long regarded as the ultimate test for 3-year-old fillies, faced the risk of downgrade after three consecutive years below the required international ratings. Its move to February reflects both recent challenges in attracting top-level fillies and the opportunity to link more naturally with the New Zealand Derby and Australian autumn features. The change has been approved for one year, with its position to be reviewed thereafter.
The $150,000 Group 2 Jennian Homes Lowland Stakes (2100m) will also move to Wellington Cup day at Trentham on January 31 to sharpen the lead-in to the Oaks.
The New Zealand Thoroughbred Breeders’ Stakes, New Zealand’s only Group 1 race exclusively for fillies and mares, will also undergo a reset, returning to its traditional March slot at Awapuni, creating a blockbuster Central Districts raceday with five black-type events, including two Group 1s, the Breeders’ Stakes (1600m) and the Manawatu Sires’ Produce Stakes (1400m).
Supporting pathway races will also be realigned, with the $200,000 Group 3 Wentwood Grange Cuddle Stakes (1600m) moving to Awapuni on Sunday, March 1, the $600,000 Group 2 Westbury Classic (1400m) shifting from ATR’s TAB Karaka Millions meeting on Saturday, January 24 to Champions Day on Saturday, March 7, and the $90,000 Royal Descent Stakes (1400m) moving from ATR’s SkyCity Boxing Day races to the TAB Karaka Millions.
Trials planned for Awapuni grass track
After an inspection of the Awapuni grass racetrack last Monday, New Zealand Thoroughbred Racing and Race Inc confirmed that the track surface has continued to improve under recent favourable conditions.
Warmer weather conditions have supported further grass growth, and overall surface improvement was observed.
While a number of steps still remain before racing can fully resume, NZTR will now work with the club to implement an agreed return-to-racing protocol.
A trial meeting has been set down for Monday, October 6, where 80 to 90 horses are expected to contest a number of heats.
A further inspection will follow the trials to assess suitability for race meetings, with the first scheduled for Saturday, November 1.