Vino Blanco (inside) stretches her neck out to score an upset win over favourite Trois Vallees in a 1200-metre maiden race at Taupo last week.
It is not often racegoers get to witness Group One racing for free but that will be the case at this Sunday's Hawke's Bay meeting.
The Group One $250,000 Livamol Classic, which was originally scheduled to be run on the Hastings track a fortnight ago, will now be the highlight of a nine-race programme on Sunday where there will be no gate charge.
The 2040m race has drawn some of the country's best weight-for-age performers, headed by the three-time Group One winner Gingernuts.
The Iffraaj 4-year-old has earned a cult following in New Zealand and Australia after wins in the New Zealand Derby (2400m) and Rosehill Guineas (2000m) last season and his impressive last start victory in the Windsor Park Plate (1600m) at Hastings on September 23.
This will be the horse's last start before he heads across the Tasman for a possible clash with champion mare Winx in the weight-for-age A$2million Emirates Stakes (2000m) on the last day of the Melbourne Cup carnival at Flemington.
There are more than 40 shareholders in the Te Akau Gingernuts Syndicate that races the chestnut from the Matamata stable of Stephen Autridge and Jamie Richards, and most are expected to be at Hastings on Sunday, along with an entourage of friends and family. This should ensure there will be a sea of orange caps bearing the horse's hyphenated name of "G-Nuts".
Gingernuts will start a short priced favourite and showed he is right on target for Sunday's race when he recorded an exceptional exhibition gallop between races at last Saturday's Matamata meeting. He has drawn wide out at barrier 11 but this is not seen as a huge disadvantage as he tends to settle back in the early stages of his races.
Gingernuts will be one of two representatives from the Autridge/Richards stable in the weight-for-age feature, with the other being the former Australian-trained and impressive last start winner Chance To Dance. Others in the field include fellow Group One winners Volkstok'n'barrell, Close Up and Sofia Rosa, multiple Group Two winner Mime and the in-form pair of Wait A Sec and Nymph Monte.
The other main race on the day will be the Group Three $70,000 Red Badge Spring Sprint where an outstanding field of sprinters will do battle over 1400m.
The first race on Sunday is timed for 12.52pm with the gates open from 11.30am. Besides free admission, the general public will also have free access to the Sasanof Lounge and Committee Room on the first floor of the Members Stand with the Desert Gold Room reserved for members only.
There will also be live music on the lawn and free children's entertainment.
Wait A Sec in Livamol Classic
Hastings will be represented in Sunday's Group One Livamol Classic with Wait A Sec earning a start in the 2040m feature with another gallant win in last Saturday's $40,000 Egmont Cup (2100m) at Hawera.
The 7-year-old Postponed gelding, prepared by the Hastings partnership of Guy Lowry and Grant Cullen, has been in a purple patch of form with six wins and two thirds from his last eight starts. He had to lump 59kg at Hawera and produced a sustained finishing burst in the last 300m to get up and snatch a nose victory over Itsallbelt.
Wait A Sec will be having his first start under weight-for-age conditions on Sunday but he has a tremendous record on his home track, where he has had 14 starts for three wins and four minor placings. He is drawn to get a good run from barrier six and regular Johnathan Parkes has the mount again.
Wait A Sec will be using Sunday's race to further his preparation for the Group Three $250,000 New Zealand Cup (3200m) at Riccarton on November 18. He is also likely to contest the Listed $75,000 Metropolitan Trophy (2500m) at Riccarton on November 11 as his final lead-up to the cup.
Wait A Sec was bred by his Hastings owner Ian Henderson, who races him in partnership with his Perth-based son Paul. He is out of the Grosvenor mare Security, who was bought for $5000 at a 2007 Karaka mixed bloodstock sale.
Security is out of Secrecy, who was the winner of seven races for another Hawke's Bay owner-breeder, Don Gordon.
The first foal Henderson bred out of Security was a full-brother to Wait A Sec, called Secured. He was sold to Australian-based trainer Brian Jenkins for $25,000 and went on to record a win and six minor placings in that country.
Henderson then bred a colt by Handsome Ransom out of Security but it broke down before getting to the races, with Wait A Sec being the next foal and the only one he has raced out of the mare.
Upset winner at Taupo
Hastings-trained Vino Blanco stunned punters when scoring at odds of 40 to one in a 1200m maiden race at Taupo on Wednesday of last week.
The Cape Blanco 4-year-old mare was one of two horses trainers Guy Lowry and Grant Cullen had entered for the event, with the other being the first starter Rippin, who finished a close fourth.
Vino Blanco was having her second start, following a debut ninth over 1200m at Woodville in August. She was unsuited by a track that was bordering on heavy that day and appreciated the better footing at Taupo, where she also capitalised on a charmed rails run in the home straight.
After being a shade slow to begin, Vino Blanco was back at the tail of the field coming to the home turn and was still a long way off the leaders inside the final 300m. But rider Samantha Collett stuck to the inside rail and, when the horses in front started to roll out, she managed to push her mount into the gap and the horse showed an electrifying turn of foot to get up in the last couple of strides to beat race favourite Trois Vallees by a long head. Attimo was a neck back in third and only a nose in front of Rippin.
Vino Blanco was an $85,000 purchase from the Select session of the 2015 Karaka yearling sales and is out of the American-bred mare Splendid In Spring, who was the winner of four races up to 1200m.
The mare is now raced by a large syndicate of owners, several of whom live in Hawke's Bay. The group is made up of Charlie and Anna Whyte, Fred and Juliet Coates, Tommy and Sally Lowry, Hamish and Sarah Whyte, Mark and Louise Apatu, Paul and Marie Apatu, Dean and Pip McCarroll, Paddy Preston, Murray and Marg Hardy, Daniel and Anna Russell and Tony Rider. The Russells are first-time owners.
Lowry and Cullen have always had a high opinion of Vino Blanco and the horse showed she had good ability by winning two jumpouts last season and also finished a good second behind subsequent race winner Smokin' Oak in a 1000m jumpout last month.
With a lack of suitable Rating 65 races around for Vino Blanco in the next few weeks the mare may now have to race out of her class in a strong Rating 75 race over 1400m at Hastings this Sunday.
Golden Bay back in form
Golden Bay, a horse bred by Central Hawke's Bay's Sue Harty, made an overdue return to the winner's stall with a dominant 1-1/2 length victory in a Rating 65 race over 1600m at last Friday's Timaru meeting.
The Perfectly Ready 8-year-old is now the winner of four races and was formerly in the stable of Awapuni trainer Mike Breslin. His last success was in a Rating 65 race over 1400m at Woodville two years ago.
The horse is now prepared by Ashburton-based Cheri Trembath and, although he hadn't won for a long time, he had recorded several minor placings for his new trainer.
Jockey Samantha Collett settled Golden Bay just in behind the leading division in the early stages of last Friday's race and then sent him forward to challenge for the lead early in the home straight. The horse kicked on too well for race favourite Director, with Savannah Gem third.
Golden Bay is out of the now deceased mare Golden Butterfly, who was the winner of nine races for Harty and had the distinction of winning the first New Zealand race of the new millennium, when successful in a 1300m open sprint at Hastings on January 1, 2000.
Harty is still breeding from a daughter of Golden Butterfly in Madam Butterfly, who is a mare by Towkay that won five races and is presently in foal to Sweynesse.
By-monthly award winner
The owners of Smokin' Oak are the recipients of the by-monthly Kevin Wood Memorial trophy for the months of August and September.
The award, sponsored by the Hawke's Bay Racehorse Owners Association, will be presented at the Hawke's Bay meeting on Sunday.
Smokin' Oak is raced by the Burger Syndicate, a large group of owners that is managed by Mike Sanders. The horse is prepared by Hastings trainer John Bary and was an impressive last start winner in a 1200m maiden race at Waipukurau on September 28.
'Hawke's Bay and Havelock North in particular is home for me.'