Mike Kneebone (left) Patrick Campbell, Tony Lee and Norm Stewart.
John Jenkins is a longtime racing journalist based in Hawke’s Bay.
OPINION
In the words of the great racecaller Tony Lee, “The Dream Burst Into Reality” when Hastings-trained mare La Dulcin’ee recorded an emotionally charged win at last Sunday’s Ashburton meeting.
Lee, for years, rated New Zealand’s number one racecaller, used that phrase when Castletown burst clear of his rivals on his way to winning a third Wellington Cup in 1994 and it also epitomised the triumphant success by La Dulcin’ee. It may have been only a lowly-rated maiden race that La Dulcin’ee won last Sunday but for the horse’s connections it meant the world.
The Per Incanto mare is raced by Ashburton farmer Norm Stewart in partnership with her Hastings trainer Patrick Campbell and Dene Smith, also from Hastings.
What made the win so special is the fact that Stewart has been diagnosed with terminal cancer and has been given only months to live.
An ever-popular figure on New Zealand racetracks and known country-wide in farming, rugby and thoroughbred circles, Stewart has had racing shares in numerous horses over the years and loves nothing more than to be on track to see one of them race.
Thus, knowing he had deteriorating health, Stewart decided to put on a special weekend in his home town that coincided with a harness race meeting on the Saturday and a gallop meeting on Sunday.
He organised a marquee to be erected on the Ashburton racecourse and invited hundreds of people to a special function there while also persuading Campbell to send the mare La Dulcin’ee south for a $25,000 maiden race over 1200m.
He booked out 15 units at a local motel to help accommodate those attending from out of town and put on mini-buses to ferry them to and from the racecourse while also providing food and refreshments on the day.
It was a plan that needed everything to fall into place and it worked out perfectly, with about 300 people attending Sunday’s function and La Dulcin’ee capping the day’s celebrations with a dream-winning result.
Among those invited for the weekend’s festivities were Patrick Campbell and Tony Lee, both of whom have built a close friendship with Stewart over the years and regularly make duck-shooting trips in May to his South Island properties.
Campbell was at first a little hesitant to send La Dulcin’ee on such a long float trip from Hastings to Ashburton, given the mare was very highly strung when she first entered his stable late last year.
He decided to send her south early last week, in the care of stable employee John Hall, to give her plenty of time to settle into the new environment before he, Tony Lee and another close friend in Gary Rae also travelled down by road.
“I was a bit frightened about her coping with the trip but she handled it very well,” Campbell said.
He added that Stewart was in good spirits for the entire weekend, organising the seating in the marquee and making sure all arrangements were in place.
“I even had him at the track at daybreak one morning to see the mare have a workout,” Campbell said.
Stewart’s son Hunter came across from Sydney for the weekend and another son Adam (Tauranga) and daughter Hanna, from Auckland, were also in attendance.
La Dulcin’ee had previously recorded two seconds, a third and a fourth from four starts on Central Districts tracks for Campbell and was sent out a raging hot favourite for the Ashburton race.
South Island jockey Tina Comignaghi jumped her out quickly from an inside draw to lead early before taking a trail. She angled her mount around heels to take control again rounding the home turn and La Dulcin’ee raced right away over the final stages to win by seven lengths.
“Everyone expected the result but they were over the moon when she raced away like she did,” Campbell said.
“It was pretty impressive and Norm was hugely excited.”
Campbell said La Dulcin’ee will now be given a couple of quiet weeks to get over the long trip and is unlikely to be seen again on race day until the Wellington meeting at Trentham on March 22.
“There is a Rating 65 race over 1200 metres that day or a special conditions maiden over 1400 so she will probably run in one of them,” Campbell said.
“If she races there it is easy for Norm to get to see her run as he can get a flight from Christchurch to Wellington.”
La Dulcin’ee is a five-year-old mare by Per Incanto out of the Keeper mare Lady Aroha and is raced on lease from her Waikato breeder Bob Emery.
The mare was originally trained at Cambridge by Stephen Marsh, who gave her 11 starts for four seconds and three thirds.
“The syndicate that raced her then decided not to carry on so Bob asked me whether I’d like to lease her,” Campbell added.
Birthday weekend ends in doldrums
Hastings thoroughbred trainer Mick Brown had a birthday he would sooner forget last weekend.
English-born Brown, who trains in partnership with his wife Sue Thompson, celebrated his New Zealand birthday last Friday and his English birthday the following day.
He and Thompson had a horse scheduled to run at Wanganui on Friday and one at Otaki on Saturday, with both rated good winning chances. However, neither of them got to go around.
They had the in-form Nozumi entered for race seven at Wanganui but the meeting was abandoned after two horses slipped in race six.
Talented mare Fancy Like Lass was all set to resume after a month’s break in the open 1200m sprint at Otaki on Saturday but that meeting was also abandoned after a horse slipped and fell in the opening event.
“It was not a great way to spend your birthday,” a dejected Brown said this week.
“We had two wasted trips away.”
He and Thompson are now hopeful both horses will get to race at Trentham this Sunday, where Fancy Like Lass is entered for the $50,000 open sprint over 1200m while Nozumi is set to contest the $25,000 maiden race over 1400m.
“Fancy Like Lass can run there and that will set her up for the Listed $130,000 Lightning Handicap over 1200m at Trentham on March 22,” Brown said.
“Nozumi was supposed to run over 1600 metres at Wanganui and will be dropping back to 1400 but we’ll keep him fresh this week,” he added.
The Thompson-Brown stable has also lost the services of promising three-year-old Everending, who has been sold to Hong Kong and left the stable last weekend.
The Alamosa gelding has had two starts for an impressive debut win over 1360m at Wanganui in December and a close fourth over 1600m at Trentham on January 18.
He was owned by Canterbury’s Colin Wightman, who has extensive racing interests throughout New Zealand and is also the owner of Pivotal Ten, a slot holder in the $3.5 million NZ Kiwi (1500m) at Ellerslie on March 8.
NZ-bred proves a star in Oakleigh Plate
Former Hastings-trained galloper Jimmysstar scored a stunning win in the Group 1 A$800,000 Oakleigh Plate (1100m) at Caulfield last Saturday under a brilliant Ethan Brown ride.
The five-year-old son of Per Incanto stalked eventual runner-up She’s Bulletproof and launched from the rear of the field to record an emphatic length and a quarter victory in a slick time of 1:02.25.
The winner of two of his three starts in New Zealand for Hastings trainer Guy Lowry, a majority share in Jimmysstar was sold to clients of top Australian trainer Ciaron Maher following a Rating 65 win over 1300m at Hastings in September 2023.
Maher has subsequently placed the now five-year-old to perfection with Jimmysstar having a particular affinity for Caulfield, where he has won four of five starts, with his only unplaced effort at the venue when luckless in the Group 1 Sir Rupert Clarke Stakes (1400m) at the end of last campaign.
“He is a very special horse,” Maher said.
“Ozzie Kheir and the team of owners, they’re great people. He’s got such a following does Jimmy. I’ve been patient and he’s always shown that sort of ability.”
Maher said winning fresh-up last campaign over the course and distance had given him the confidence to thrust the exciting talent into the Group 1 short-course contest fresh-up.
“I think Ozzie thought I was crazy when I ran him over 1100m the first time,” he said.
“He’s a special horse. He’s always shown that bit of X factor and I can’t thank the whole ownership group enough. They’re fantastic to train for and Ozzie’s got a knack of finding the best horses.
Jimmysstar was bred by Wairarapa couple Pete and Chrissy Algie in partnership with Masterton’s Little Avondale Stud.
Stud proprietors Sam and Catriona Williams along with the Algies remain in the ownership of the star galloper.
“It’s huge for Sam (Williams) at Little Avondale. The horse is just a great advertisement for what patience can do. He was very well managed in New Zealand and came over after only a few starts,” Maher said.
The chestnut gelding is by Little Avondale Stud’s outstanding stallion Per Incanto out of Anniesstar.
Anniesstar is a Zed mare who won five races including the Listed Feilding Gold Cup (2100m), while her full-brother Jacksstar was a seven-time winner up to Group 2 level and also placed in the Group 1 Auckland Cup (3200m) and her half-brother Bourbonaire was runner-up in the Group 1 New Zealand 2000 Guineas (1600m).
Anniesstar is the dam of three named foals, and all of them have been winners, including Charms Star, winner of the Group 3 Manawatū Breeders’ Stakes (2000m), and she was also runner-up in the Group 1 New Zealand Oaks (2400m) and Queensland Oaks (2200m) as a three-year-old.
The Magpies have been given a significant boost for their upcoming 2025 NPC campaign.