Hawkes Bay-owned Thien Ly races into Telegraph calculations

Thien Ly (inside) stretches his neck out under the urgings of jockey Rosie Myers to out-finish race favourite Smashing at Trentham last Saturday.

Hastings racehorse owner John Flynn and his fellow connections in Thien Ly now have an anxious wait until next Wednesday before they know whether or not their horse has made the field for the Group 1 $250,000 Telegraph Sprint at Trentham three days later.

The JR & N Berkett Telegraph is one of the feature events on the second day of the Wellington Cup carnival and the field will be finalised after last withdrawals are taken at 10am next Wednesday. At this stage Thien Ly is 22nd in order of entry into the race, with the starting limit being 18.

Thien Ly raced into calculations for the country's premier sprint when scoring a strong fresh-up win over 1200m at Trentham last Saturday, prompting the horse's Awapuni trainer Jeff Lynds to state then that he would like to try and sneak the horse into the Telegraph on a light weight.

"It would be a dream come true if we got into the Telegraph but if we don't then there are always other races around for him," John Flynn said this week.

He and his wife Greta own the Stravinsky six-year-old in partnership with two other Wellington couples, whom they are still yet to meet.

"The horse has won four races and I still haven't got to meet the other owners," Flynn said.

"Whenever the horse has raced up here they haven't been on course and whenever he has raced down that way I haven't been there. But if he gets a start in the Telegraph we will definitely be at Trentham for that."

Thien Ly is by Stravinsky out of the Entrepreneur mare Highflying, whose seven wins included the Group 2 City Of Auckland Cup (2400m).

"He was always a bit wayward when he was younger and he's been off the scene for a while after he pulled a muscle in his hind-quarters," Flynn said.

"That was after he won over 1200 at Te Rapa back in April last year.

"Jeff had him ready to go again at Otaki a few weeks back but the track was wet and he said he would back off and wait for the better tracks, which is what we got on Saturday."

Flynn keeps in contact with Tracy Collis, a trainer in her own right and the strapper for Thien Ly at Trentham on Saturday.

"She said to me that you'd be amazed how much he has grown up and matured since that trip to Te Rapa last year, and he certainly looks a lot stronger now," Flynn added.

Thien Ly's win in the $30,000 Rating 85 race over 1200m at last Saturday's Marton meeting was aided by a perfect ride by jockey Rosie Myers, who stuck to the inside rail and never went around another horse in the running.

When the pacemaking Smashing rolled off the fence 300 metres from the finish Myers seized the opportunity to push Thien Ly through to take the lead, and the horse stuck on gamely to win by a nose.

"The speed was quite strong and we were lucky the leader ran out and gave us a beautiful run up the rail," Myers said.

"He tends to run in, so it suited us. He's always had a lot of ability."

The front-runner Smashing stuck grimly to her guns in the closing 400m to take second money ahead of Lucyinrio.

A half-brother to Thien Ly, by Power, will be offered by Curraghmore Stud at the Select yearling sale at Karaka on February 1.

Van Gogh proves his worth

Van Gogh, a horse that has been sent to Kevin Myers' stable to be prepared for a jumping career, is starting to pay his way on the flat.

The four-year-old scored a runaway 4 3/4-length win in a 1500m maiden race at Greymouth last Saturday. He was then unplaced on an extremely heavy track at Hokitika on Wednesday but could go around again at tomorrow's Kumara meeting.

Van Gogh was initially owned by Hawke's Bay's James Bridge and his uncle, Auckland veterinarian Ivan Bridge, but now Myers also has a third share.

The horse was a $60,000 purchase from the 2014 Karaka Ready-To-Run Two-year-old sale and was initially trained by James Bridge when he was based at Byerley Park in Auckland. He recorded a second, a third and a fourth from his first 10 starts before being transferred to Myers.

"He is a horse that we bought to hopefully sell on but we ended up with him so we've decided to race him," James Bridge said.

"Taking a horse out of the north they really can be competitive down here and further south."

Bridge said Van Gogh has been in work for some time and has done a fair bit of schooling so he was a fit horse for Myers to take down to the South Island's West Coast circuit.

"He's a horse that has always had a bit of ability and he jumps good," Bridge added.
James Bridge has moved away from public training and instead he and his father John have developed a property at Pourerere Beach in Central Hawke's Bay where they want to concentrate on pre-training and preparing young horses for sale.

"The horses we have got now are all our own horses. I haven't got any for clients," Bridge said.

"I enjoyed public training but the decision was made not to press on with it and the focus is now on buying and selling horses."

Bridge said he will still prepare the odd racehorse from the property and intends using the Hastings track for fast work.

"I think Hastings is the best track in the country," he said.

He added that Gilhoolie, a promising two-year-old that he shares in the ownership of, will be one of the horses he will have back racing early in the New Year.

Another Telegraph tilt

Hastings-trained Adventador will be back to defend his crown in the Group 1 $250,000 JR & N Berkett Telegraph Sprint at Trentham tomorrow week as he tries to become the fourth two-time winner of the race in the last 30 years.

The big Fast 'N' Famous eight-year-old caused a major boil over in last year's 1200-metre feature when he won at odds of 80 to 1 and beat home two other outsiders in Miss Seton Sands and Trepidation.

The outstanding sprinters Courier Bay and Mr Tiz both recorded back-to-back wins in the Telegraph. Courier Bay achieved the feat in 1987 and 1988 while Mr Tiz dead-heated with Festal in 1989 and then won it outright the following year. The other two-time winner of the race since then was Mufhasa in 2009 and 2011.

Adventador's last start was in an open sprint over 1300m at Hastings on New Year's Day where he finished last of six runners and carried topweight of 60kg.

It was hardly an ideal lead up to the Telegraph Sprint but he also failed to flatter in the same Hastings race last year, finishing fourth out of five runners before going on to triumph at Trentham.

Grant Cullen, who co-trains Adventador with Guy Lowry, said this week they were slightly disappointed with the horse's last start performance, but thought that he wasn't entirely happy on the firm track that day.

"The only thing we can put it down to is that he wouldn't let down on the firm ground," Cullen said.

"Hopefully they get a bit of rain down at Trentham and he will also have blinkers back on down there, which should make a difference."

Adventador is such a big horse that he has always been troubled by hoof and leg problems and has only had 27 starts for seven wins, six seconds and two thirds.

The Lowry/Cullen stable could have at least three runners at Trentham on Wellington Cup day with the impressive last start winner Savvy Dreams and My Tommy also expected to line up. Savvy Dreams, who won her race debut over 1200m at Hastings on New Year's Day, will be entered for the $40,000 Special Conditions race over 1400m while My Tommy is likely to contest the Rating 65 1600.

Aussie raider

Australian sprinter Odyssey Moon has been confirmed as a starter in the Group 1 $250,000 JR & N Berkett Telegraph at Trentham tomorrow week with Melbourne jockey Noel Callow booked to ride him.

Callow rode the four-year-old to a last start victory in the Group 3 Standish Handicap (1200m) at Flemington on New Year's Day, which was the horse's fourth win from 21 starts.

Odyssey Moon is prepared by top Caulfield trainer Robert Smerdon and was placed in the Group 1 ATC Sires' Produce Stakes (1400m) as a two-year-old. The Snitzel entire has also been placed twice at Group 2 level.

While in New Zealand the horse will be based at Murray Baker and Andrew Forsman's stables in Cambridge and was due to arrive there yesterday.

Chinese syndicate

A group of private investors have established the New Zealand Chinese Jockey Club to cater for the high level of interest in racehorse ownership by the Chinese community, both in New Zealand and internationally.

Headed by Mr Joshua Zong, a prominent Chinese business owner and property developer based in Auckland, the New Zealand Chinese Jockey Club will be officially launched on the eve of New Zealand Bloodstock's National Yearling Sales Series at a function to be held at the Karaka Million Twilight Meeting on Sunday, January 29 at
Ellerslie.

Speaking from his Karaka base, Mr Zong spoke enthusiastically about the level of interest shown in racehorse ownership at a seminar held by New Zealand Bloodstock at Karaka prior to last November's Ready to Run Sale of Two-year-olds.