Sunshine Asle (middle) sticks her neck out to snatch a nose victory in a 1400m maiden race on Awapuni’s synthetic track last Sunday.
John Jenkins is a long-time racing journalist based in Hawke’s Bay.
Sunshine Ale’s win in a $17,000 maiden race on the Awapuni synthetic track last Sunday proved extra special for the horse’s Hastings owner-breeder Mike Newrick.
Newrick races the four-year-old mare under his company banner of Argyll Holdings Limited and she is the first winner that he has both bred and raced on his own.
“I’ve raced others in syndicates but this is the first one that I’ve owned outright,” Newrick said this week.
“I just liked her from the start but some of the others that I’ve had in syndicates didn’t want to be in and, to be fair, she had two full-brothers that proved to be no good.”
Sunshine Ale is prepared by the Hastings training partnership of Guy Lowry and Leah Zydenbos and was having her fourth start when she lined up over 1400m last Sunday.
It was her third consecutive race on the Awapuni synthetic track and followed two good third placings, over 1200m and 1400m.
The mare certainly showed plenty of courage to win after being forced to race three-wide for the entire race. She ran out even wider making the tight home bend but, once balanced up by apprentice rider Amber Riddell, she attacked the line strongly and stuck her neck out in the last few strides to snatch a nose victory.
Newrick and his wife Karen were on course to witness the success and could be heard in the race commentary cheering the mare home.
“We were in an area where there was only Karen and I and four other ladies and we all started cheering,” Newrick said.
“We didn’t know who the ladies were but they had obviously backed the horse too.”
Newrick said he had been suffering from influenza and was in two minds about whether to travel to Palmerston North and see his mare race.
“I said to Karen I don’t think we’ll go,” Newrick said.
“I’d been there to see her finish third in her last two starts but I was crook and didn’t really feel like making the trip.
“Then I got a text from Guy Lowry saying you need to be there as he was confident she would run a big race.”
Sunshine Ale is by Telperion out of Red Carpet, a Pins mare that Newrick bought for $6000 from a Karaka mixed bloodstock sale in 2017.
Sunshine Ale is the only one of her progeny that has got to the races.
“I ended up giving the mare away but, if Sunshine Ale continues to show some form, I will end up breeding from her,” Newrick said.
He added that Sunshine Ale is named after a horse that his grandfather owned.
“They say it was a pretty good horse but I can’t find any records about it. All I’ve got is a photograph of my grandfather sitting on a horse called Sunshine Ale.”
Newrick said reports are Sunshine Ale has come through last Sunday’s race well and there is a strong chance she may return to the Awapuni synthetic track for another 1400m race on August 31.
Sunshine Ale is one of two horses Newrick is racing at the moment, the other being Kayzino, a Tarzino mare who is also prepared by Lowry and Zydenbos and has had two starts for a third and an eighth.
“She is presently on my property having a good spell and I’ve also got a weanling full-sister to her coming on,” Newrick added.
Sunshine Ale was one of two winners at last Sunday’s Awapuni meeting for Lowry and Zydenbos as they also produced Uncle Ken to dead-heat for first in a maiden race over 1700m.
The Savabeel three-year-old gelding was having only his second start after finishing a debut third over the same distance on the same track at the beginning of July.
Uncle Ken drew the number one barrier and jockey Kelly Myers managed to settle him into a perfect trailing position, third on the fence.
She tracked the leader, A Sensible Prince, to the home turn before angling around that horse’s heels to lodge a challenge.
A Sensible Prince still had a handy advantage inside the final 100m but Uncle Ken kept up a powerful finish and the two crossed the line locked together.
Uncle Ken is by Savabeel out of the Makfi mare English Rose and is owned by her breeders, the Waikato Stud.
Injury puts Dictation on the sideline
Hastings-trained Dictation is unlikely to be seen back on a racetrack until next winter after suffering a tear to a suspensory ligament.
The Tavistock seven-year-old was one of the pre-post favourites for this Saturday’s $100,000 Hospitality NZ Canterbury 135th Grand National Hurdles at Riccarton but was withdrawn from the 4200m feature soon after acceptances were taken on Wednesday.
Paul Nelson, who trains the gelding in partnership with Corrina McDougal, said the horse had pulled up reasonably well following his all-the-way win in last Saturday’s Sydenham Hurdles (3100m) but a scan of the horse’s leg revealed the injury.
“He had a bit of a cut on his front fetlock after Saturday’s race but that cleared up and he had still been working alright,” Nelson said.
“But the vet that checked him over said there was something not quite right and when we had him scanned it showed a very minor tear to a suspensory.”
It was devastating news for Dictation’s connections as they had been looking forward to clashing with last year’s Grand National Hurdles winner Berry The Cash in this year’s edition.
“He was right on target for race,” a disappointed Nelson said.
The stable will still be represented by Suliman in the Grand National and Nelson said he was satisfied with the horse’s run for fifth in last Saturday’s Sydenham Hurdles.
“It was a nice race and he wasn’t really knocked around.
“Any rain will help him a bit and there is some rain forecast.”
The stable will also line up Nedwin in the 150th running of the $200,000 Grand National Steeplechase (5600m) and Nelson said the horse has come through his run for fourth in last Saturday’s Koral Steeplechase (4250m) in great order.
“The other part-owner in the horse [Mick Gardner] thought he would work him himself the other morning and that was alright but he hasn’t wanted to work him again since because the horse is so full of himself.”
Dictation took his record to seven wins from 34 starts when taking out last Saturday’s $50,000 Sydenham Hurdles and has won more than $172,000 in stakemoney.
He is owned by the I See Red Syndicate, a 26-member group of jumping enthusiasts that has been racing horses with Paul Nelson and his wife Carol for 21 years.
In that time the I See Red Syndicate has chalked up 43 wins, including many of New Zealand’s prestige jumping races, and more than $1 million in stakes.
Big plans for La Crique after trial win
Trainers Simon and Katrina Alexander are contemplating options on both sides of the Tasman with their multiple Group 1 winner La Crique following her pleasing trial at Taupō on Monday.
The seven-year-old daughter of Vadamos comfortably took out her 900m heat by 1-1/4 lengths, giving her connections plenty of confidence heading into the spring.
“I was really happy with her trial, it was more of a day out for her,” Katrina Alexander said.
“She got to the lead fairly soon out of the gates and had gone along at a nice clip and won very comfortably, still on the bridle.
“She has shown a lot of freshness on her side and put in a very nice trial. I really couldn’t be any happier with her.”
The Alexanders have had their patience tested with their star mare, with feet issues curtailing a number of her preparations, and they reared their head again in autumn when prematurely ending her Australian campaign.
“She has had a very good spell and we haven’t rushed her back in,” Alexander said.
She added that La Crique’s feet are in top order heading into the spring, and the mild winter has been favourable for their mare’s early preparation.
“Her feet are really good,” she said. “The [winter] season has probably been a little kinder on her. We have had wet periods, but I have been able to do alternative work with her and she is trucking along very nicely.
“Our problem has always been trying to prepare her through a wet end of winter and early spring.”
Australia has always been the main aim for La Crique this spring; however, her trainers haven’t ruled out remaining in New Zealand to tackle the spring carnival triple crown, which is set to take place at Ellerslie and Te Rapa this year.
“Australia was our original thought,” Alexander said. “We will most likely stay here for at least the first race of that series [Group 1 Proisir Plate, 1400m], and we are just going to see what happens.
“Physically, she looks great, but I am mindful that she is a seven-year-old mare. We have been to Australia and struck a problem before, and we don’t want a repeat of that costly exercise.”
La Crique has just had two starts in Australia, running fourth in the Group 1 Empire Rose Stakes (1600m) at Flemington three years ago, and winning the A$500,000 Magic Millions National Classic (1600m) at Eagle Farm last year.
While plagued by feet issues throughout her career, La Crique has been able to amass an enviable record of nine wins and 13 places from 26 starts, and has earned nearly $2m in prizemoney.