Hawke’s Bay racehorse owner Ken Robson (with arms folded) and other connections discuss Thumper’s win at New Plymouth last Saturday with winning jockey Sam Spratt. Photo / John Jenkins
Hawke’s Bay racehorse owner Ken Robson made a special trip to New Plymouth last week to watch his horse Hot Shockolate compete at Saturday’s Taranaki meeting, but little did he know he also had a share in another runner on the day, and it won.
Robson has been a long-time friend of New Plymouth trainer Bryce Revell and has a racing share in Hot Shockolate, a Revell-trained mare who was down to contest a $30,000 rating 75 race over 1200m.
But Robson had also agreed, some time ago, to take up a racing share in a three-year-old by Derryn that Revell also had in work but he hadn’t heard too much about the horse since.
It turned out that horse is called Thumper, who made an auspicious racing debut when taking out the opening event at the New Plymouth meeting, a $15,000 maiden (1400m).
“I was only going over to the Taranaki because I knew Hot Shockolate was racing and when I got there I said, ‘give me a look at the first race’. I then saw my name in the book for a first starter by Derryn and it all came back to me,” Robson said this week.
“He’s a real character that Bryce.
“I said ‘why didn’t you let me know he was also starting on the day’, and he said ‘I didn’t want to get you too excited’.”
Thumper looked a horse with plenty of potential in scoring a game short-neck win. He trailed the leaders to the home turn before taking control and fought strongly to the line.
Robson has a 40 per cent racing share in Thumper, while Revell races 10 per cent and another New Plymouth man, Ken Brandish, races the other 50 per cent.
“Ken Brandish had two preparations with the horse in Bryce’s stable and was starting to feel the pinch so he asked Bryce to find some others to help race him,” Robson added.
“I also have a lease share in Hot Shockolate. She is now 5 so we don’t know how long that will go for so I thought, ‘oh well, I’ll take a chance on another one’.
“I’d never met Ken Brandish until we got to the races and he had two of his sons there. We were all tremendously excited after the win.”
Thumper is leased from Whanganui’s Grangewilliam Stud, with a $20,000 right of purchase.
He is certainly bred to be good as he is out of the five-time race-winning mare Alyssum, who was also placed second in the listed Canterbury Breeders’ Stakes (1400m) and fourth in the Gr.3 Churchill Stakes (1600m), both at Riccarton.
Thumper’s grandam is Kay Row, who was the winner of eight races including the Gr.3 Awapuni Gold Cup (2000m).
Thumper coped well with the heavy-10 track conditions on his home track, but Robson said the horse would not be pressured too much over the coming months.
“There is another race for him at New Plymouth in about three weeks’ time, but he is still learning and needs time,” Robson said.
“Bryce likes him and said we’ll have a nice horse next year.”
Hot Shockolate added to a good day for Robson when she finished a close third two races after Thumper’s success.
The Hastings-trained pair of Wewillrock and Herself are set to make their Australian race debuts at Saturday’s Rosehill meeting in Sydney.
The two horses, trained by Guy Lowry, were flown across the Tasman last Sunday and are reported to have settled in well in the Randwick stable of John O’Shea.
Lowry has also gone across to Sydney and will saddle the stablemates up for their assignments.
Wewillrock is entered for race four on the programme, an A$150,000 Benchmark rating 78 race over 1200m, where he has only eight rivals and has drawn well at barrier four.
He was given topweight of 62kg but will be ridden by talented Sydney-based apprentice Dylan Gibbons, who will claim a 1.5kg allowance.
Herself lines up in race seven, an A$150,000 Benchmark rating 78 race over 2400m, where she has drawn barrier seven and will carry 54kg. She will be ridden by Tom Sherry.
Classico, a mare part-owned by Hawke’s Bay’s Mark, Nathan and Paul Apatu, made a winning return to the racetrack after a long enforced layoff when taking out a 1215m maiden race at Rotorua last Saturday.
The Pierro four-year-old was an impressive trial winner at Matamata in November 2021 and finished an unlucky sixth on debut over 1200m at Tauranga later that month.
However, she then developed knee problems and was given a lengthy spell by her Matamata trainer, Mark Walker.
She resumed with a quiet trial over 1215m at Te Awamutu on April 24 when she finished third, and that set her up for her race return last Saturday.
Classico settled second last in the early stages of the Rotorua event and was still eight lengths off the leader starting the last 600m.
Jockey Warren Kennedy then sent her on a forward move around the field and she quickly ranged up to lodge a challenge early in the home straight before kicking on strongly to win by a short neck.
“She came to the end of it late in the heavy conditions, with all that ground she had to make up, but did everything right and quickened really nicely,” Kennedy said.
“She’ll win another one on that performance and may prefer a little more ground as well.”
Walker was delighted with the mare’s winning return, saying it was just reward for her owners who have had to be patient while he and his staff have worked on getting her back to racing trim.
He also said the mare appreciated the rain-affected track conditions.
Bred by Auckland-based John Carter, Classico is raced by his family company Jomara Bloodstock Limited along with the Apatus, Alfred Bloodstock Limited, A.J. Reynolds and J. Wyborn.
Classico is out of the Exceed And Excel mare Onetangi and a half-sister to the three-time winner Oneroa.
Her third dam is Kate’s Myth, who was the champion three-year-old filly in the 1988-89 season and joint Wrightson Filly of the Year.
Twenty-one-year-old Matamata trainer Kurtis Pertab is certainly now reaping the rewards of a $500 punt he made just over 12 months ago.
Pertab is the owner and trainer of last Saturday’s listed $85,000 Rotorua Cup winner Poser, a five-year-old mare who has now won four races for him and more than $85,000 in stakemoney.
Pertab spent $500 of his hard-earned money to purchase Poser from a Gavelhouse online auction. The daughter of Ocean Park was a 10-race maiden at that stage and had finished last of 13 runners at her most recent start, over 1800m at Riccarton.
But Pertab, who combines breaking, pre-training, pinhooking and trading horses with a small racing string, had some prior insight into Poser’s hidden ability.
“I knew Poser from when I was involved in breaking her in and taking her through to the trials for her breeder Mary Chittick,” Pertab said.
“Things didn’t work out for her after that but, when I saw her up on Gavelhouse this time last year, I thought she was worth a punt and bought her for what wasn’t much at all.
“I had always thought something of her, but then I had people telling me I was wasting my money — and being young you do wonder when others with a whole lot more knowledge tell you that.
“But I figured it was a big leap of faith, which meant sticking to my guns and putting a plan in place.”
The first step was to take Poser back to square one with a long spell and work from that base point.
After two late spring trials last year, the five-year-old made a winning debut for Pertab over 1600m at Tauranga in November and completed a hat-trick with rating 65 and 75 middle-distance wins at Rotorua and Te Rapa.
“I knew she liked soft ground, so I decided to put her away over summer and make a plan with the aim to try and get some black type with her,” Pertab said.
A fresh-up third placing over 1600m six weeks ago was followed by a forgivable seventh on a good-4 track in the Gr.3 Manawatu Breeders’ Stakes (2000m) in the middle of last month, and Pertab went into the Rotorua Cup confident he had the mare ready to peak.
“The ground was too firm for her at Awapuni, but she had to have a run in it if I wanted her to be ready for Rotorua.
“That [Rotorua Cup] was the race I had targeted and it had been a goal to train a stakes winner before I turned 22, so it’s great to get that ticked off.”
Pertab said he was also thrilled for jockey Tegan Newman, who also posted her biggest success to date, as he said she has played a big part in Poser’s development.
To cap a good weekend, Pertab also produced the winner of the last race at Matamata on Sunday when Diomedes scored a deserved maiden victory after three minor placings from six previous starts.
Pertab saddled up his first runner in 2021 and went winless through his first two seasons. However, that has changed significantly with his current season tally standing at seven wins from only 21 starters.
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