A happy Corrina McDougal leads Kwanza away after the horse’s dominant win in a maiden highweight at Woodville last Sunday. It was McDougal’s 100th success as a trainer.
John Jenkins is a longtime racing journalist based in Hawke’s Bay.
Kwanza may have only won a maiden highweight at Woodville last Sunday but his success was especially significant in so many ways.
The 4-year-old Zed gelding capped off two minor placings this campaign with a dominant three-length victory in the 2100m event.
Prepared by the Hastings training combination of Paul Nelson and Corrina McDougal, Kwanza is owned by Nelson and his wife, Carol.
But, more importantly, he represented the 100th training success for McDougal in a career spanning more than 18 years – one that has been filled with many highs and lows.
McDougal was pleased to bring up the milestone, particularly having been a part of Kwanza’s journey since he was a foal at the Nelson’s Airhill Stud property.
“Not too long ago, we were looking through the Hawke’s Bay trainers and what their winners were, and I had 97 at that stage, so it was coming up,” she said. “It was nice to get there.”
Last Sunday’s race proved a much easier watch for McDougal than her first winner. That was Kipling, who finished second over the line in a maiden highweight at Hastings in April 2007, before being promoted to first.
That Sir Sian gelding carried the familiar chocolate, blue and yellow colours of Peter Grieve, a long-term supporter of McDougal.
“I trained him for Peter Grieve and Johnny Frizzell, and I’ve had a lot of winners in Peter’s colours.
“Peter has given me a go right from the start, just when I was getting my trainer’s licence, and has backed me all the way through.”
Before joining Nelson in partnership in 2018, McDougal prepared 17 winners in her own right, with another legend of the jumping game, Mark Oulaghan, initially showing her the ropes during her brief time in Palmerston North.
“I took a year off after school because I didn’t know what I wanted to do, so I ended up going to teachers’ college in Palmerston North. I worked for Mark Oulaghan while I was there, so that’s where I first got into racing.”
McDougal was 21 years old when she first stepped through the gates at the Nelson’s Airhill Stud property, with a mix of show jumpers and racehorses to work with at that stage.
She stepped out on her own for a couple of years, working and training for Grieve, before her life came crashing down in 2007, when she was diagnosed with haemolytic uraemic syndrome (Hus), a blood condition that leads to renal failure.
It was later realised that she would require a kidney transplant. That failed on the first attempt, leaving McDougal self-managing daily dialysis while waiting on a combined liver and kidney transplant.
Three years later, she was able to have the second transplant. That was successful and McDougal now enjoys a normal life, where she is active and able to ride their stable’s talented team of horses in training.
“Everything has been really good since the transplant. I haven’t had any issues and the doctors have been happy,” she said. “I am more susceptible to skin cancers and bits and pieces like that, but that’s about it.
“I’ve been here for 10 years permanently, and I love riding every day. I think I would find it hard training from the ground. I like jumping on and getting a feel for the horse.
“I’m probably not as brave as I used to be, though.”
Of the 83 victories she has collected alongside Nelson, 24 have been prestige races, including five of the past six editions of the Wellington Hurdle (3200m), and three of the past five runnings of the Great Northern Hurdle (4200m), with names such as The Cossack, Nedwin, No Tip and Perry Mason associated with the stable.
They have consistently been among the country’s leading jumps trainers and took the top spot in the 2021/22 season with 19 winners and an incredible strike rate of 2.37.
“I love seeing the horses come through right from a foal, as Kwanza did,” McDougal said.
“He actually had cellulitis early on in his leg, so we had to fix that up. Then seeing him through breaking in, training, racing, and now winning, it’s pretty cool.”
Kwanza was ridden to victory last Sunday by Jonathan Riddell, who has played an integral part in the hugely successful Hawke’s Bay stable – initially when Nelson trained on his own and then later with McDougal in partnership.
Riddell, 46, was delighted that he was able to bring up McDougal’s century of wins, because the two go back many years.
“Jonathan has played a huge part in my career,” McDougal said.
“He and I used to showjump ponies when we were young, and he’s been there all the way along. He rode for me before I came to Paul and Carol’s, so it was quite nice to get that 100th winner with him.”
Riddell recently chalked up his 1000th career win, and Kwanza brought up win number 989 in New Zealand.
“I want to get to 1000 New Zealand wins before I give it away,” Riddell said on Sunday.
Big plans ahead for Fourty Eight
The Great Northern Hurdle (4200m) has always been the major target for Fourty Eight this preparation, and the hopes of reaching the iconic race took a massive step forward at Woodville last Sunday when the 6-year-old gelding took out the Cody Singer Memorial Steeplechase (4000m) in convincing fashion.
Raced by a large contingent of owners, including his Wairoa breeder Sheena Martin and several other Hawke’s Bay people, Fourty Eight had been suffering from feet issues over the past couple of months. Trainers Shaun and Hazel Fannin thought, at one stage, their hopes of getting to the Great Northern were dashed.
But Fourty Eight revived those hopes with a front-running display when scoring his maiden steeplechase victory by four-and-three-quarter lengths over Mr Fabulous, with a further 30-and-three-quarter lengths back to Muse in third.
“It was a good result,” said Shaun Fannin, who also rode the gelding. “He does have a fair bit of ability, but he just can be a bit temperamental sometimes.
“He doesn’t have great feet, but we have got a good farrier and we have managed to keep on top of them and get him back on track.”
Another hurdle assignment is looming for Fourty Eight, with Fannin not ruling out their initial target of the Great Northern in September.
Meanwhile, it was a bittersweet moment for Fannin when riding champion jumper West Coast to a courageous runner-up result behind Smug in the Glenanthony Simmentals Stud Hawke’s Bay Steeplechase (4800m).
“He was unreal, he is just a champion,” Fannin said. “He has carried 73 kilos start after start.
“I thought I was almost beaten at the 600m, and then we got over the third-to-last [fence] and he found another gear, like he always does. It’s only in the last couple of strides that Smug came back and beat me.”
Fannin will have to hop off West Coast in next month’s Racecourse Hotel & Motor Lodge Grand National Steeplechase (5600m) to ride his own stable runner Jesko in the Riccarton feature.
West Coast, with Fannin aboard, has won the past three editions of the race, and the trainer said he isn’t looking forward to facing off against the champion jumper for the first time.
“I have always been on his back, and he gives you so much confidence, so it will be a very different feeling going out against him,” he said. “It is not something I am looking forward to.”
HBPB annual weanling walk
More than 20 young horses will be on display at the Hawke’s Bay/Poverty Bay Thoroughbred Breeders annual weanling walk tour to be held on Sunday, July 27.
The official weanling tour will begin at 10am at Wainui Farm, on Rosser Rd, where Richard McKenzie and Jordan Barrett will have four weanlings on show.
The second stop will be at 10.30am at Keltern Stud, on State Highway 50, to look at be 11 weanlings and yearlings that have been handled by the team at Carlton Lodge.
The tour then goes on to Guy and Brigid Lowry’s Kiwikawa property on Kawera Rd at 11.30am where a further seven weanlings will be on display.
The tour will finish with a 12.30pm lunch at Valley d’Vine Restaurant at Eskdale, where a silent auction of several donated items will also be held.
Luncheon reservations are essential and can be made by emailing tracy@hawkesbayracing.co.nz
National breeding awards July 26
The New Zealand thoroughbred breeding community will come together on Saturday, July 26, to celebrate another year of excellence at the Property Brokers National Breeding Awards at the Sir Don Rowlands Centre in Cambridge.
The evening will acknowledge 24 individual winners of 37 Group 1 races, as breeders can again take pride in the global success of horses with the NZ suffix.
The recently crowned Hong Kong Horse of the Year, Ka Ying Rising, and Australian star Mr Brightside will be among the leading contenders for the Property Brokers Seton Otway Horse of the Year, with triple Group 1 winner El Vencedor, in a nod to the calibre of equine produced.
“The National Breeding Awards remain the premier occasion to celebrate the exceptional achievements of New Zealand breeders and horses,” said NZ Thoroughbred Breeders’ Association chief executive Nick Johnson.