A determined Lilly Laguna, ridden by Sarah O’Malley, gets her neck in front of La Flora Belle to win last Sunday’s Waipukurau Cup. Photo / Supplied
The connections of Hastings-trained Lilly Laguna were as shocked as the punters were when the mare took out last Sunday’s $22,000 Affco NZ Waipukurau Cup at odds of 40 to one.
The Rios five-year-old went into the race as the winner of three races from only 14 starts but had not raced for two months and had missed some valuable work after suffering a stone bruise.
Trainer John Bary was of the opinion that the mare would need the run over the 1600m of the Waipukurau Cup but it would be a good stepping stone for better things to come.
Lilly Laguna had other ideas, however, and after settling at the tail of the field until the home turn, she unleashed a powerful finish down the outside to sweep past her rivals and score an impressive three-quarter length win over the race favourite La Flora Belle, with 2-1/2 lengths back to third placed One Dream One Soul.
Bary admitted he was pleasantly surprised by the win. He was expecting her to be outpaced early and was just hoping she would be running on for a possible minor placing at best.
The mare’s owners were equally surprised by the result but also ecstatic that they had been able to win their hometown Cup.
Lilly Laguna was bred by Waipukurau-based Wayne Chittick, along with his brothers Allan (Hastings) and Garry (Matamata). They race her in partnership with Peter Evans, a former track manager at the Waipukurau racecourse and a long-serving committee member of the Waipukurau Jockey Club.
“This win was unexpected but is really special for us,” Wayne Chittick said after being presented with the Cup.
He added that he and his brothers are still breeding from Lilly Laguna’s dam Savarose, who has since produced a two-year-old filly by Ocean Park and now has a colt foal at foot by Tivaci.
Lilly Laguna is now the winner of four races from only 15 starts. Her connections would dearly like to get some back type next to her name to boost her future value as a broodmare so Bary is now aiming her for the Listed $65,000 Wanganui Cup (2040m) on November 26.
The mare has certainly shown good staying ability as two of her earlier wins have been over 2100m and 2200m.
Hastings-trained mare Podium bounced back to her best in no uncertain terms with a dominant fresh up win in a Rating 65 race at last Sunday’s Waipukurau meeting at Hastings.
The Ocean Park mare was one of two horses trainer Guy Lowry entered for the 1200m event, the other being The Stoney One, and they completed the quinella on the race. Both horses were resuming from lengthy spells.
The Stoney One was the better supported of the two on the tote but it was Podium, despite being caught three-wide for the entire race, who clearly proved superior at the finish.
Rider Kate Hercock had no option but to sit three-wide in the running aboard Podium as the field was bunched. She took the mare up to challenge for the lead at the top of the home straight and the mare showed great acceleration to race clear for a four-length win.
Podium was having only her third start. She showed plenty of ability by winning her debut by 2-3/4 lengths over 1200m at Wanganui back in April but then raced very erratically at her second start, over 1230m at Rotorua, where she proved a very awkward ride for jockey Opie Bosson and tailed the field in.
Lowry deliberately gave the mare a good break after that and has steadily built up her strength and confidence, with the help of former jockey Mark Donoghue who rides her in most of her trackwork.
She showed she was back on track with a close second to The Stoney One in a 1000m Hastings jumpout on October 19 and followed that up with a good third in 1000m Foxton trial two weeks ago.
Podium is owned by her breeders, Waikato Stud, and is by their resident sire Ocean Park out of the Australian-bred mare Quest For Quality.
Whilst clearly beaten by his stablemate, The Stoney One lost no admirers with his runner-up performance and should take a lot of improvement from the race, his first since the beginning of June.
The Belvoir broke through for a well-deserved maiden victory over 1600m at last Sunday’s Waipukurau meeting at Hastings.
The Poet’s Voice six-year-old, owned and trained by Dannevirke’s Barry Beatson, was fresh up from a spell after recording three successive second placings earlier this year, one of them by only a short head margin over 2000m at Matamata.
He showed he was ready for a bold fresh-up run by finishing second in a 1200m Foxton trial at the beginning of this month and was turned out in great order by Beatson for last Sunday’s race.
Rider Jonathan Riddell settled the gelding midfield from an inside draw and then picked a path between horses before angling his mount into the clear.
The Belvoir showed a great turn of foot over the final stages to sweep past the leaders and score by a length.
Beatson said The Belvoir has always shown plenty of ability but has not had a lot of luck in some of his races.
“I’ve also lined him up in some pretty good races, out of his class, and he hasn’t been disgraced,” he said.
“He’s been knocking on the door.”
Beatson paid $6000 for the horse at the 2018 Karaka yearling sales and he is by the now deceased Australian-based sire Poet’s Voice out of the unraced Alamosa mare Almasa.
Promising Hastings apprentice jockey Lily Sutherland capped another successful week in the saddle by winning last Monday’s final event at the New Zealand Cup meeting at Riccarton.
The 18-year-old guided the 12-1 chance June Bug to a game half-neck win in a $60,000 Rating 65 race over 1400m, her third success in the space of seven days.
June Bug hit the front but then got a bump from another horse 300m from the finish. Sutherland had to balance her mount up again and then kicked her strongly to the line.
It took Sutherland’s number of wins for the season to 14 and her career tally to 18. She is starting to become a last race specialist as she also won the final event at the Tauherenikau meeting on November 7 aboard Tasty Countess and steered Yolo to success in the last race on the middle day of the New Zealand meeting.
After a busy week Sutherland arrived back in Hastings on Tuesday morning, just in time to fulfil some of her mounts at the Hastings jumpouts that day.
She is in for another busy weekend, competing at yesterday’s New Plymouth meeting before riding at Awapuni today.
She had five confirmed mounts at the Taranaki meeting and a full book at Awapuni.
However, Sutherland will then have an enforced layoff, after copping a suspension for excessive use of the whip on the middle day of the New Zealand Cup meeting.
Sutherland admitted a charge that she struck her mount Take On seven times prior to the 100-metre mark when the legal number of strikes is five. She has now been suspended until the conclusion of racing on Friday, December 2 (eight national riding days).
The win by Illicit Miss in a $60,000 race at Riccarton last Monday added to a good week for Waipukurau racehorse owner Michael Ormsby.
The former Waipukurau Jockey Club treasurer and long-serving committee member owns a small share in several Te Akau Racing syndicates and also celebrated two black type victories on the first two days of the New Zealand Cup meeting.
Illicit Miss is owned by the Te Akau Illicit Miss Racing Partnership and is now the winner of three races from 12 starts and $72,160 in stake earnings.
Ormsby is also part of the Te Akau Campionessa Syndicate and got a huge buzz when Campionessa took out the Listed $100,000 Metropolitan Trophy (2500m) at Riccarton on November 5. The five-year-old Contributer mare was posting her sixth win from only 17 starts and has now won more than $151,000 in stakes.
Ormsby is also a member of the Te Akau Magic Fillies Syndicate that owns Sky On Fire, who scored a game win in the Listed $80,000 Welcome Stakes (1000m) on the middle day of the carnival. The Exceed And Excel filly was having only her third start and capped off two previous second placings. She has now amassed just over $54,000 in stakes.