Hastings-trained Callsign Mav scores an upset win in last year's Gr.1 Tarzino Trophy (1400m). Photo / Supplied
Hastings-trained Callsign Mav scores an upset win in last year's Gr.1 Tarzino Trophy (1400m). Photo / Supplied
Only a small number of people will be able to farewell latest Hawke's Bay racing sensation Callsign Mav as it races in New Zealand for the last time, in Hastings.
The five-year-old 90 per cent Australia-owned winner of $439,500 in stakes has been confirmed as a starter in the Hawke'sBay Spring Racing Carnival Triple Crown second-day feature the 1600m Windsor Park Plates, a fortnight after winning the 1400m Tarzino Trophy race opening leg for a second time.
Both are Gr.1-classified races with stakes of $220,000 each, but connections including Hastings trainer John Bary
have confirmed Callsign Mav will not attempt the $250,000 Livamol Classic over 2040m on October 16.
It will instead have flown to Australia for the $5.2 million WS Cox Plate, over the same distance at Moonee Valley, Melbourne, on October 23 - a once-$3000 sales purchase aiming to become the next millionaire racehorse from New Zealand.
The day Callsign Mav hit the headlines for the first time a year ago - a home-track insider winning at outside odds of 81-1. Photo / NZME
Hawke's Bay Racing chief executive officer Darin Balcombe said the Delta level 2 alert will again mean no general public, as was the case for the opening day.
Four "bubbles" of up to 100 people each and separated in different rooms are planned for registered owners and sponsors for the nine-race meeting, with the first race at 12.20pm and the last at 5.05pm.
The $110,000, 1400m Dundeel at Arrowfields Hawke's Bay Guineas – a race given the No. 1 grading for three-year-olds racing in New Zealand last season - is at 3.17pm, and the Windsor Park Plate at 4.25pm.
At odds of more than 80-1 when winning the Tarzino Trophy last year, Callsign Mav was third in the Windsor Park Plate soon afterwards.
The race was won last year by Melody Belle, which retired this year with career stake earnings of $4.2 million and whose seven Gr.1 wins in Hastings included in 2019 becoming the only horse to claim the carnival's Triple Crown.
Without Melody Belle, and 2020 runner-up Avantage, which retired a fortnight ago with career earnings of $2.16 million, Callsign Mav justified its warm favouritism on the opening day, and will be even more favoured on Saturday.
Balcombe says Callsign Mav deserves a big send-off, having highlighted the abilities of trainer Bary, the only part-owner not based in Australia. Because of the pandemic, some of its owners have never seen it race in the flesh.
"John's done very well for the other owners to leave the horse in New Zealand," the CEO said.
Racing journalist John Jenkins, who has spent more than 40 years covering racing in Hawke's Bay, says Callsign Mav could have been one of the few New Zealand horses in modern history to develop a general public, household-name following.
One of the most memorable such appearances in Hawke's Bay was that of 2000 Cox Plate winner Sunline winning the first-day feature in 2002, then known as the Mudgway Partsworld Stakes.
It was the mare's last race in New Zealand, and ultimately the last of 32 wins in a career that raised $14.2 million in stake earnings. With free entry to the course, per the sponsor, several thousand members of the public joined racing fans for the moment in history.
In the years since there was similar appeal for Guineas and Gr.1 winner Jimmy Choux, also trained by Bary, and for Melody Belle as its reputation grew in the last three years.
