Patrick Campbell to spell impressive winners

Lady Guinness, ridden by Lisa Allpress, scores a half-length win over 1600m at last Saturday's Hawke's Bay meeting.

Hastings trainer Patrick Campbell produced two impressive winners in Lady Guinness and Scandalo at last Saturday's Hawke's Bay meeting but both horses will not been seen on the racetrack again until next spring.

Lady Guinness led most of the way to score a game win in a $20,000 Rating 65 race over 1600m, while Scandalo came with a nicely timed run to snatch a last-stride victory in a $20,000 Rating 65 race over 1200m.

Campbell was pleased with the performances of both horses but said they would now be given a winter spell and be aimed at the Hawke's Bay spring carnival, kicking off on the last Saturday in August.

"Both horses produced strong efforts," Campbell said.

"The win by the filly Lady Guinness was especially good as it was her first go at a mile and she had to do a bit to get across and lead from the wide draw.

"She will now go out for six weeks and we can now aim her at some nice races in the spring.

"I'll also turn Scandalo out and when he comes back he'll still be eligible for some of the lesser-grade races at the spring carnival," he said.

For Campbell, who only trains a small team nowadays, the two wins were especially satisfying as he owns Scandalo and has a small racing share in Lady Guinness.

Jockey Lisa Allpress hunted Lady Guinness out of the barrier and had her across the field and in front by the time the field entered the back straight, with 1300m to run.

She then dictated the pace in front before kicking the filly clear early in the home straight.

Royal Ruby and the race favourite Asama Blue lodged likely challenges inside the final 200m but Lady Guinness held them out to win by half a length.

Lady Guinness is owned by Windsor Park Stud, in Cambridge, and is raced on lease by a group of Hawke's Bay people.

Jason Britton manages the syndicate that races the filly and has a 20 per cent share, with the other members being Patrick Campbell, Don, Rob and Alistair Poulgrain, Aaron Brittin, Nick Dorwood, Aaron Bourke, Jamie Flett, Mark O'Shaughnessy, Kelly O'Rourke, Eddie and Scotty Burn and Kim Bone.

Campbell purchased Scandalo from the South Island at the beginning of this year and has picked up two wins and a second from five starts with the horse since February.

Chris Johnson rode the Shocking 4-year-old to a maiden win over 1450m at Wairoa on February 17 and the South Island-based jockey was again aboard the horse in last Saturday's win.

Johnson settled Scandalo midfield in the early rush and managed to keep him one off the inside rail.

They moved into a challenging position, three-wide, rounding the home bend and then set off after the pacemaking Huayra, who had kicked clear for Allpress.

Huayra looked to still have a winning break inside the last 200m but then Johnson got Scandalo properly balanced up and the horse put in some giant strides late to get up and win by a nose.

Campbell lined up four horses at his local meeting last Saturday, with the other two being Goodsav and Hunta Pence.

Goodsav only managed fifth in the Rating 85 1600m but got too far back in the running from a wide draw and had too much ground to make up in the home straight.

She will now drop back to 1400m in the weight-for-age Group 3 $70,000 Rotorua Stakes on May 13 before going out for a winter spell.

Hunta Pence was an unlucky fourth behind Lady Guinness in the Rating 65 race over 1600m last Saturday, flashing home from last on the home turn to get to with a length of the winner.

He will be stepped up to 2100m at next Thursday's Hawke's Bay meeting before he also goes out for a winter spell.

JT Anderson one of best
One of Hawke's Bay's most successful jockeys of the past, Johnny Anderson, died in Hastings last week, aged 84.

Anderson, regarded as one of the most polished riders of the late 1950s and 1960s, spent most of his later life in Auckland, where he was assistant starter at a number of racecourses for many years.

However, after suffering a stroke in early 2011 and another one the following year, he moved back to Hastings where he was initially in the care of his niece Jennifer Hastings and her husband Grant, before becoming a resident at the Mary Doyle Retirement Village in Havelock North.

Johnny Anderson was born in Blackball on the West Coast and started his riding career attached to the Riccarton stable of Ces Humphries.

He rode his first winner in his fifth ride, aboard Faithful Lad in the Kinloch Handicap at Motukarara in 1948, and posted his last win aboard Leanora in 1976.

In between those two victories Anderson, affectionately known as JT, kicked home nearly 400 winners and had captured most of the major events on the New Zealand racing calendar.

He moved to Hastings to join the stable of the late Keith Couper in 1956 and it was from this base that his career really took off during the late 1950s and early 1960s.

He won two Auckland Cups, in 1959 aboard Froth and 1963 on Stipulate, and was introduced to the Queen after winning the 1963 Queen Elizabeth Handicap at Riccarton on Moy.

He also won the 1957 New Zealand Oaks on Froth, who was trained at Hastings by Davey Jones, the 1962 New Zealand Cup on Stipulate and the 1960 New Zealand Derby on Blue Lodge.

Anderson built a strong affinity with the Hastings-trained Picaroon.

The tough stayer, prepared by the late Bob Quinlivan, won 11 gold cups and JT was aboard in nine of them.

Anderson won the Awapuni Gold Cup four years in succession, aboard Berne in 1957, Bridie in 1958 and Picaroon in 1959/1960.

Other notable wins included two Ormond Memorial Cups on Picaroon, the 1958 ARC Queen Elizabeth Handicap on Froth, the 1959 Great Northern Oaks on Jalna, 1963 Hawke's Bay Cup (Key), Desert Gold Stakes (Jalna), Waikato Guineas (Jalna), Churchill Stakes (Key), Manawatu Challenge Stakes twice (Key and Game), Wanganui Cup (Picaroon), Waikato Miller Mile (Rising Fast), Wanganui Guineas (Blue Lodge), Trentham Stakes (Stipulate), WRC Gloaming Stakes (Saint Nicholas) and WRC Summer Handicap (Gold Merit).

He had a brief stint riding in Australia but said Kiwi jockeys were resented over there at that time, whereas nowadays it is the opposite.

Anderson's one regret about his riding days was not getting a chance at the big money that later jockeys got.

"In our day we got $10 a losing riding fee and $5 at the smaller meetings like the West Coast.

"We got 4 per cent of the stakes but not the riding fee as well, whereas now they get both," he said.

Anderson retired from competitive riding in 1976, aged 44, and entered the building industry for a short time before taking up a position as foreman at Willow Park Stud at Ohinewai, which stood the stallions Bandmaster II and Tiger Trail during that time.

He then became assistant starter for northern race meetings before retiring in 2010.

His funeral was held in Auckland last Monday and he is survived by his daughter Kaye.

Hat-trick for Ballybay
Ballybay, a horse part-owned by Napier accountant Paddy Murphy, showed why he was regarded as a 1000m specialist when he brought up his seventh win over that distance at last Friday's Marlborough meeting in Blenheim.

The Sandtrap 6-year-old was completing a hat-trick of victories after also scoring over 1000m at Tauherenikau on March 25 and over 1000m at Trentham on April 8. In fact he has never been successful over any other distance.

The horse's form before his recent hat-trick had been well below his best but Murphy explained that the gelding had suffered health issues which resulted in him losing condition and failing to produce his best on race day.

"They worked it out that he was suffering from stomach ulcers and once we had that treated he quickly recovered and he's bounced back to his best," Murphy said.

Murphy races Ballybay in partnership with Wairarapa-based David Woodhouse and the pair bred the horse with former Foxton trainer Grant Laursen.

Ballybay began his racing career in Laursen's stable but was transferred to Woodville trainer Shane Brown after Laursen was seriously injured in a fall from a horse.

Ballybay is now qualified for the Hanley Sprint Series Final, which is a $50,000 race at Trentham on May 27.

"The only thing is that race is 1200m and he's never won at that distance yet," Murphy said.

Ballybay is out of the Exploding Prospect mare Gee Baby, who was the winner of five races and is still being bred from.

"She produced a magnificent gelding by Per Incanto that we called Bekan."

He showed plenty of promise "but unfortunately went in the wind and never raced", Murphy said.

"David Woodhouse has now got a Per Incanto two-year-old filly out of Gee Baby and the mare is now in foal to Niagara."

Paddy Murphy has raced horses for many years, with his biggest success being as a shareholder in the 2011 Hawke's Bay Cup winner Don Domingo.

Hastings race meeting
The first jumping races for the year in the Central Districts will be the feature events at Hawke's Bay Racing's Fruitfed Supplies annual race day to be staged on the Hastings racecourse next Thursday. An eight-race card is programmed and will include a Special Condition Open Hurdle over 2500m and a Special Condition Open Steeplechase over 4000m.

There will be free admission, with the first race timed to start at 12.15pm and the last at 4.19pm.