Racing: Amarula passes mock exam, bracketed for HB spring carnival says trainer/owner

Apprentice jockey Shaun McKay unsaddles Amarula, who father Peter trains and owns with mother Kim, after winning the Livamol Autumn Stakes in Hastings today. Photo/Warren Buckland

Hawke's Bay Racing general manager Andrew "Butch" Castles picked the top three place getters and shrugged it off as another day at the races in Hastings today.

"There are only six horses in there so a blind man could pick that," said Castles of the $30,000 Livamol Autumn Stakes over 1400m which Amarula (apprentice jockey Shaun McKay) won by a head over Packing Tycoon (Masa Tanaka) with Profile (Johnathan Parkes) almost two lengths behind.

The jury's out on that but Amarula's trainer, Peter McKay, of Matamata, took a lot out the race on a dead 4 track on a calm, overcast day.

"He'll have a bit of a break now but he'll come back up again for the early spring, hopefully, come here and have a crack at the first couple of group one races," declared the 52-year-old who co-owns the horse with wife Kim McKay and moved to Matamata from Windham in South Island after two decades.

McKay said while Amarula needed to improve he was happy with the 4-year-old brown gelding's short career, earning close to $200,000.

The horse went into the race coming off a ligament complication so the race was ideal in that context.

McKay recalled the last time Amarula was here for a stakes race he got beaten by a little more than a length, when he suspected the horse would have prevailed if it was anything like today's conditions.

"He was a good ride with only five other horses in the race so it could become a technical run," he said of son and apprentice jockey Shaun McKay.

The senior McKay thought Robert Hannam, riding Southern Icon (Australia), might have made things a little awkward but the frontrunners faded to fourth as Amarula and Packing Tycoon made it a two-horse affair.

"Small fields aren't the easiest races to ride in."

The victory brought a quiet sense of satisfaction for the McKays who have had a patch of bad luck in the past few months.

"We just had a bit of virus go through our stables and nothing was firing so it's just been a long haul without having a winner. We just have to look past that and roll on."

McKay said they had a tidy team in their stable on queue for the next season.

He rated Amarula, who won the group 2 Sacred Falls HB Guineas here over 1400m in October 2015 as a 3-year-old, a good horse despite battling his injury demons - a knee chip taken out and the injured ligament.

"He should have been competing against the best during Christmas time but because of the injury he's had to back off," he said, revealing they had to geld the son of Thorn Park (out of Shortblackmini, NZ) because he was becoming big and boisterous.

"With longevity he's going to keep on picking away," he said with a smile of the eight-time winner.

■ After closing up when fifth at Ellerslie and disappointing in Tauranga, the Stephen McKee-trained Prince Mambo found his winning ways in the $25,000 HB Breeders' Association Mile today.

"It's just a day-to-day prospect and we just wanted to see how he pulls up," said groomer David Wells, revealing Albert Bosma, the Go Racing My Way Syndicate manager, would pick Prince Mambo's next race.

Wells said they brought the 5-year-old brown gelding for the 1600m race because of the firmer track and rating 85 races were few and far between.

"I'm very happy how it went and the jockey rode him exactly to plan."

When approached, a grumpy jockey Darryl Bradley said he didn't have time for a quick comment.

Wells said Prince Mambo was not the type one could fight against because if anyone did the horse would simply give up.

"He's pretty free spirited and just ups and goes and rolls along so that's all we had to do today," he said with a laugh.

McKee, of Ardmore, is visiting his father-in-law in Ireland but Wells said the outcome would be relayed to him.