A delighted Viktoria Gatu brings Pacorus back at the head of the field following their dominant success.
The $15,000 Havelock North couple Dave and Jenny Morison paid for a yearling at the 2013 Karaka sales is fast proving to be one of the bargains of recent times.
That horse is Pacorus and the now 5-year-old brought up his ninth win and took his stake earnings past the $220,000 mark with another dominant victory in last Saturday's $40,000 Orora Kiwi Packaging Kiwifruit Cup at Tauranga.
The Morisons are no strangers to racing success as they shared in the ownership of champion galloper Dundeel, whose glory days on the racetrack saw him rack up 10 wins, six at Group 1 level, and amass stake earnings of more than $5.3 million.
Dundeel is now standing at Arrowfield Stud in New South Wales, Australia, and the Morisons still retain a small shareholding in the stallion as members of the Hawke's Bay-based Waimarama Syndicate, which is managed by Murray Andersen.
It was while Dundeel was racing that Dave Morison asked his good friend Eddie Lowry, stud manager at the former Okawa Stud for many years and a recognised authority on thoroughbred yearlings, if he could buy him a horse at that year's Karaka sales.
Lowry settled on a colt by Tavistock out of the Zabeel mare Za Tiara and, after some negotiating with the vendors, managed to secure him for about $7000 less than they wanted.
Tavistock was a relatively new sire at that stage and hadn't made the headlines but is now rated one of most successful stallions in the country and stands at a fee of $65,000.
"Eddie is a very good judge and I've always had plenty of faith in his opinion when it comes to thoroughbreds," Dave Morison said this week.
"When he brought this yearling home it was a big rangy raw-boned thing that was obviously going to need time but that was okay with us."
It was Eddie Lowry that also suggested the Morisons have Pacorus trained by Cambridge-based Chris Wood and so he was sent to him. The horse showed very little in his first two starts, finishing second to last and third to last but then indicated he had potential when third over 1400m on a heavy track at Te Aroha at his third start.
The Morisons decided to bring others in to help race Pacorus and have retained a 20 per cent share, with the other 80 per cent spread among some of their friends and clients of Chris Wood.
Pacorus has gone on to be a model of consistency on the racetrack in the past 12 months, especially on rain affected tracks. He won five races in the space of six starts last winter and spring and has earned his connections a stakemoney cheque in each of his last six starts.
He relished the heavy-11 track conditions at Tauranga last Saturday and he and regular rider Viktoria Gatu were in complete control over the last 500m of the 2100m event.
Swedish-born Gatu was formerly apprenticed to Chris Wood and the 31-year-old has ridden Pacorus in eight of his nine wins.
Pacorus drew the extreme outside barrier and was caught three-wide in the open for just about the entire race. But Gatu kept the horse nicely balanced and when she asked him to extend just before the home turn he quickly put a space on the opposition. He then maintained a strong run to the line to score by 3-1/2 lengths from Doiknowyou and Gentil Tonton.
"I thought I'd pushed the button a bit too early, with the weight he had, but he kicked on really well," a smiling Gatu said after the win. "He's my number one."
Gatu is now planning a holiday back in her homeland but that could be put on hold, depending on where Wood decides to run the horse next. He is keen to run the horse in the Listed $65,000 Taumarunui Cup (2200m) at Rotorua on July 29 but is mindful that he will probably need another run before then.
"I'm thrilled to bits for the horse and the rider, he's a real trier and it was a lovely ride," Wood said.
"He can sustain a long run and with the 58kg we worked out a plan of attack and it all worked out."
Wood took two horses to the Tauranga meeting and came away with a 100 per cent winning strike-rate after Wooden Edge also took out the following event, the $25,000 Rating 75 race over 1400m. He is in the top 30 on the trainers' premiership for this season with 17 wins, which is a great achievement considering he has less than a dozen horses in work.
Prior to their involvement with Dundeel, Dave and Jenny Morison also raced Snippins with good friend Paul Stevenson and others.
The daughter of Pins recorded two wins and seven minor placings before an eye injury forced her premature retirement and the Morisons are now breeding from her. They have an unraced 3-year-old filly by Rip Van Winkle out of Snippins in work with Hastings trainers Guy Lowry and Grant Cullen and the mare is now in foal to Charm Spirit.
As members of the Waimarama Syndicate the Morisons also shared in the ownership of Saavoya, a filly that won four races including two $100,000 Group 2 races at Ellerslie, the Eight Carat Classic (1600m) and the Royal Stakes (2000m). A majority interest in her has since been sold to Australia's Arrowfield Stud.
Jumps jockeys in battle
The title of top jumps jockey for the year is starting to hot up with three riders, two of them from Hawke's Bay, now in the reckoning for the title.
Hastings-born Aaron Kuru maintained his slender lead in the competition when successful aboard Hastings-trained The Shackler in the $20,000 Restricted Open Hurdle (3100m) at Te Aroha last Sunday. The now Cambridge-based rider is on 13 wins, one ahead of Will Gordon and two in front of Shaun Fannin, who also chalked up a win aboard Nells Belle in the $20,000 Restricted Open Steeplechase (3500m) at Te Aroha.
Fannin was also born in Hastings but is now attached to the Whanganui stable of Kevin Myers.
Gordon rode in all four jumping races at last Sunday's Te Aroha meeting but could not add to his winning tally, having to settle for three thirds.
The three jockeys will do battle again at tomorrow's Hawke's Bay winter meeting where there are five jumping races on the programme including two of the prestige events on the New Zealand racing calendar, the $50,000 Te Whangai Romneys Hawke's Bay Hurdles and $50,000 Animal Health Direct Hawke's Bay Steeplechase.
The Shackler scored a runaway maiden hurdle win over 3000m at Trentham on June 10 and was just as impressive when making it two wins in a row last Sunday.
The 10-year-old Istidaad gelding established a clear lead in the early stages of the 3100m event but settled perfectly for Kuru and measured most of his fences well. They were taken on with 1200m to run by race favourite Thenamesbond but had shaken that challenger off 300m later and were always in control thereafter.
The Shackler jumped the last fence with a good break on his rivals and raced away in the run to the line to score by 26 lengths, with Kuru easing him down in the final few strides.
It was The Shackler's fifth hurdle start and he now has a record of three wins and a third over fences. The horse was also the winner of eight races on the flat when trained in the north by Michael Dromgool and is owned by Cambridge-based Shaun Dromgool. Nelson has only had the horse in his stable since the beginning of this year.
Campbell wins award
Hastings trainer Patrick Campbell is the recipient of the Kevin Wood Memorial owner's trophy for the months of April and May.
The by-monthly award is sponsored by the Hawke's Bay Racehorse Owners association and will be presented to Campbell at tomorrow's Hawke's Bay race meeting.
Campbell is the trainer and owner of the promising 4-year-old Scandalo, a horse he bought in a private sale from the South Island at the beginning of this year. The Shocking gelding has had five starts for Campbell for two wins and a second, his most recent victory being in a $20,000 Rating 65 race over 1200m at Hastings on April 29.
Jockey shortage in the north
There will be a shortage of senior jockeys in the north for the remainder of the racing season.
Michael Coleman is the latest to join the list of senior riders who are unlikely to be in action again until the end of July.
The 47-year-old, who rode his 2000th New Zealand winner on his home track at Matamata last month, recently underwent successful knee surgery.
"I had some repair work done and I'll probably take the rest of the season off," Coleman said. "That may change, but at this stage I'm not in any hurry to get back."
Opie Bosson, Craig Grylls, Leith Innes and Jason Waddell are other senior northern jockeys who will be absent until the 2017-18 season.
Bosson hasn't ridden since he was stood down from riding on Queensland Derby day due to a viral infection and he is booked to depart at the end of this month on a European holiday, as is Leith Innes.
Innes copped a 12-day suspension for his ride on Counterattack in the Group 1 Stradbroke Handicap and that was further compounded by a four-day ban for careless riding at Ruakaka.
Grylls is on vacation in Tahiti and on his return he will be taking up a three-month contract in Singapore.
Waddell's season was prematurely ended by a trackwork fall in April, after which he opted to bring forward surgery to remove a plate and screws in his leg after a soccer injury suffered more than a year ago.
In other jockey news, Matt Cameron is now on a three-week break while apprentice Rebecca Goldsbury has undertaken a three-week riding stint in Queensland.
Other riders who have upcoming overseas ventures are Danielle Johnson, who will participate in an international female jockeys' series in Sweden next month, and Cameron Lammas. He has accepted an invitation from Inner Mongolia Rider Horse Industry principal Lang Lin to ride at two meetings there on July 6 and 8.
'Hawke's Bay and Havelock North in particular is home for me.'