Trosettee and jockey Sarah Macnab are well clear of their rivals at the finish of the Rating 65 race over 1600m at Woodville on Friday of last week. It was the five-year-old's second win on end.
Trosettee, raced by a group of Hawke's Bay people, showed he has both the pedigree and the toughness to develop into a good stayer when completing back-to-back wins at Woodville last week.
The Jimmy Choux five-year-old followed up a 1-1/4 length victory in the amateur riders' race over 1650m at Hastings on July 22 with a two-length victory in a Rating 65 event over 1600m at Woodville and has now had 10 starts for three wins and a second.
Trosettee is owned by his Masterton trainer Grant Nicholson who bought him for a bargain basement price of $5000 at the 2018 Karaka yearling sales.
Nicholson then approached good friend John Flynn, from Hastings, and asked him to find some other people to help race the horse.
John Flynn and his wife Greta now have a racing share along with their daughter Sam, Faye Flynn, John and Sharon McKay and Derek and Ann Mackenzie.
Faye is the wife of John's brother Keith, a former successful Hastings trainer who died in Australia several years ago.
Trosettee had to be good to win at Woodville last week as he proved a difficult ride for jockey Sarah Macnab, as he was never closer in than three-wide for the entire race and wanted to over-race and throw his head around in the early and middle stages.
He improved around the field coming to the home turn and, after taking the lead at the top of the home straight, he kept up a strong run to the line to win by two lengths from Hastings-trained Countess Conti.
The latter, a last start winner for the Lowry/Cullen stable and Hawke's Bay owner/breeder Graeme Wedd, was game in defeat as she suffered a tendon injury during the race which has probably spelt the end of her racing career.
Trainer Grant Nicholson told John Flynn that Trosettee would need plenty of time to reach his full potential and that is why the five-year-old has only had 10 starts.
His sire Jimmy Choux won 12 races from 800m to 2400m, including the Group 1 New Zealand Derby (2400m), while his dam Tin Goose is by Pentire and only won four races but finished third in the 2010 Group 1 Auckland Cup (3200m).
Trosettee is also a half-brother to the talented stayer Voler Pour Moi, who has won six races, and also a half-brother to Beaufighter who won twice.
John Flynn said this week he is unsure where Trosettee will race next but added that Nicholson is keen to get the horse up to 2000m and beyond.
"Grant thinks he could be a good stayer and hopefully we can look at better things," Flynn said.
Carnaby has a fan in Myers
Whanganui trainer Kevin Myers says there will always be a home at his place for Hawke's Bay-owned Carnaby.
The Danroad nine-year-old brought up his ninth win when taking out a $20,000 0-2 win steeplechase at Riccarton on Wednesday of last week and, although Myers rates the gelding highly as a jumper it is the horse's general demeanor that has endeared him to his trainer.
"He's just a good horse to have in the stable. He's no problem and he is great to the young ones and the pullers," Myers said.
"As far as I'm concerned he can stay at my place forever."
Carnaby capped off a string of minor placings in hurdle race with a win at Hastings back in May. He then made his steeplechase debut on the first day of this year's Grand National meeting at Riccarton, finishing a good second behind Bak Da Master over 3200m.
Four days later he stepped up to 4150m and turned the tables on Bak Da Master, scoring a three-quarter length over that horse after the two horses fought out the finish. There was 66-1/2 lengths back to third placed Pierian Spring.
Carnaby is also the winner of seven races on the flat, the most recent being over 2000m at Greymouth in January lasty year.
He was bred by well-known racing administrator Alan Fenwick of Marton and Feilding-based Michael Collinson and they initially raced him with Alan's wife Sue and Cam Arnott, from Palmerston North.
Hawke's Bay men Tony Lyndon, Peter Johnstone, Peter Unverricht and Greg Horton took up a racing share in the horse in 2017 and the horse's trainer, Kevin Myers, also has a racing share now.
Hastings pair among finalists
Hastings stables will have two finalists in this year's New Zealand Thoroughbred Horse of the Year Awards.
This year's awards function will be held at Claudelands, in Hamilton, on Sunday September 12 and will recognise the achievements of the thoroughbreds, owners, trainers and jockeys during the 2020-21 racing season.
The John Bary-trained Callsign Mav is one of four horses nominated for Champion Sprinter-Miler, the others being Avantage, Melody Belle and Probabeel.
Callsign Mav recorded two wins, three seconds and a third from six starts at 1600m or less last season, with his biggest success coming in the Group 1 Tarzino Trophy (1400m) on the first day of the Hawke's Bay spring carnival.
The Cossack, prepared by Paul Nelson and Corrina McDougal, is one of three horses nominated for Champion Jumper, the others being Magic Wonder and Yardarm.
The Cossack had six hurdle starts during the season for five wins and a third, with his victories including the Great Northern Hurdle at Ellerslie, Wellington Hurdle at Hastings and Waikato Hurdle at Te Rapa.
The finalists in the other horse categories are:
CHAMPION TWO-YEAR-OLD: Bonny Lass, On The Bubbles, Sword Of State.
CHAMPION THREE-YEAR-OLD: Aegon, Amarelinha, Need I Say More, Rocket Spade.
CHAMPION MIDDLE-DISTRANCE HORSE (1601m-2200m): Avantage, Beauden, Concert Hall, Melody Belle, Royal Performer.
CHAMPION STAYER: Ocean Billy, Savy Yong Blonk, The Chosen One, Waisake.
Jamie Richards has once again made a one-horse race of the Trainer of the Year title, the 31-year-old taking out the title for the third year in a row.
Richards, who heads the Te Akau Racing team, was so dominant in the past season that he was the sole nominee for Trainer of the Year.
He set new marks in terms of domestic wins, stake earnings and Group and Listed wins, establishing benchmarks that will not be easy to match in the future.
The stable won 13 of the 21 Group 1 races staged in New Zealand and another two in Australia.
Richards' partner, Danielle Johnson, is a finalist for Jockey of the Year, after topping the national jockey's premiership with 151 wins, 60 more than her nearest rival.
The other finalists are Opie Bosson, a six-time winner of the title who won seven of the 21 Group 1 races held in New Zealand last season, and Craig Grylls, whose 83 wins included the Group 1 New Zealand Derby.
There are three vying for the Jumps Jockey of the Year title with Hawke's Bay-born Shaun Fannin once again nominated along with Dean Parker and Shaun Phelan.
There are nine finalists for Owner of the Year. They are Cambridge Stud proprietors Brendan and Jo Lindsay, Joan Egan, Hermitage Thoroughbreds, Kevin Hickman, NZ Thoroughbred Holdings, Sir Peter Vela, Jomara Bloodstock, Kelvin Tyler and Waikato Stud.
New Plymouth's Hazel Schofer won the Apprentice Jockeys' Premiership for the season while the Newcomer to Training Award has gone to Palmerston North's Peter Didham.
HB targets for On The Bubbles
Last season's Group 1 winning two-year-old On The Bubbles is expected to kick off his three-year-old campaign in the Listed $60,000 El Roca-Sir Colin Meads Trophy (1200m) on the first day of the Hawke's Bay spring carnival, on September 11.
Trainer Jamie Richards is taking a cautious approach with the son of Brazen Beau after he had an elevated temperature earlier in is preparation and gave him a trial over 1050m at Te Rapa last Monday, which he won.
"It was a good trial and the horse is coming up well," Richards said.
"We have got a little bit of time to play around with him now until we go to Hawke's Bay for the El Roca, which will be his first start back."
Richards added that On The Bubbles will probably race twice over the Hawke's Bay spring carnival, with the Group 2 $110,000 Dundeel at Arrowfield Hawke's Bay Guineas (1400m) also on the agenda. He could then contest the Group 2 Sarten Memorial (1400m) at Te Rapa on October 25 before heading south for the Group 1 New Zealand 2000 Guineas (1600m) at Riccarton.
On The Bubbles won four of his six starts as a juvenile, including the Group 1 Manawatu Sires' Produce Stakes (1400m) and Karaka Million Two-year-old (1200m). He was also runner-up in the Group 1 Sistema Stakes (1200m) and Group 3 Waikato Stud Slipper (1200m).
Victoria boost prizemoney
Racing Victoria has announced a series of enhancements to the Victorian Spring Carnival, bolstering all Group 1 races to a minimum of A$1million in prizemoney.
There is also an A$1m bonus to be paid to the winner of the Empire Rose Stakes (1600m), a weight-for-age race for fillies and mares at Flemington on October 30, if they have won one of 12 selected races for the fairer sex.
Among those races is the Group 1 New Zealand Thoroughbred Breeders Stakes (1600m) run at Te Rapa back in April and won by the Jamie Richards-trained Avantage.
The bonus is undoubtedly Victoria's response to the prizemoney arms-race with New South Wales, with Randwick to host the inaugural running of the A$2m The Invitation (1400m), a set weights and penalties event for fillies and mares just a week prior to the Empire Rose Stakes.
Richards is in the fortunate position of having a strong hand in the mares division, with multiple Group 1 winners Probabeel and Avantage plus emerging star Entriviere.
The latter is set to make her Australian debut in today's Group 3 A$160,000 Toy Show Quality (1100m) at Randwick where she will be ridden by James McDonald but has to overcome the extreme outside barrier.