Mizzena and jockey Shaun Fannin clear the last fence in in the lead on their way to taking out the maiden hurdle race at last Saturday's Manawatu meeting at Awapuni.
Hawke's Bay bred and owned Mizzena broke through for a deserved jumping win when successful in the maiden hurdle race at Awapuni last Saturday.
The 6-year-old Zed mare was having her fifth start over fences. She recorded a good second in her hurdling debut at Hawera in September last year and followed that up with an unlucky fourth at Ellerslie the following month.
Barry Smyth, a former long-time board member of Hawke's Bay Racing and the breeder of Mizzena, said this week that the mare should have finished a lot closer than fourth at her second hurdle start.
"Dean Parker rode her that day and the saddle slipped early in the race so he didn't have much control for nearly the entire journey," Smyth recalled.
"Once the saddle slipped I don't think he (Parker) ever got his feet back in the irons and so she drifted back but then came again at the finish so it was a pretty gutsy performance."
Mizzena is prepared by one of the country's most reputable trainers of jumpers in Wanganui-based Kevin Myers, who told Smyth when he took the horse over last year that she would make into a good jumper given time.
She had finished fifth in a 2800m hurdle race at Trentham on May 22 and was then given a run over 2200m on the flat at Trentham on June 12 to prepare her for last Saturday's assignment.
Hastings-born jumps jockey Shaun Fannin rode the perfect race on the mare, settling her towards the rear in the early stages before improving to fifth with 600m to run.
Mizzena then showed quick acceleration to join the leading division coming to the second to last fence and, after jumping to the front at the last, she kept up a strong run to the line to win by 2-1/4 lengths.
"Shaun rode her a treat because she has not always been easy to ride. She can get a bit keen and want to pull but he got her to settle perfectly," Smyth said.
Smyth, along with some of the other owners, was on course to cheer Mizzena home last Saturday and said it was a great thrill.
"She had been knocking on the door to win another one so it was a big buzz to see her finally do it," he said.
Smyth has retained a 40 per cent racing share in Mizzena and races her with his Sydney-based brother John and six other close Hawke's Bay friends, Simon and Melissa Turner, John McKenzie, Ron Robbie, Neil White and Malcolm Campbell.
He said he was unsure of the immediate plans for Mizzena, given that there is an apparent lack of jumping races for one hurdle winners in the next month.
"No doubt Dummy (Kevin Myers) will work something out for her, whether it be another flat run somewhere or over hurdles."
Smyth bred Mizzena out of the Al Akbar mare Moonlighter, who recorded one third from seven starts.
"She was a mare that needed time but the syndicate that raced her didn't want to wait around so I actually gave her away as a show hack for a while until I was ready to breed from her," Smyth said.
Moonlighter has only produced two foals to race, the first being the Iffraaj mare Iffonlynaomi who had only three starts for a third.
"Unfortunately she had a wind problem and so we never saw the best of her and I ended up giving her away," Smyth added.
However, he is still breeding from Moonlighter with the next foal after Mizzena being a Per Incanto filly who was unfortunately injured as a young horse and never got to the races.
He now has high hopes for a Rip Van Winkle 3-year-old filly out of the mare that is presently in work with Waipukurau trainer Kate Hercock. She has been named Moonlight Hustler and has had a couple of Hawke's Bay jumpouts, finishing second in the most recent one.
Moonlighter has also left a Per Incanto 2-year-old that has been sent to Australia to be trained by Matt Cumani at Ballarat.
He has been named Cantolight and had a light preparation earlier this season before being gelded and spelled.
"I just got an email from Matt Cumani two days ago to say the horse is back in his stable after being at the pre-trainers and he will be looking to race him in the spring," Smyth added.
Smyth has retained a racing share in both Moonlight Hustler and Cantolight.
Fans of jumps racing will be in for a treat at the Hastings track next Saturday when Hawke's Bay Racing stages its feature winter meeting.
Four jumping races are scheduled on the programme with the main events being the $50,000 AHD Hawke's Bay Steeplechase (4800m) and the $50,000 Te Whangai Romneys Hawke's Bay Hurdle (3100m), two of the most time-honoured events on the Hawke's Bay racing calendar.
There will also be a maiden hurdle race over 2500m and a maiden steeplechase over 4000m while the feature flat races on the card will be a $32,500 Open 2100 and a $32,500 Open 1200.
At this stage the first race is timed for about 11am and the last at 4.15pm but these times could change depending on the number of races.
There will be a $10 admission charge and a $30 charge for the Members Stand.
The Hawke's Bay/Poverty Bay Thoroughbred Breeders' Association's annual weanling walk will this year be held on Sunday, July 4, the day after the Hawke's Bay feature winter race meeting.
There will be four properties visited with as many as 16 weanlings on show and are by such high profile stallions as Almanzor, Contributer, Embellish, Time Test, Ace High, Santono Aladdin, O'Reilly's Choice and Preferment.
The weanling walk will commence at 10am at Guy Lowry's Okawa property, 305 Kawera Rd, and will end at the Hastings racecourse where the Hawke's Bay-based stallions Sneaking To Win and Mongolian Falcon will be paraded.
Sneaking To Win, a son of Snitzel, will be standing his second season in Hawke's Bay after being imported from Australia last year by Steve Brougham and Jenni Tomlins.
Mongolian Falcon (by Fastnet Rock) has been purchased by Vicki Wilson and will stand this season at her Hauora Farms property after initially being based at Waimate's Willow Glen Stud for three years.
Following the weanling walk a luncheon, sponsored in part by Haunui Farm, has been organised at Off The Track restaurant on Havelock Rd.
It is limited to 100 people and those wishing to attend are asked to book with katemorison@hotmail.com or chris@russellcorporation.co.nz
A silent auction will be conducted at the luncheon with some of the special offerings this year including a fully paid service to the stallion Mongolian Khan (donated by Vicki Wilson), a table for four or six people on the second day of the Hawke's Bay spring carnival including food and beverages (donated by Vertigo Catering and Hawke's Bay Racing) and a free entry for either this year's New Zealand Bloodstock Ready-To-Run 2-year-old sale or Book 2 at next January's Karaka yearling sales.
Henry Taylor, a former long-serving secretary of the Hawke's Bay Racehorse Owners' Association, celebrated his 100th birthday last week.
Taylor, the oldest member of the association, was the guest of honour at a special birthday function in Waipukurau last Saturday where he proudly displayed a letter from the Queen.
He also received letters from the New Zealand Governor-General and the Prime Minister and was presented with a medal by the president of the RSA.
Peter Unverricht is the recipient of the Kevin Wood Memorial bimonthly trophy for the months of April and May.
The award is presented by the Hawke's Bay Racehorse Owners' Association.
Hastings-based Unverricht is a member of the group that races Carnaby from the Wanganui stable of Kevin Myers and the Danroad 6-year-old scored an impressive maiden hurdle win over 2500m at the Hawke's Bay meeting on May 26.
New Zealand Thoroughbred Racing has announced that owners of horses in last Saturday's abandoned race at Ruakaka will receive an ex-gratia payment.
"NZTR is making these payments in good faith, acknowledging that owners have copped considerable expense to send their horses north, expecting them to race on Saturday," CEO Bernard Saundry said.
"The stewards have advised us that it was an electrical fault which caused the starting gates at Ruakaka to malfunction in the third race," Saundry said.
"After runners were inspected by the vet, five were declared unfit to run, but it was then established that the manual starting mechanism was not in working order and so the race was subsequently abandoned. NZTR supports that decision."
The manual starting mechanism was eventually able to be repaired and, after it was tested extensively, the meeting was able to resume from the fourth race. This race ran late because of the initial malfunction and subsequent testing.
Jockeys with rides in the third race at Ruakaka last Saturday are also entitled to be paid their riding fees however this cost will be borne by NZTR rather than owners.