Alfie Dee and jockey Buddy Lammas clear the last fence on their way to winning a maiden hurdle race over 2750m at Awapuni. Photo / Supplied
Alfie Dee only won a maiden hurdle race at Awapuni on Thursday of last week, but he will now be stepped up to the big time when he contests next Wednesday's $75,000 Hospitality New Zealand Grand National Hurdles at Riccarton.
The 8-year-old Zed gelding, bred and part-owned by Hawke's Bay's Mick Duncan, was recording just his second win from 25 starts but his connections have always predicted a bright future for the horse as a jumper.
He was certainly a dominant winner of last week's 2750m Awapuni event, scoring by 6-1/2 lengths over Tittletattle.
The success was, in a big way, attributed to a positive ride by jockey Buddy Lammas.
After settling Alfie Dee second last in the early stages, Lammas decided to push forward on the horse with a round to go and sat outside the leader for a short time before taking a clear lead entering the last 1100m.
Lammas opened up a six length break on his rivals soon after before easing the horse to hold a two length advantage entering the home straight. He knew he still had something in reserve when Alfie Dee jumped the last fence and the horse raced clear again in the run to the line.
Mick Duncan bred Alfie Dee out of the Victory Dance mare Isadora and said the initial plan was to give him a brief campaign on the flat before turning him into a jumper.
But when the horse won a 1600m Woodville maiden on debut it was decided to continue racing him on the flat and he recorded a further five seconds and two thirds as well as contesting last year's Group 3 Wellington Cup (3200m).
Alfie Dee finished fifth in his hurdle debut over 2760m at Ellerslie on June 3 before a sixth in the Awapuni Hurdles (2900m).
He was then pulled up when struggling on an extremely heavy track at Trentham last start but was obviously much more at home in the conditions at Awapuni last week.
Hunterville-based Ken Duncan has trained Alfie Dee for the past three years but the horse was in the care of other trainers during his early days.
Mick Duncan who, along with his wife Barbara still own a 15 per cent share in the horse, said he was initially broken in at Hastings by James Bridge before spending time with Donna Beck at Levin and then Dean Cunningham at Hunterville.
"But then Dean had too many other horses so he gave him to Ken Duncan," he recalled.
Ken Duncan is no relation to Mick but is a very good conditioner of jumpers. He prepared Wee Biskit to win the 2013 Great Northern Hurdles as well as back-to-back Wellington Hurdles and Shamal to win last year's Grand National Steeplechase and this year's Waikato Steeples.
"Ken is a bit of an optimist and has decided to throw him in the deep end next week but also says that probably next year will be his year as a jumper," Duncan said.
He added that he and Barbara have booked a flight to Christchurch next Tuesday to be on track and see their horse's biggest test to date.
Alfie Dee is the only living foal produced by Isadora, a mare that won once for the Duncans when taking out a 1600m maiden race at Foxton in July 2005.
The mare produced two other foals by Zed before Alfie Dee but one died of colic and the other died at birth. She has since ceased breeding.
Hastings apprentice Jordan Bassett made a winning return after an enforced layoff when she piloted her favourite horse Estefania to victory in a $22,500 Rating 65 race over 1600m at Otaki last Saturday.
It was 28-year-old Bassett's fourth win of her career, with the last one coming aboard Estefania in a 1400m maiden race at Rotorua in April last year.
She suffered a broken bone in a foot soon after that success which saw her sidelined for many months, first awaiting on an operation and then in recuperation.
She resumed riding trackwork and in jumpouts only a month ago and Estefania was her first race-ride since then.
Estefania's win at Otaki capped off two good recent performances by the Daci Brahma mare, the first resulting in a second over 1600m at Awapuni on June 15 and then second a fourth over 1600m at Te Rapa on July 6.
In both races she seemed to relish the very heavy track conditions and she again coped well with the heavy-11 track at Otaki.
Bassett let Estefania find her feet in the early stages before sending her on a forward move around the field.
The mare ranged up, wide out, to challenge the leaders rounding the home turn and kept up a strong run to the line to win by three-quarters of a length from The Seagull, with four lengths back to third placed Lord Turbo.
Bassett was originally attached to the Hastings stable of Guy Lowry and Grant Cullen before a brief stint with Wanganui trainer Kevin Myers and also spent a couple of months with the Riccarton father and son partnership of Michael and Matthew Pitman.
She is now indentured to her partner, Richard McKenzie, who is the owner-trainer of Estefania.
Estefania was bred by Richard McKenzie, who is a Hastings veterinary surgeon.
She is out of the Success Express mare Zino Belle, whose two wins included the Group 3 Highview Stakes (1200m) at Hastings, and she is also the dam of the stakes winner Silver Eclipse (five wins).
A return to winning form by talented winter galloper Dez in the $30,000 Rating 82 race over 1600m at Otaki last Saturday confirmed another trip south for the Waipukurau-prepared gelding.
Trainer Simon Wilson campaigned the son of Zed at last year's Grand National meeting at Riccarton where he finished third in the Group 3 Winter Cup (1600m) on the first day before winning the Winter Classic (1800m) a week later.
Wilson and the horse's other connections were keen to head back to Riccarton for this year's carnival but Dez turned in three lack-lustre performances in his first three starts this campaign and had to produce a lot better effort last Saturday to confirm the trip.
Dez showed he was on the verge of a return to form when winning a 1400m jumpout at Hastings a fortnight ago and Wilson removed the blinkers and added a tongue-tie to the horse's gear last Saturday, which seemed to spark him into life.
Dez wanted to over-race in the early stages of the race but the experienced hands of top South Island jockey Chris Johnson got the horse to settle three-back on the fence before he cut the corner to lodge his claim early in the home straight.
Our Bandit and High Quality looked to be fighting out the finish but Johnson managed to get the best out of Dez in the final 100 metres and the horse got up to win by a neck.
It was Dez's sixth win from only 16 starts and he is owned by Wilson in partnership with two close friends, Waverley's Sam Trotter and Paul Mitchell (Patea).
Dez will now back up in tomorrow's Group 3 $1000,000 Winter Cup (1600m) at Riccarton, where he has drawn barrier three and will again be ridden by Chris Johnson.
Hastings trainers Paul Nelson and Corrina McDougal will line up a trio of runners at Riccarton tomorrow, but they are slightly concerned about the expected heavy track conditions.
"We are just not too sure about the track. It appears that it is getting worse, it has gone to a Heavy-11," Nelson said.
No Change will be their first runner of the day in the Sydenham Hurdles (3100m) and he is coming off a last start victory in the Hawke's Bay Hurdle (3100m) at Hastings on June 29.
"Hawke's Bay suited him, the track (Slow7) was pretty much to his liking," Nelson said. "He has been a bit long without a run, but hopefully that won't count against him."
While the 11-year-old son of Shinko King has won twice on a heavy surface, Nelson would like to see the track improve before Saturday.
"He has won on a heavy track, but it's been a wet and loose track. He will probably run on Saturday and then we will see after that."
Nelson holds the same concerns with Zardetto heading into the Koral Steeplechase (4250m) tomorrow after he was pulled up in the Wellington Steeplechase (5500m) on the testing Heavy-11 track last start.
"He's been pretty good (since that run), I am just not too sure that we didn't have a bug go through (the stable)," Nelson said.
"Even though his record hasn't been huge lately on wet tracks, I thought he would have finished the race alright."
The 12-year-old gelding pleased his connections in his previous three starts over fences where he placed in the Waikato Steeplechase (3900m) and Hawke's Bay Steeplechase (4800m) and they elected to travel him south in search of better tracks.
"We thought that we were going to get better tracks and then we made a plan to bring the other horses down," Nelson said.
"They are here and the fields aren't very strong, so he will run and we will see after that.
"He has won on a heavy track, but probably as he has got older he hasn't been as keen on them."
Meanwhile, Ooee pleased Nelson with his debut placing over the bigger fences at Te Rapa a fortnight ago and he is hoping the addition of a tongue-tie will assist the gelding on Saturday when he contests the Maiden Steeplechase (3200m).
"He had his first chase the other day and he looked like he was in it and he just struggled a bit from the second-to-last fence," Nelson said.
"We have put a tongue-tie on him and hope that might help him.
"His best form has been on better ground too, but it is the first race on that track, so we might get away with it."
The Cambridge partnership of Murray Baker and Andrew Forsman have taken out their third straight New Zealand trainers' premiership and their fourth in the past five years.
With the 2018-19 season finishing on Wednesday, Baker and Forsman were 14 wins clear of nearest rival, Te Akau Racing trainer Jamie Richards, with 112 winners for the season.
Baker and Forsman trained 142 winners in the previous season but they trained a record 25 stakes winners in the 2018-19 term.
"We have had a good year but those 25 stakes wins are pretty hard to beat as our season highlight," Baker said.
"We probably didn't fire as well as we might have liked in Australia, but on the home front we managed to take out plenty of good races with both the younger members of the team as well as some of those older horses that have served us so well."
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