Racing: Starry-eyed stayer may be dark horse

Miss Three Stars is named after the logo on Speights Brewery bottle label and carries the hopes of the Deep South. PHOTO/Race Images South

YOU SELDOM find horses coming to marquee race meetings in Hawke's Bay all the way from Invercargill.

That's what catches the eye with Miss Three Stars when the 15-strong field lines up in the $250,000 group one Livamol Classic at 4.38pm today in the feature race of the final leg of the Bostock NZ Spring Racing Carnival trilogy in Hastings.

"Hey, I've never been in Hawke's Bay in my life but I've been three times to Wellington where I've done well," says a cheery trainer, Tommy Beckett, who headed here after basing himself in Foxton for four weeks.

The 6-year-old brown mare is unlikely to make the top three placings of pundits' picks on the race-day programme but the Michael Crooks-bred horse's record makes interesting reading.

Miss Three Stars, who syndicated owners from Mosgiel, near Dunedin, appropriately named after the Deep South's favourite Speight's ale logo, goes down just nicely as a "straight-out stayer" if her record is anything to go by.

Her consistency over 200m-plus distances on slow-to-dead tracks has certainly been impressive.

Miss Three Stars was third in the Wyndham Cup (2000m) in March, won the listed Riverton Cup (2147m) in April, was third in the group three Canterbury Gold Cup (2000m) a fortnight later and followed that up with a second place in the Great Autumn Hcp Cup (2500m) in May with Samantha Wynne in the saddle every time.

The Perfectly Ready-sired mare, out of Missy, finished second with jockey Lisa Allpress at the premier Christchurch Casino Winter Classic (1800m) in August and last month claimed third place in the Vale Bart Cummings Metric Mile (1600m) with Chris Johnson in the saddle.

Today 51-year-old Cantabrian Johnson will lead her out of barrier No 10 and with that sort of record she has to be a chance in the 2040m Livamol Classic.

Miss Three Stars has career earnings of $121,575 and a lion's share of that came last season ($94,750), suggesting she's in a happy place.

The 2101-2500m distance yielded $43,650 of the total purse.

Beckett said today's race is a pre-run for Miss Three Stars who is down to 57-59kg before the 152nd New Zealand Cup in Riccarton on November 14.

"Five wins are pretty good for someone carrying so much weight," says the Ascot Park trainer of a mare who has matched her mother in career wins but doubled the earnings.

Miss Three Stars and her 65-year-old trainer haven't come here just to make up numbers.

"We've come to win, that's all. We didn't come all the way to run second, that's for sure."

Beckett says in 33 years of training he didn't visit the Bay simply because he didn't have good enough horses.

"We've had some good horses in our family, though," he says, revealing his brother, Ross, is a trainer in Christchurch.

His father, the late Cecil Beckett, trained the Crooks-bred Ed (jockey Damien Oliver) to victory in the 1995 Wellington Cup but two years later Manawatu trainer, the late Noel Eales, emulated that feat with rider Lance O'Sullivan.