Hawke's Bay Racing CEO Darin Balcombe. Photo / Supplied
Hawke's Bay Racing has had to forfeit a race day in the autumn but has picked up another premier early winter race meeting instead that will feature two of New Zealand's iconic jumping races.
The Hawke's Bay meeting scheduled for Saturday, April 30, has had to be transferred to Wanganui as there is a planned refurbishing of the entire course proper at Hastings.
"The inside 10 to 12 metres for most of the track will be stripped of all the grass and re-seeded and that will happen to the entire home straight," Hawke's Bay Racing CEO Darin Balcombe said this week.
"It is something that needs to be done and so the track will be out of action for racing for five to six weeks."
The next Hastings race meeting after April 30 will be a Thursday meeting on May 26 and Balcombe said, all going well, the track will be fit for racing on again by that date.
Although Hastings has lost the April 30 race day it has picked up a premier race day vacated by the Auckland Racing Club, due to their track closing down over the winter.
The traditional Queen's Birthday meeting at Ellerslie on June 6 will now be run at Hastings and will feature two prestige jumping races, the Ken Browne Hurdle and the McGregor Grant Steeplechase.
"So we have lost one race meeting but have gained a feature race day with two major jumping races," Balcombe added.
Construction is also under way on a new plastic running rail on the plough training track at the Hastings racecourse.
The plastic rail, attached to permanent plastic legs, will replace the old concrete posts and steel pipe running rail that was erected decades ago and will comply with the present-day health and safety standards.
On a night that generates enormous interest throughout New Zealand it was the familiar tangerine and blue racing colours of Te Akau Racing that was again to the fore at Ellerslie last Saturday, with the Jamie Richards-trained Dynastic winning the $1 million Karaka Million Two-year-old and Pin Me Up taking out the $1 million Karaka Three-year-old Classic (1600m).
By Cambridge Stud-based stallion Almanzor, Dynastic had disputed favouritism with the unbeaten Wolverine throughout the week and it was fitting the pair would set down to fight out the finish as they swooped into the race from midfield to issue their challenges side by side in the closing stages.
Rider Opie Bosson was at his brilliant best as he got every ounce of effort out of Dynastic in the last 100m to draw clear of the game Wolverine and win by a length and a half with his stablemate Fellini running on resolutely to claim third.
The victory provided Richards and the Te Akau Racing stable with a sixth consecutive victory in the race (the first two with Richards in partnership with Stephen Autridge) and possibly Richards' last as he leaves New Zealand in April to take up a contract to train in Hong Kong.
An emotional Richards was full of praise for his charge as he spoke about what the victory means to him as he prepares to leave New Zealand racing.
"What an amazing thrill to get six in a row and to have Almanzor get his first New Zealand winner in a $1 million race.
"I'm delighted for Brendan and Jo (Lindsay) and everybody at Cambridge Stud, also all of our staff at home.
"Dave (Ellis) has done it again and that man on top (Bosson), what a champion.
"As everyone knows, things are going to change for me in the near future and hopefully we are not finished yet.
"There are plenty of options for a colt like him as what he is doing at the moment is really a bonus for what he will do next year."
Bred by Windsor Park Stud in partnership with long-time client John Thompson and his wife Margaret out of the Volksraad mare Meir, Dynastic was purchased from the 2021 National Yearling sale for $360,000 by Te Akau Racing principal David Ellis and is the first southern hemisphere winner for former European champion three-year-old colt Almanzor.
It was also a fifth consecutive win in the race for Bosson, who missed the 2021 edition through suspension and he was ecstatic to have made the right decision on which of the four Richards-trained runners to ride in the race.
"I probably wasn't in the right spot early on, but then I saw Wolverine outside me and I managed to get on her back," he said.
"Once the big boy balanced up, he sure has got a stride on him.
"In his trial at Rotorua he really put in some big strides and when I rode him first up when he ran second he just gave me the gut feel he was the horse to be on.
"There were so many trying to change my mind on who to ride so I'm glad I stuck true to him."
There is now a strong chance Dynastic will contest at least one of the two Group 1 New Zealand races for 2-year-olds, the $240,000 Sistema Stakes (1200m) at Ellerslie on March 12 and the $220,000 Manawatu Sires' Produce Stakes (1400m) on April 2.
The Board of New Zealand Thoroughbred Racing (NZTR) has announced further stakes increases.
An increase of $2.4 million has been allocated for the period of April 3 until August 26 this year and includes stakes lifts across the board.
As outlined in July when announcing the $7 million injection into stakes NZTR chairman Cameron George re-emphasised that the NZTR Board has created a rolling funding policy.
"As opposed to announcing increases across a full racing season, this policy enables the board to provide increased funding to the industry off the back of good performance. We are delivering off money earned, not anticipated earnings," George said.
"We are operating in a different environment and our decisions regarding stakes increases are designed to be both strategic and sustainable."
"In the board's view the traditional blanket approach to funding will not generate greater returns to the overall industry," George said.
"It is important that we invest wisely, into those parts of our racing calendar which will encourage growth in both wagering and participation. This is a strategic pattern, and one that we will continue to execute and ultimately create opportunities from, particularly in our strongest performing times."
The chairman acknowledged that it has been a challenging year and extended his, and the Board's thanks to participants, clubs, and owners for their support.
"NZTR is proud to have navigated through this difficult time to deliver approximately $10 million of stakes increases in the 2021-22 season," he said.
"Our board is committed to deliver a better, more attractive, and rewarding industry. We intend to continue leading from the front and at times that might mean we will come from a different angle to stimulate growth in our industry."
The prizemoney increases from April 3 will be as follows:
Industry Days
R74 - $11,000 to $12,000
R65, MAAT, 2, 3 & 4YO and Maidens - $10,000 to $12,000
Feature Days
Open - $32,500 to $35,000
R74 - $27,500 to $30,000
3&4YO - $25,000 to $30,000
R65, MAAT, 2YO - $22,500 to $30,000
Maiden - $10,000 to $15,000
Verry Elleegant has been rated the world's best racemare according to the Longines World's Best Racehorse Rankings (WBRR) released by the International Federation of Horseracing Authorities (IFHA) on Tuesday.
The New Zealand-bred mare was given a rating of 123 for her win in the Group 1 Melbourne Cup (3200m) at Flemington in November, putting her 15th equal in the WBRR, and the highest-rated female equine athlete in the world.
Trainer Chris Waller was over the moon upon hearing the news.
"Proud is an understatement! To train the world's highest-rated mare for 2021 Verry Elleegant ... is an absolute honour," Waller tweeted.
Racing Victoria executive general manager - racing, Greg Carpenter, is part of the worldwide panel that assesses the rankings and he said Verry Elleegant's run in the Melbourne Cup was something special.
"Her performance in winning the Melbourne Cup was no doubt the best winning performance in that race since Makybe Diva won it in 2005," Carpenter said.
"She carried 57kg. She beat Incentivise and Spanish Mission at level weights by a big margin."
The daughter of Zed has won 10 Group One races and more than A$14 million in prizemoney.
New Zealand-sourced Golden Sixty also featured prominently in the rankings.
He has soared to an international rating of 125 in the year end list and is now the world's joint highest rated miler.
Through the 2020/21 racing season, Golden Sixty won all seven of his starts as part of his famed 16-race unbeaten streak, including four Group Ones, two Group Twos and one Group Three – ranging from 1400m to 2000m.
Golden Sixty shares equal sixth spot in the Longines World's Best Racehorse Rankings with Baaeed, Palace Pier and Group 1 Prix de l'Arc de Triomphe (2400m) champion Torquator Tasso.
Golden Sixty was purchased by his trainer Francis Lui out of Riversley Park's 2017 New Zealand Bloodstock Ready to Run Sale draft for $300,000.