Caption: Pep Torque pictured with trainer Kirsty Lawrence, her husband Steve, and successful jockey Ciel Butler after the nine-year-old's fresh up win at Waverley last week. Photo / Supplied
Waipukurau racehorse trainer Kirsty Lawrence is fast building an impressive strike rate with the small team of horses she has in work.
Lawrence chalked up her third win in the space of a week when Pep Torque took out a rating 75 race over 1650m at Waverley on Friday last week. That victory followed the success by Real Slim Tradie in a $60,000 Rating 75 race over 1200m at Hastings on October 15, and a maiden win by Zappa Jak over 2100m at Woodville two days later.
Lawrence, who has only eight in her stable, has had 11 starters since the beginning of the racing season on August 1 for three wins, a second and a third and has a winning strike rate of 3.67.
She said this week Pep Torque is the stable favourite and to see the horse record his eighth win from 72 starts at Waverley last week gave her and husband Steve a huge buzz.
The Nadeem nine-year-old was resuming from a five-month break and, under the urgings of apprentice Ciel Butler, was able to score a long-neck win.
"It made all the hard work worthwhile," Lawrence said.
"He is one of five horses we have had to bring up to work on the Hastings track in recent weeks because Waipukurau has been so wet and it hasn't been easy.
"But being able to work on the Hastings track has definitely helped get him fit."
Lawrence had initially set Pep Torque for a resuming run in a $65,000 race over 1950m at Rotorua on October 16, but the likelihood of a heavy track that day meant he was scratched.
"As it turned out the track was only soft, which would have suited him, but we went to Waverley last week instead and it all worked out well in the finish," Lawrence added.
The track was rated a Good-4 at Waverley and Lawrence said it was made to order for Pep Torque.
"The harder the track is, the better he is," she said.
"He's a real honest and very sound horse and he doesn't know that he's 9."
Pep Torque is owned by Lawrence and her husband Steve in partnership with long-time stable employee Susan Best and Gisborne sisters Christina and Dinah Newman.
The horse cost just $2600 as a four-year-old when bought off the Gavelhouse online auction site, and has now won more than $212,000 in prizemoney. He boasts a record of eight wins, 11 seconds and six thirds from his 72 starts.
Lawrence said she has no qualms about backing Pep Torque up in today's $60,000 Feilding Cup (2100m) at Awapuni, where he gets in with a light weight of 53kg, and will be ridden by in-form Hawke's Bay jockey Kate Hercock.
She will also have Zappa Jak in a rating 65 race over 2100m at Awapuni today, while Real Slim Tradie is being aimed at a $30,000 rating 75 race over 1300m at Te Rapa on November 5.
Hastings-trained Lavita Vishvi went some way towards living up to her impeccable breeding when she scored a game win in a $30,000 rating 65 race over 2100m at Trentham last Sunday.
The five-year-old mare is by champion sire Savabeel out of the Pins mare Daisy Chain and is a granddaughter of Daffodil.
Daffodil was the winner of eight races from only 26 starts including three Gr.1 events, the 2008 New Zealand 1000 Guineas (1600m) at Riccarton, 2009 AJC Oaks (2400m) in Sydney and 2009 Windsor Park Plate (1600m) at Hastings.
She was trained by Kevin Gray and also finished fourth in the 2009 Caulfield Cup (2400m) and 11th in that year's Melbourne Cup (3200m).
Lavita Vishvi was a $340,000 purchase from the 2019 Karaka yearling sales and is owned by Auckland-based Narendra Balia and his family trust.
The now five-year-old mare was originally trained at Pukekohe by Nigel Tiley but was transferred to John Bary's Hastings stable earlier this year and has since had seven starts for a win and two seconds.
Bary's racing manager Mike Sanders said this week that Lavita Vishvi was the winner of one race, as a three-year-old, when trained in the north but then suffered a float accident, which knocked her confidence.
"Since she has come to John he has taken his time with her and she is a really happy horse now," Sanders said.
He added that the Good-4 track conditions at Trentham on Sunday suited the mare and she was aided by a great ride from top woman jockey Lisa Allpress.
"She finally got a track that was firm," Sanders said.
"Even though she finished second at Hastings at her previous start she wasn't happy on the heavy track that day and is much better on top of the ground."
Allpress made full use of Lavita Vishvi's inside draw to settle her fifth on the fence and had her travelling nicely all the way. She angled her out for a run at the top of the straight but it wasn't there so she quickly switched back the inside and managed to get a gap between horses.
Lavita Vishvi then found the inside rail and finished strongly to win by a head from Nod, with Prince Of Tallin just a nose away in third.
"It was a fantastic ride from Lisa that won the race," Sanders added.
"It was also a strong win by the mare and she just kept on running through the line and was the last horse to pull up."
Lavita Vishvi will now be aimed at a $30,000 rating 75 race over 2000m at Awapuni on November 19, with Sanders saying she could develop into a Cups horse this season.
A full brother to Lavita Vishvi, Dannevirke Lad, has been a winner in Australia while another full brother, Five Rings, finished fourth on debut over 1300m at Cranbourne, in Australia, last Friday.
Waikato Stud will also offer another full brother to Lavita Vishvi at the Ready To Run Two-year-old sale on November 16.
Champion New Zealand-born jockey James McDonald is poised to eclipse one of the most revered riding records in Australian racing at Flemington on Saturday.
McDonald goes to Derby Day with seven Gr.1 wins this spring carnival – and he has leading chances in each of the three majors with In Secret (Coolmore Stud Stakes), Sharp 'N' Smart (Victoria Derby) and La Crique (Empire Rose Stakes).
McDonald's stellar spring is the most successful by a jockey since the late great George Moore set the record with eight Gr.1 winners during the 1957 spring carnival.
But ever the perfectionist, McDonald is still ruing a couple of near misses and is not about to rest on his laurels.
"My spring carnival so far has been lovely and touch wood it continues," McDonald said.
"I have to thank Anamoe for that. I've won four Gr.1 races on him, but I was also only a nose away from winning The Metropolitan (Le Don De Vie was second to No Compromise) and the Golden Rose (In Secret was second to Jacquinot) this spring.
"But the horses I'm riding are performing 'terrific' and I'm looking forward to the next couple of weeks.
"I've got some lovely chances in the big races coming up so if the rub of the green goes our way I'm sure we can add to the [Gr.1] tally."
Moore's record-breaking 1957 spring carnival was fuelled by the great Tulloch's five majors – Rosehill Guineas, AJC Derby, Caulfield Guineas, Victoria Derby and Queensland Derby.
McDonald concedes his spring carnival success has been due to the James Cummings-trained Anamoe's dominance with his unbeaten four-year-old season including successive Gr.1 wins in the Winx Stakes, George Main Stakes, Might And Power Stakes and Cox Plate.
A promise made to their late son and determination for their stable star to prove herself against Australia's best is ample incentive for Kiwi couple Katrina and Simon Alexander ahead of La Crique's big mission on the opening day of the Melbourne Cup carnival at Flemington today.
Two weeks after a stunning win in the Gr.1 Arrowfield Stud Plate (1600m) at Matamata, La Crique is the clear favourite for today's Gr.1 A$1million Empire Rose Stakes (1600m) at Flemington.
Her rise to the top echelon of New Zealand gallopers has been one of the feel-good stories of spring racing, albeit tinged with sadness for the Alexander family and close friends.
For five years, racing took a back seat while the Alexanders' son battled melanoma, which had been diagnosed in his late teens.
Their efforts, which included travelling to Australia for specialist treatment, proved to be in vain as Jackson succumbed in mid-2019, just a fortnight before his 23rd birthday.
Shortly before passing away, the young man known by the nickname Jooky had made a special request of his mother — that she honour his memory by reviving her training career.
Thus, in 2020, the Alexanders returned to Matamata, from where Katrina had originally made her mark with more than 100 wins headed by Honor Babe's success in the 2003 Gr.1 Sydney Cup (3200m).
With husband Simon officially joining the partnership two years ago, the stable has re-established itself with 20 wins from 114 starters, and now another Australian challenge beckons.
The first Gr.1 winner for her Rich Hill Stud-based sire Vadamos, La Crique is out of Destiny Cove, who was Katrina Alexander's last winner before her five-year hiatus.
Destiny Cove was raced by the Cassin Family Trust, also the breeders of La Crique, who now races in the ownership of John Cassin and his wife Jan.
They have shared in the Alexander family's journey, adding to the significance of La Crique's home-track victory in the Arrowfield Stud Plate three weeks ago.
The Alexanders' daughter Samantha is events and marketing manager at Hawke's Bay Racing and was also on track at Matamata to share in the celebrations.
"Yes, it was a great result and for us all to be together to savour it," Katrina said. "I'm sure Jooky was there too, looking down and enjoying it just as much as we were."