Jonathan Riddell on Saint Kitt (front)
Hastings trainer Kelly Burne was burning up the roads around Gisborne while her horse Saint Kitt was powering to victory in last Saturday's $30,000 Christchurch Casino Dunedin Cup Trial in Christchurch.
Burne owns Saint Kitt in partnership with her Perth-based son Vinnie Meenehan. She is also the president of the Hawke's Bay Hot Rod Club and every two years Gisborne hosts a special "Hot Rod Run" on specially designated roads in the Poverty Bay area.
Burne has owned a Hot Rod for a number of years and Saint Kitt has been helping to keep the car on the road in recent times with the horse picking up two wins, a second, a third, a fourth and a fifth from his last six starts. Those performances have earned Burne and her son $44,050 in stakemoney.
"He [Saint Kitt] has been carrying me at the moment," Burne said from Gisborne last Sunday.
"With what he's won I've caught up a lot on debts and it costs about as much to run a Hot Rod as it does a horse."
Burne said she was stressing out all day last Saturday thinking that she may not get to see Saint Kitt's race on Trackside TV.
"There is an itinerary that we have to follow and I was nagging all day that we had to find a TAB somewhere so that I could watch the race," she said.
She was able to find a country pub that had a TAB and became an instant hero after she tipped one of the locals and all her Hot Rod Club mates that Saint Kitt would win.
Jockey Lee Callaway settled Saint Kitt in a perfect position, fifth and one off the fence, in the early stages of the 2000m event and waited until the field was well into the home straight before asking the horse for a serious effort.
The Keeper 7-year-old quickly bounded up outside the leaders and kept up a strong run to the line to win by 1-1/4 lengths from Zhanim, with Revelator getting up late to finish third.
Burne has transferred Saint Kitt to Pam Robson's Riccarton stable for his South Island campaign and the pair have been in constant contact since he has been down there.
"Pam texted me on Saturday night and said he was bucking and kicking in the paddock when she went to feed him so he's obviously come through the race well," Burne said.
"The plan is to run him now in the Dunedin Gold Cup this Saturday and we will then decide what to do with him after that.
"I had planned to bring him home and set him at the Nathans Memorial at Ellerslie on the first day of the Auckland Cup meeting but I'm tempted to leave him down there with Pam."
Robson only prepares a small team and swims her horses extensively, which takes the pressure off their legs. It is obviously working wonders with Saint Kitt, who has been troubled by leg injuries in the past.
"His legs are probably the best they have been for some time," Burne added.
The Listed $50,000 Dunedin Gold Cup (2400m) will be one of three feature races run tomorrow's Otago Racing Club's meeting at Wingatui with horses placed either first, second or third in last Saturday's Dunedin Cup Trial at Riccarton not liable for any nomination or acceptance fees for this race.
Saint Kitt now has a record of six wins, four seconds and three thirds from 40 career starts.
Poverty Bay incentives
The Poverty Bay Turf Club is once again offering huge incentives to attract horses to its race meeting on Sunday, February 19.
The owners of all horses, whether they be trained north or south of Gisborne, will receive a $400 credit providing the horse does not finish either first or second on race day and all owners will be exempt from jockey fees at the meeting, saving them $161.00 for each runner.
There is also a trainers' incentive with the trainer of each runner at the meeting receiving a $250 gift card and there is a $10,000 prize paid to the trainer that accumulates the most points on the day. Points will be accrued on a basis of five for a win, three for a second, two for a third and one for all other starters.
These initiatives add up to $120,000 (based on 90 horses) in payments above the NZTR-funded minimum stakes and has been welcomed by thoroughbred owners and trainers.
The minimum stake on offer for the eight-race programme is $10,000, with the feature race being a $30,000 Rating 85 event over 1600m.
There are also three Rating 65 races carrying stakemoney of $12,000 each and a $10,000 maiden 2-year-old race over 1200m.
The Poverty Bay races will serve as an ideal lead up to the annual two-day Wairoa Racing Club's meeting set down for Thursday, February 23 and Sunday, February 26.
Xtravagant for Aussie stud
Dual Group 1 winner Xtravagant is bound for a stud career in Australia.
Te Akau principal David Ellis has confirmed the sale of the handsome son of Pentire for a seven-figure sum to the Kelly family's Newhaven Park in New South Wales.
"He's a really intelligent colt with a great temperament and I think he will be a terrific asset to Newhaven," he said. "I can't wait to go out and buy some of his yearlings."
Xtravagant by name and by performance, the 4-year-old won six of his 12 starts for trainers Stephen Autridge and Jamie Richards, including the New Zealand 2000 Guineas at Riccarton and the NRM Sprint at Te Rapa.
"He won two Group 1 races by a total of 16 and a half-lengths and he was a group winner at 1200, 1400 and 1600m," Ellis said.
"He won the Cambridge Breeders' Stakes in the fastest time since metrics were introduced and he won the 2000 Guineas in the fastest ever time.
"He was New Zealand's champion 3-year-old and the highest rated 3-year-old since Bonecrusher in the 1980s. He was also the second highest rated 3-year-old in Australasia."
Ellis purchased Xtravagant, who is a son of the Zabeel mare Axiom, out of Rich Hill Stud's Premier Sale draft to Karaka in 2014 for $375,000.
"He was a breath-taking racehorse with phenomenal speed," Newhaven's John Kelly said.
"He is a superb looking individual with a truly international pedigree that is an outcross for Australia's Danehill line mares - we thought he was a wonderful opportunity that should not be missed.
"He will stand for a fee of A$15,000 (plus GST), which will offer Australian breeders great value given his credentials."
Sidelined with injury
Group placed galloper Get That Jive will not race again this season, according to Cambridge co-trainer Murray Baker.
Stakes placed at two, three and four, Get That Jive hasn't raced since his ninth placing in the Group 3 Counties Cup (2100m) at Pukekohe in November, having earlier run a close second in the Group 3 Spring Sprint (1400m) at Hastings.
"He's injured and out until next season," Baker said.
Positive meeting of industry leaders
Leaders of the country's thoroughbred racing industry held a robust and positive meeting at Ellerslie last Sunday where they discussed the pressing need to lift financial returns to the sport.
The meeting discussed a number of important issues including the status of race field legislation, fixed odds betting and other important strategic opportunities.
"There was clear alignment between all present about the importance of the race field legislation currently in progress and the financial and strategic benefits of this legislation will bring the industry," said NZRB chair Glenda Hughes.
"We will be continuing to work with Government officials to progress this legislation, which will require overseas bookmakers to pay a fee for taking bets on New Zealand race events," she said.
During the meeting NZRB Chief Executive John Allen outlined his full confidence that the current NZRB management strategy will produce an additional $45 million of code distributions in 2018/19, growing to $60 million of additional funding in the 2019/20 season, from the implementation of race field legislation, automation of a world best practice fixed-odds betting systems, and customer and channels improvements.
Mr Allen and Ms Hughes heard the concerns of industry stakeholders, and recognised the need for increased industry support in the short term until the initiatives start to deliver returns to ensure the sustainability of participation and investment in New Zealand racing.
The meeting was convened by New Zealand Thoroughbred Racing chairman Doctor Alan Jackson who said it was very constructive.
"We were pleased to hear of the willingness of the NZRB chair to continue constructive dialogue with NZTR and consider any additional options to increase racing code distributions in the short term," said Mr Jackson.
Ms Hughes assured the group that these issues will be discussed by the NZRB Board at their meeting on 28 March 2017.
"Finding the best way forward that benefits the entire New Zealand racing industry is of utmost importance to all of us, and we will only be able to do this by working together and ensuring we are finding the best outcomes," Ms Hughes said.
Meet the younger member of a special Chatham Cup family dynasty.