Hastings trainer Caitlin Johnson leads Abeecee and jockey Leah Hemi back to the winner's stall after the mare’s narrow victory in a $40,000 race at Ōtaki last Saturday. The win came as a timely pick-up for the mare’s Hastings owner, Margaret Harkema.
John Jenkins is a long-time racing journalist based in Hawke’s Bay.
Hastings thoroughbred owner Margaret Harkema experienced both the highs and lows of racing at last Saturday’s Ōtaki meeting.
Harkema owns Hastings-trained mare Abeecee, who scored a game win in the final race on the card, a $40,000 Rating 65 race over 2100m.
But one race before that, she was left devastated when one of her best-performing horses, Exit Left, suffered a fractured foreleg during the $80,000 Feilding Cup (2100m) and had to be euthanised.
Exit Left was having his 20th race start and had a record of four wins, five seconds and two thirds. He had won more than $138,000 in stake money, a huge return on the $1500 Harkema paid for him on the Gavelhouse equine auction site.
He was also one of the star gallopers in the Hastings stable of Mick Brown and Sue Thompson. The Turn Me Loose 6-year-old recorded his most important win when taking out the $65,000 Howden Mile (1600m) on the first day of this year’s Colliers Hawke’s Bay Spring Carnival.
Abeecee is trained on the Hastings track by Caitlin Johnson and was recording her second win from 16 starts. The first was in a 2140m maiden race on the Awapuni synthetic track four months ago.
The Belardo mare was a $6000 purchase by Harkema from the 2023 Karaka yearling sales. She is out of the Anabaa mare So Comely, who won one race from three starts in Australia.
So Comely’s dam was the Jade Hunter mare So Keen, who won 10 races and was third behind Loader and Red Cent in the 1996 Group 1 Railway Handicap (1200m) at Ellerslie.
Although Abeecee is bred on sprinting lines, Johnson always felt she would excel over longer distances, and the mare was placed over 2200m as a young horse, when trained in the north by Emma Faber.
Leah Hemi rode Abeecee to victory last Saturday and made the most of the horse’s number one barrier to slot her into a perfect trailing position from the outset.
Abeecee was momentarily left flat-footed when the leaders increased the pace in the last 900m, and she got shuffled back a few places coming to the home turn.
But Hemi angled her back on to the inside rail, and she rallied to fight out the finish with Joan’s Joker, who was mounting a big run out wide.
The two horses fought hard over the final stages, with Abeecee winning by a nose. Third-placed Chelsea Rose was three and a half lengths further back.
Johnson said this week that she was uncertain where Abeecee would start next, but the $35,000 Waipukurau Cup (2100m) on November 15 was an option.
Jockey Sam Spratt’s infectious smile will make a welcome return to Te Rapa today, as she resumes race riding after a 20-month absence.
Spratt took time off to have her daughter, Riley, who was born in September last year. She returned soon after giving birth, but disaster struck just weeks later when a horse fell on her during trackwork, breaking her pelvis in multiple places and fracturing a couple of vertebrae.
“Having a newborn wasn’t tricky enough, so I thought I would throw in a shattered pelvis as well,” she quipped. “I broke my pelvis in about eight places, the front of my pelvis was all shattered, and I fractured a couple of my vertebrae as well. When I went in [to hospital], they said I did a good job.”
The 41-year-old spent months in a wheelchair after her initial operation last year, but said she made swift progress after her second surgery in June.
“It was broken in half, and the whole pelvis had twisted, so they straightened it up by putting some screws in my leg, and they pulled my femur down, which straightened the pelvis and made the pelvis round, and then put two big rods from one side of my pelvis to the other across the back.
“I was in a wheelchair for four months because I wasn’t allowed to put weight on it. I was only allowed to stand on one leg to get myself from the wheelchair to the toilet or bed.
“After that, I gradually went to crutches before being able to walk. For about two or three months, I was walking but I constantly had a limp, and I wasn’t right, so that is when I went to my doctor, I had a CT scan done, and the surgeon said my pelvis wasn’t even attached, so no wonder I was limping.
“That’s when I went back for surgery, and then I was back on crutches and progressed from there. I started making good progression, and it has been a pretty speedy recovery once my pelvis was attached.”
Having a newborn to care for while injured brought its own challenges, but Spratt said she wouldn’t have had it any other way.
“She [Riley] is awesome and is so cruisy. Having her and having something to do was awesome, otherwise I would be sitting there depressed, whereas she has made me have to get up and do stuff.”
Much of the pressure fell on her partner, Bryce. However, Spratt said they were grateful for the support of their family and friends, who rallied round.
Spratt has three confirmed mounts today, including the Stephen Marsh-trained Tardelli in the Listed $100,000 Legacy Lodge Sprint (1200m).
She has recorded 1127 wins in New Zealand over 25 years, including 112 at Group or Listed level, and is hoping to add quickly to that tally.
“I am just going to enjoy it and what will be will be, and hopefully I pick up a few speedy ones along the way.”
Fans were heavily divided after a dramatic finish to The Big Dance at Royal Randwick on Tuesday.
Chad Schofield was first past the post on Formal Display and thought he’d won the A$1.56 million first prize.
But Nash Rawiller lodged a protest after finishing fourth on Gringotts, and the protest was sensationally upheld. Racing NSW stewards agreed with Rawiller that Schofield had shifted out from the rail and impeded Gringotts near the 600m mark.
Stewards relegated Formal Display to fourth and moved Gringotts up to third, meaning Hellsing was promoted to first and Matias to second. Formal Display’s connections lost A$1.41m because the prize money for fourth was a mere A$150,000.
Rawiller told the stewards: “It was quite severe interference at a difficult point of the race. I would have been three lengths closer, and travelling, and picking the runs as they opened.”
Schofield argued that he was impeded too, and would have won by more if he’d had a clear run. “My horse was held up until the last 50 metres of the race. If he gets a gap, he goes on and wins by three lengths,” he said.
Chief steward Tom Moxon eventually ruled that Formal Display would have had “an unimpeded run to the end of the race”.
“Having regard to the incident and the ground lost, and how the horse did then close the race off, the stewards can be comfortably satisfied that, had that interference between the 600m and 500m not occurred, Gringotts would have finished in advance of Formal Display, and therefore we uphold the protest.”
Schofield was suspended for nine meetings for careless riding. Last Saturday, he was banned for six meetings for the same offence when riding Skyhook to victory in the A$10 million Golden Eagle (1500m) on the same Randwick track.
New Zealand Thoroughbred Racing is calling for expressions of interest from aspiring jockeys and trainers looking to support a new apprentice in 2027.
The intake offers riders a pathway into professional race riding through the Elite Jockey Programme, NZTR’s high-performance development programme for apprentices.
Expressions of interest close on November 30, giving prospective apprentices time to complete the required probationary period, riding assessments and development activities ahead of licensing.
Sam Fursdon, NZTR’s general manager of welfare and industry capability, said apprenticeships offered committed riders the chance to turn their passion for horses into a career.
“Becoming a jockey takes dedication, discipline and a willingness to keep learning. For those prepared to put in the work, it can offer an exciting and fulfilling career. Through the Elite Jockey Programme, riders develop their skills and confidence with coaching, practical experience and support as they work towards professional race riding.”
Apprentice jockeys combine practical experience in trackwork and races with structured learning and guidance from their trainer and the NZTR EJP team. Alongside riding skills, they develop an understanding of race tactics, personal performance management and effective communication.
Apprentice licensing takes place between March and July, coinciding with the transition into the wetter months when track conditions soften and apprentices have traditionally provided greater value to trainers through their riding claims.
John Jenkins is a long-time racing journalist based in Hawke’s Bay.