HORSE RACING - Another Bay-bred horse takes elite prize

FOR the second week in a row a Hawke's Bay-bred horse has achieved Group 1 glory in Australia.
Roman Emperor's victory in last Saturday's A$1.6 million ($1.98 million) David Jones AJC Australian Derby followed that of Fiumicino in the A$2.2 million ($2.73 million) The BMW, the previous Saturday, to credit Hawke's Bay breeders with success in two of the major events at this year's Sydney autumn carnival.
Fiumicino was bred by Hawke's Bay's Graham de Gruchy in partnership with Cambridge Stud, while Roman Emperor was bred by Hawke's Bay cousins Mick and Arthur Ormond and was sold for $240,000 at the 2007 Karaka premier yearling sale.
The buyer was champion Australian trainer Bart Cummings, who retained a quarter share in the Montjeu colt and syndicated the rest out. It was the master trainer's fifth AJC Derby success.
Roman Emperor was recording his second win from just eight career starts when he landed first prize in last Saturday's 2400-metre feature and became the third Hawke's Bay-bred to win a major Group 1 Derby in Australia in the past two years.
Fiumicino also won the 2007 running of the AJC Derby while Kibbutz, bred by Havelock North's Laurence Redshaw, was successful in the 2008 VRC Derby in Melbourne.
Roman Emperor is by Montjeu out of the Last Tycoon mare Gussy Godiva and a half-brother to Rios, who contested last Saturday's Group 1 Easter Handicap (1600m) at Ellerslie.
Gussy Godiva was the winner of four races for the Ormonds, including two in Australia, but an injury prevented her from reaching her full potential on the racetrack. Since Roman Emperor, she has also left the 2-year-old Volksraad colt Volgus, a yearling colt by No Excuse Needed and a foal by Pins.
Win dream comes true
Three Hawke's Bay men, Bob Johnston, Tim Klingender and Ivan Linnell had their first success as racehorse owners when Elusive Dreams took out the $8000 maiden highweight at last Saturday's Wellington meeting.
Johnston and Linnell both live in Hastings while Klingender is in Taradale.
The trio are part of a group of keen racing enthusiasts that race Elusive Dreams from the Hastings stable of Guy Lowry. Two other Hawke's Bay men, Jonathan Heaphy and Andrew Scott, are also shareholders along with the filly's Cambridge-based owner, Tony Rider, and the Hawke's Bay-based Chats Syndicate.
Elusive Dreams is a 3-year-old filly by Elusive City out of the former good racemare Dopff and was a $54,000 purchase from the 2007 Karaka premier yearling sales.
Dopff, by Tights, was the winner of eight races including the Group 2 ARC Bluebird Foods Trophy at Ellerslie and the listed Waikato Racing Club Sprint.
Elusive Dreams was having just her second start in Saturday's 1600-metre event at Trentham, following a good debut fifth over 1400 metres at Hastings last month.
Lowry holds the filly in high regard but has always said she needed soft footing to show her best and the Trentham track rating of a slow-7 on Saturday was made to order.
Rider Isaac Lupton kicked her into the lead half-way up the home straight and she won comfortably by a length.
Lowry said yesterday that the filly has come through the race well and he may start her next at either Awapuni or Te Rapa on Anzac Day.
Basket runneth over
Central Hawke's Bay thoroughbred breeder Sue Harty certainly had an Easter weekend to remember, picking up two wins, a second and four thirds at the two-day Riverton meeting, with horses she has bred.
Sea Forever and Parole followed up their third placings on Saturday's first day with impressive wins on Monday, while Coastal Breeze finished a close second on Saturday and Spring Tide recorded third placings on both days.
Harty has sold Parole to a South Island syndicate but still owns Sea Forever on her own and shares in the ownership of both Coastal Breeze and Spring Tide.
Sea Forever was recording his first win from 18 starts but has been a slow maturing type, according to Harty, and a horse that has needed soft tracks.
He is a 5-year-old gelding by Shinko King out of Ladies Bay, who has been the foundation mare of most of the successful horses that Harty has bred over the years.
Ladies Bay, who died in April last year, is also the dam of the well-performed gallopers Golden Butterfly, Irish Mist, Private Bay and Clear Horizon.
Secret revealed
Hawke's Bay-bred and owned Regal Secret capped a consistent run of form with another victory at last Saturday's Wellington meeting.
It was the His Royal Highness gelding's second success and he has never finished further back than fifth in 12 starts.
Regal Secret is a full-brother to the 2004 Hawke's Bay Cup winner Royal Secret and was bred by the Dannevirke trio of Warren Brausch, Peter Dawson and Graeme Thomson, along with Thomson's Hawera brother John.
The quartet also bred Royal Secret, who won six races in total from just 12 starts, and another half-brother, called Reel Secret, who has won two.
New Plymouth's Kevin Thomson, a brother of Graeme and John, has also come in on the racing of Regal Secret, along with Neil Matheson, who now lives in the US.
Regal Secret, trained in Palmerston North by Kevin Gray, recorded his maiden win over 1600 metres at Awapuni back in December last year and was successful over 2200 metres at Trentham on Saturday.
Premium Star, the dam of Regal Secret, has since left a Postponed three-year-old filly called Posta Secret, who is also in work with Gray, a rising two-year-old filly by Viking Ruler and a colt foal by Zed.