Darin Balcombe brings plenty of racing experience to the position of chief executive officer of Hawke's Bay Racing. Photo / Supplied
Darin Balcombe, a man with a wealth of experience in the racing industry from the bottom to the top, is the new chief executive officer of Hawke's Bay Racing.
Forty-five year-old Balcombe has been appointed to replace Andrew (Butch) Castles, who leaves Hawke's Bay to take up the position of chief executive for the Waikato Racing Club.
Balcombe will commence his position with Hawke's Bay Racing on April 14 after spending the past two and a half years as a stipendiary steward.
A person that has always been passionate about the thoroughbred industry, Balcombe started out working as part of the track staff at the Awapuni racecourse and also helped out in the stable of Awapuni trainer Roydon Bergerson.
He ran the equine swimming pool at the Awapuni racecourse before taking up a role in the Manawatu Racing Club office in May 2005.
Soon after he was appointed accountant for the Race Group, which is a conglomerate of the Manawatu Racing Club, Otaki-Maori Racing Club and Wellington Racing Club.
In 2010 Balcombe was appointed racing operations manager of the Race Group and he moved from Palmerston North to Wellington. Three years later he was made general manager of the Trentham and Otaki racecourses.
In September 2017 Balcombe decided to take a change in vocation and became a stipendiary steward with the Racing Integrity Unit, another position he has excelled in.
A keen sportsman, Balcombe represented the Whanganui premier rugby team for several years and captained the side when it won the national third division title in 2003.
He and his partner Justine presently live in Plimmerton but are looking forward to moving to Hawke's Bay with their 7-year-old daughter.
"I'm very excited about it and see it is a tremendous opportunity," Balcombe said this week.
"Hopefully I can build on the great things Butch Castles has done with the club.
"The spring carnival there is one of the most iconic in the country and things are looking very positive for the future.
"I see Hawke's Bay Racing as being a great club, with a great culture, and I'm looking forward to getting up there and enjoying the beautiful Hawke's Bay weather."
Hawke's Bay Racing chairman Eliot Cooper said he was "absolutely delighted" that the club was able to appoint a person with such a thorough background and expertise in the racing industry to take over the position of CEO.
"We were delighted with the strength of applicants for the position, which is an indication that Hawke's Bay Racing is well respected and regarded as one of the premier racing club's in the country," Cooper said.
"Darin is a great choice as we know we have a good guy that has a thorough grounding in all aspects of the racing industry and who can take the club forward."
Cooper also paid tribute to leaving CEO Butch Castles, saying that his contribution to Hawke's Bay Racing has been nothing short of exemplary and he is leaving the club in a positive situation, both financially and culturally.
"Darin can now take up the reins and continue to see the club go forward," he added.
Win provides Bary with a painkiller
Callsign Mav's win in the $25,000 3-year-old race at last week's Hawke's Bay meeting provided his Hastings trainer, John Bary, with some much needed pain relief.
Bary was not on course to witness the win as he was laid up on the couch at home, recuperating after undergoing two injections in his back the previous day, one of them being cortisone.
Bary has been suffering from severe back pain since he was kicked by a horse last year and the injury became aggravated when he started shovelling lime around his property back in the spring.
"I was in real pain on the middle day of the Hawke's Bay spring carnival and it hasn't really gone away since," Bary said.
He has been diagnosed with prolapsed discs in his back and will probably have to undergo further cortisone injections and possible surgery.
Callsign Mav managed to put a smile on Bary's face when the 3-year-old scored a dominant 2-3/4 length win over 1400m at Hastings on Wednesday of last week.
Jockey Craig Grylls got the Atlante gelding to settle nicely behind the leading division in the early stages before sending home forward to challenge rounding the home turn.
Callsign Mav hit the front soon after and raced clear of his rivals in the run to the line, with Grylls only riding him hands and heels over the final stages.
Bary's racing manager Mike Sanders said the horse will now be aimed at the Group 2 $1000,000 Wellington Guineas (1400m) at Trentham tomorrow week, adding that is probably the horse's optimum distance.
"He can run out a strong 1400 but we've tried him a couple of times at 1600m and that distance has found him out," Sanders said.
Callsign Mav has now had nine starts for three wins and three seconds. He was a $3000 weanling purchase by Melbourne-based equine physiotherapist Jeremy Cross and is raced by him in partnership with Bary and five other Australians.
Patience rewarded with Swish Az
The patience Hawke's Bay couple Grant Cullen and Nikki Lourie have shown with Swish Az is starting to reap rewards with the 5-year-old recording her second win from only nine starts at Hastings last week.
The Swiss Ace mare, prepared by Cullen in partnership with Guy Lowry, led all the way for a decisive three-length victory in a Rating 65 race over 1600m and has not finished further back than fifth in her last five starts.
She has now amassed more than $24,000 in stakemoney, a sizeable return on the $2000 Cullen and Lourie paid for her as a weanling.
"She was a big leggy filly that needed time and she suffered a lot from shin soreness when she was younger, so we were prepared to give her time," Cullen said.
"She has certainly come solid this time up and I think she might even go a bit further than 1600m later on.
Swish Az took her rating to 68 points when winning last week and will now have to step up a grade for her next start.
"She has come through her Hastings win in really good order and so we will now look at running her in a Rating 72 race over 1600m at Trentham on March 14," Cullen said.
He added that the plan wasn't for the mare to lead from the outset last week but she began so well rider Holly Andrew had no option but to let her roll to the front.
"She settled well in front and was very strong at the finish," Cullen added.
Happy Tav has his owners smiling
Waipukurau brothers Bill and Murray Rose were back in the winners' stall after a lengthy absence when Happy Tav scored an all the way victory in a Rating 65 race over 1400m at Awapuni last Friday.
It had been more than 12 months since Happy Tav broke through for a maiden success over 1350m at Whanganui.
The Rose brothers bred Happy Tav, who is a 4-year-old by Tavistock out of the O'Reilly mare A'Guin Ace and a half-brother to the one race winner Smokin' Ace.
Palmerston North trainer Kevin Gray prepares Happy Tav and said the horse has always shown plenty of ability but had been disappointing in recent races so he told jockey Robert Hannam to take him straight to the front and see if he could hold on.
Hannam followed the instructions to the letter, maintaining a handy advantage over his rivals before kicking Happy Tav clear early in the home straight. The horse came under siege from the challengers in the final stages but managed to hold on for a head victory.
Bill and Murray Rose have raced horses for many years, with one of their best being the versatile performer Black Ace. That Roughcast gelding won 18 races, 12 on the flat, three over hurdles and three over steeples and was trained at Foxton by the late Barney Lumsden.
Injured Catalyst coming home
Star New Zealand 3-year-old Catalyst has been ruled out of the A$5 million All-Star Mile (1600m) with bruised fetlocks and will return home to be spelled.
Trainer Clayton Chipperfield sent him to the Ballarat Vet Clinic on Tuesday fearing he was not quite himself after his below-par run in last Saturday's Group 1 Australian Guineas (1600m).
"When he finished off in the Guineas like he did we knew there had to be something up with the way he was," Chipperfield said. "He was all over the place and uncomfortable and wasn't a happy horse.
"He initially did pull up okay, he didn't show any signs of lameness and the initial prognosis was looking okay.
"We thought we had better dig a bit deeper and see if there was an issue there. We are pleased there was an issue because his performance was well under his best."
Following a scintigraphy examination, which scans the bones, Chipperfield informed Racing Victoria stewards on Tuesday that tests revealed Catalyst had bruising to his four fetlocks and he was officially withdrawn from Saturday week's All-Star Mile at Caulfield.
"When the vet rang I said, 'just give it to me in one hit' and he said you'll have a horse for the spring but you haven't got one for the All-Star.
"We were pleased we found something to explain the disappointing run and we still have a horse at the end of it," Chipperfield said.
Catalyst will now return to New Zealand for a spell and Chipperfield is upbeat despite his Australian campaign coming to a premature end.
The Te Awamutu trainer said he would send Catalyst for a six-week spell and all going to plan prepare the son of Darci Brahma for the Hawke's Bay spring carnival. He would then look at a return trip across the Tasman in the spring.