RACING: HB-owned filly is certainly wide awake on racetrack

JOHN JENKINS
Not many horses bought as cheap as $4000 go on to win more than $70,000 but that is what Hawke's Bay-owned Kay's Awake has done so far.
The three-year-old Towkay filly edged past that mark when scoring an impressive two length win in the $15,000 Foster Construction 1200 at last Saturday's Waikato Racing Club's meeting at Te Rapa.
"With what she has won in stakes and bonuses she is now up to $70,000," the filly's Napier co-owner Alister Cameron said.
Cameron races Kay's Awake in partnership with his wife Jeannette, his Pahiatua-based sister Joy and Ross Hewlett from Gore.
The filly was bought as a yearling from the Karaka sales and has now had 11 starts for three wins and a third.
Kay's Awake's win on Saturday followed two unlucky runs at her two previous starts, the first resulting in a third over 1300m at Taupo and the second a fourth over 1200m at Trentham.
At Taupo she got back on the inner and was late working clear while at Trentham she was caught three-wide and then held up again in the home straight.
"She certainly deserved to win on Saturday," Cameron said.
Kay's Awake is trained at Matamata by Peter McKay who will probably now aim her at a $25,000 three-year-old 1200m race at Matamata on February 25 before tackling the group three weight-for-age $50,000 Kings Plate (1200m) at Ellerslie on March 4.
Being a three-year-old she would only have 48kg on her back in the Kings Plate, a drop of 10kg on what she carried to victory on Saturday.
It will mean a change of rider for the horse, with last Saturday's winning jockey Gavin McKeon unable to ride much below 53kg.
Australian-born McKeon, enjoying a working holiday in New Zealand, has now ridden Kay's Awake three times and was impressed with the filly's winning performance on Saturday.
Alister and Jeannette Cameron were represented by two runners at Saturday's Waikato meeting, the other being the McKay-trained Mon Reve in the $500,000 NZ Bloodstock Classic.
The Stravinsky two-year-old has also been unlucky in each of his last two starts, the first at Trentham on January 21 where he was late getting clear in the straight and the second on Saturday, where he was caught three-wide for the entire race.
Cameron said McKay now intends turning the colt out for a spell and he will be brought back for the three-year-old races in the spring.
The Camerons also share in the ownership of the McKay-trained Clifton Prince, who missed a start in the Telegraph Handicap at Trentham last month because of a minor injury.
"He's as good as gold again now and will run in an 1100-metre sprint at Taranaki on February 18," Cameron said.