Racing: Two out of three ain't bad

Palmerston North jockey Hayden Tinsley capped a great day at the office when getting Kindacross home first in the $120,000 Ford Manawatu Sires Produce Stakes feature race at yesterday's meeting at Awapuni.

Tinsley added the Group One victory to his Group Three success aboard King Johny in the Manawatu Classic, just the race earlier.

The talented horseman has battled weight problems in the past but is riding at the top of his game, kicking home 97 winners this season including another Group One aboard Recurring in Railway Stakes (1200m) at Ellerslie on New Years Day.

Besides winning a $120,000 race and a $60,000 race yesterday, Tinsley also finished second aboard Showgirl in the Group Two $80,000 Awapuni Gold Cup to give him a lucrative pay day.

Tinsley's best placing in the Manawatu Sires Produce Stakes before yesterday had been a third aboard Show Prince back in 1992 but, to be fair, he has not had a lot of rides in the race and certainly had never been on such a great hope as Kindacross.

The Cape Cross gelding followed up his decisive 3 1/4 length win in the Ford 2-year-old Classic (1200m) at New Plymouth a fortnight ago with another game performance.

Tinsley, who had ridden Kindacross twice before for a third and a fourth, said the horse began a bit too quickly in yesterday's 1400-metre event and travelled a bit keenly in the early stages.

"He put himself in the race and I just sat on him and let him get properly balanced up before I asked him for an effort," Tinsley said. "It wasn't until the last 250 that I went for him and he really kicked when I did."

Kindacross put a break on the field in just a few strides and managed to hold out the fast finishing favourite Wahid by a long neck, with Howmutchyacharging rocketing home late to snatch third, a further three-quarters of a length away.

Kindacross took his record to five wins from eight starts and now has stake earnings totalling over $183,000.

Trained at Matamata by Mark Walker, Kindacross is raced by a syndicate of seven people, several of whom were on hand to share in the celebrations.

Although Walker wasn't at the Manawatu premier meeting, it didn't stop him landing the two biggest prizes of the day.

Walker produced Kindacross to win the $120,000 Sires Produce Stakes and then added the Group Two $80,000 Lawnmaster Awapuni Gold Cup with Distinctly Secret.

The pair were taken south by two of Walker's most loyal stable workers, Amelia Houston and Renee Bell.

Houston is the constant companion of Kindacross, travelling everywhere he goes.

"I take him to every trial and race he has and I love him," Houston said. "Mark has always said he's one of the most professional 2-year-olds he has trained and he is also a horse with a lot of personality."

For Renee Bell, yesterday's win by Distinctly Secret was touched wth sadness as, after 10 years of working for the Walker stable, she leaves this week to get married.

Bell, a former successful jockey, has also been the regular attendant of Distintly Secret, travelling to all parts of New Zealand as well as Australia with him.

Distinctly Secret deadheated for first in last year's Awapuni Gold Cup but yesterday was a decisive winner on his own.

The big Distinctly North 6-year-old was clearly the best weight-for-age horse in the race and so it proved, with him powering to a three length win in the 2000-metre event.

South Island jockey Jamie Bullard allowed Distinctly Secret to settle near the tail of the field in the early stages, while the horse's stablemate, Maroofity, and Our Fuji set a break-neck pace out in front.

The two leaders compounded on the home turn and Distinctly Secret soon bounded up on the outside of the track and strode clear in the final stages.

Showgirl ran home strongly from the back to finish second with the favourite, Penitentiary, also battling on well for third after chasing the leaders throughout.