Racing: Win secures Envoy's place at Adelaide Cup

Envoy booked a passage across the Tasman for the $400,000 Adelaide Cup on May 16 with an emphatic win in yesterday's $100,000 Hawke's Bay Cup at Hastings.

The Matamata-trained 6-year-old made it three wins from his last four starts with a 1 1/4 length victory in the 2200 metre feature race at the Hawke's Bay meeting.

Part of the winner's prize was a free return flight to Adelaide and horses that have won the cup have usually gone on to perform very well in Group One 3200 metre cup over there.

Pillage 'N Plunder won the 2003 Hawke's Bay Cup and then humbled some of Australia's best stayers with a big win in the Adelaide Cup while the 2001 Hawke's Bay Cup winner Bel Air went to on to finish third.

On hand to witness yesterday's win was one of the chief stewards of the South Australian Jockey Club, who was quick to arrange plans with Envoy's trainer Ken Kelso to get the horse on a plane to Adelaide.

Ken Kelso and his wife Bev are no strangers to campaigning horses in Australia but have never been to Adelaide and have yet to taste success on the other side of the Tasman.

"The best we have done was when Love Dance ran second in the 1996 AJC Oaks," Kelso said.

The following season Love Dance credited the Kelsos with one of their biggest training successes in New Zealand when she took out the Group One Kelt Capital Stakes (2040m) at Hastings.

"Hastings has been a good track to us," Kelso added.

Envoy is raced by the Kelsos in partnership with close friends Rob and Jane White, who are currently in Japan.

The Personal Escort gelding cost $20,000 as a yearling from the Karaka sales and has now amassed six wins and over $119,000 in stakemoney.

Envoy's success yesterday also provided top central districts jockey Hayden Tinsley with a special moment in his career.

The win was one of four Tinsley kicked home at yesterday's Hawke's Bay meeting but, more importantly, it was his 100th for the season.

Tinsley ended the day on 101 wins, just two short of his career best total of 103 recorded in the 1999-2000 season.

Hawke's Bay born and bred, Tinsley was recording his second Hawke's Bay Cup win following his 1996 win on Silver Chalice.

He has been in outstanding form of late with his four-win bag yesterday coming on top of a double at the Manawatu premier meeting the previous Saturday where he triumphed in the Group One Manawatu Sires' Produce Stakes on Kindacross and the Group Three Manawatu Classic on King Johny.

Tinsley said he couldn't have wished for a better run aboard Envoy in yesterday's 2200 metre race.

"I had to dig him up at the start because he can be a bit lazy but once he got going he relaxed beautifully and everything worked exactly to plan," he said.

Envoy settled midfield and then moved to within striking distance of the leaders just before the home straight and, once Tinsley asked him to extend, he raced away for a comfortable win.

There was a line up for the minor placings with race-favourite Etoile Du Nord just grabbing second by a nose from the outsider Lord Asterix, with The Drummer another nose away in fourth place.

Etoile Du Nord stuck on gamely after being caught three-wide for most of the race and rider Noel Harris said being forced to cover so much extra ground was a telling factor at the finish.

"If I'd got the nice soft run the winner did it could have been a lot different," Harris said.

Lord Asterix, in his first start against cup-class horses, looked likely to cause a boilover when he dived between horses 300 metres out.

"He ran a great race but was just beaten by two better horses on the day," rider Jade Rogers said.

The Drummer also went a great race in only his second start beyond 1600 metres.

"He still hasn't learnt to settle properly but he'll improve a lot from that and should be a good middle distance horse next season," rider Darryl Bradley said.

- HERALD ON SUNDAY