Wewillrock in full stride as he nears the winning post in an open 1200m sprint at Te Rapa last Saturday, his seventh win from only 21 starts.
Progressive Hawke’s Bay sprinter Wewillrock could have a Group 1 assignment in September if his form holds up in his next two starts.
The El Roca 5-year-old scored an emphatic three-length win in the $40,000 open sprint over 1200m at Te Rapa last Saturday and is likely to have two more 1200m starts in the next six weeks before a possible crack at the $400,000 Tarzino Trophy (1400m) on the first day of the Colliers Hawke’s Bay Spring Carnival, on September 7.
Guy Lowry, who trains the big 5-year-old in partnership with Leah Zydenbos, said this week he had come through last Saturday’s win well and was enjoying a week in the paddock to freshen up while connections consider their options.
“There is an Open 1200 at Ōtaki on July 27 or one at Te Rapa on August 10, and he will probably run in one or the other depending on the weather,” Lowry said.
“Then there is the $150,000 Foxbridge Plate over 1200 at Te Rapa on August 24 and that will give us an idea about whether he will measure up in a Tarzino.”
Wewillrock finished eighth in last year’s Foxbridge Plate, but Lowry said he was at the end of an arduous campaign then. He had a trip to Sydney where he recorded a win and two minor placings, including a third in the Listed June Stakes (1100m) at Randwick.
The TAB has installed Wewillrock as an equal $5 favourite for the Foxbridge Plate and he shares that quote with Pier and Waitak.
Although Wewillrock coped well with the heavy-9 track conditions at Te Rapa last Saturday, Lowry believes he is probably at his best on soft footing.
He was ridden to victory by promising apprentice Triston Moodley and bounded straight to the front from the outset.
Moodley rated the horse to a nicety, keeping just a couple of lengths clear of his rivals before asking him to quicken at the top of the home straight.
Wewillrock accelerated away and Moodley took a long look over his shoulder in the final 200m before easing his mount down in the final few strides.
“I was just glad to be aboard him,” Moodley said after the win. “He took me along.”
“I couldn’t believe it when he quickened so well coming down the side. He’s got plenty of gears and is a very good horse.”
It proved to be a poignant win for Guy Lowry because it came five days after his uncle, Tom Lowry, died in Hastings aged 88. He had been a great supporter of the Lowry-Zydenbos stable.
Lowry senior was president of the Hawke’s Bay Jockey Club from 1987 to 1991 and, after the club became part of Hawke’s Bay Racing Incorporated in the 1990s, he served as chairman from 2000 to 2002. He was also vice-president of the New Zealand Thoroughbred Breeders’ Association from 1983 to 1987, and was made a life member of that association.
A private cremation for Tom Lowry has been held and a memorial service will be held at St Matthew’s Church in Hastings at 11am on Wednesday, July 17.
Wewillrock has now had 21 starts for seven wins, four seconds and five thirds, and has amassed more than $299,000 in stakemoney.
He is raced by Waikato Stud’s Mark Chittick in partnership with Hawke’s Bay brothers Mark and Paul Apatu, and was a $35,000 purchase from the 2020 Karaka yearling sales.
It was fitting that apprentice jockey Lily Sutherland brought up her 100th riding success at Hastings last Saturday because it was on that track that she started her riding career.
Sutherland, 20, produced a well-timed finish aboard Aljay to take out the main staying race on the eight-race card, the $40,000 Beard Brothers Handicap (2200m).
She started the meeting on 99 wins and had a frustrating start with three second placings, aboard Honey Badger (race one), Tanner (race three) and Carignan (race four).
But the well-performed Aljay delivered the milestone for Sutherland in race six when he produced an irresistible come-from-behind performance to score by a length.
Sutherland’s landmark 100th win was made even more special by the fact Aljay is trained by her employer, Whanganui trainer Kevin Myers.
“This is very special,” she said. “It’s even better doing it in these colours because Kevin has been a huge supporter in my career.”
Sutherland hails from Northland and moved south when her employer at the time, Vikki Wilson, decided to establish a property in Hawke’s Bay.
Wilson was mainly into equestrian back then, breeding horses and competing in that field.
But then she started training racehorses, it whetted her appetite to become a jockey. She naturally progressed from riding trackwork at Hastings to riding in trials and then finally, on race day.
Sutherland’s first win was also aboard a Kevin Myers-trained runner, Shockproof, in a maiden 1600m race at Hawera on April 27, 2022.
She has since progressed to be one of the most successful apprentices in the country and is locked in a battle with Niranjan Parmar in the race for the title of leading apprentice jockey for the season.
Sutherland took her career tally to 101 wins when she kicked home Who Knows in the final race on the eight-race card at Hastings last Saturday.
Cornelia, a lightly raced 3-year-old raced by two Hawke’s Bay people, made an impressive return to the winner’s stall at last Saturday’s Te Rapa meeting.
A daughter of Swiss Ace, Cornelia is trained at Te Awamutu by Simon and Katrina Alexander and is owned by prominent Napier businessman Simon Tremain, who bred the filly and races her in partnership with Ōtāne-based Margaret Larsen.
Having only her fourth race start, Cornelia now boasts a record of two wins, a second and a third.
She made a successful debut over 1100m at Taupo in late December and was spelled after finishing a close third in a Rating 65 race over 1200m at Pukekohe in January. She resumed with a second over 1200m at Tauranga last month and came in for plenty of support last Saturday.
Her backers were given a scare, however, as her greenness nearly cost her over the final stages.
Speedy front-runner Shoes set a strong pace in the lead while Cornelia settled second last in the six-horse field and was giving the pacemaker a decent head start coming to the home turn.
She quickly improved to set out after the leader, but then wanted to run around over the final stages and rider Michael McNab had to straighten her line several times before she finally put her mind on the job.
Shoes still had a handy advantage inside the last 200m, but Cornelia showed great stretch over the final stages to sweep past her and win by three-quarters of a length.
Margaret Larsen said this week Cornelia could return to Te Rapa for another 1200m race on July 27, and she may then be aimed at the Colliers Hawke’s Bay Spring carnival.
“I’d love to get her down to Hawke’s Bay for Simon Tremain. He’d love to see her at the carnival there,” Katrina Alexander said.
Cornelia is out of Tremain’s Mastercraftsman mare Strastosphere, whose dam Lamington Vegas was the winner of two races from only eight starts, one of them being in the Listed Ryder Stakes (1200m) at Otaki.
Tremain has two half-brothers to Cornelia coming on, both of them by Vadamos.
One is a 4-year-old and the other is a 2-year-old, who is now in work with Hastings trainers Guy Lowry and Leah Zydenbos.
Dannevirke owner-breeder Neil Connors has rarely been without a good thoroughbred racing in his colours over the past 30 years, and he and his wife Erin look to have another one in Amend, who scored an impressive all-the-way win at Hastings last Saturday.
The Wrote 4-year-old gelding brought up his fifth win from only 14 starts with a dominant 2¼-length victory in a $35,000 Rating 75 race over 1200m.
Neil Connors has trained most of his horses himself, after taking out an owner-trainer licence in the early 1990s, but he and his wife have put Amend in the care of Levin trainer Ilone Kelly.
Undoubtedly, the best horse to race in the Connors colours has been 2003 Auckland Cup winner Bodie, who amassed seven wins, seven seconds and nine thirds from 54 starts, and also won a Group 3 Rotorua Cup.
Other good performers prepared by Connors have been the consistent sprinter-miler Samurai (eight wins), Hartley (seven wins), Oakley (seven wins) and Tyne Cot (six wins).
Amend won two races in a row on the Awapuni synthetic track in the winter of last year before going out for a spell. He picked up his third success over 1200m at Hastings in January before adding a fourth over 1200m at New Plymouth in May.
Amend was the second leg of a winning double for trainer Ilone Kelly and also for her apprentice Ayush Mudhoo, who chalked up his first riding success aboard the Kelly-trained Peppery in the race preceding Amend’s win.
Mauritius-born Mudhoo, 19, is a younger brother of successful New Zealand-based jockeys Ashvin and Krishna Mudhoo, and came to New Zealand on holiday two years ago, where he met Ilone Kelly.
“She asked me if I wanted to be a jockey and I said I would give it a go.
“I had never ridden a horse in Mauritius and it is great that I am riding in races now.”
Mudhoo was rapt to get the winning double and said it was made even more special to do it for his mentor.
The final was also the most-watched title decider since 2016.