Waipukurau-based Chris Walker is the new president with Tracy Andersen now the secretary. The Hawke’s Bay/Poverty Bay Thoroughbred Breeders Association has a new team at the helm as it looks to move forward. It has been resurrected by the Poverty Bay Turf Club which has agreed to stage it at Hastings. The Ferguson Gold Cup dates back to 1929 and was formerly run by the Poverty Bay Hunt Club on the Gisborne track. That racecourse will be out of action for some time while renovations are being done.įour jumping races are scheduled on the June 6 programme at Hastings, including the $60,000 K S Browne Hurdle (3100m) and the $60,000 Ferguson Gold Cup Steeplechase over 4000m. Hawke’s Bay Racing is hosting this premier race day which would normally be held at Ellerslie. The HB/PB Thoroughbred Breeders Association is also planning a joint fun day, in conjunction with the Hawke’s Bay Racehorse Owners Association, at the Hastings race meeting on the Monday of Queens Birthday weekend, June 6. This season’s Gold Trail Stakes (1200m) was run on September 18 for a stake of $80,000 and was won by Bellacontte from Mustang Valley, with Imperatriz third. The HB/PB Thoroughbred Breeders Association feels it is now appropriate to take up the race sponsorship and is looking forward to being involved with the important spring carnival. In recent years this prestigious event, which serves as the opening race in the New Zealand Three-year-old Filly of the Year series, has been generously sponsored by a group of Hawke’s Bay thoroughbred breeders. The Hawke’s Bay/Poverty Bay Thoroughbred Breeders Association will be the new sponsor of the Group 3 Gold Trail Stakes, to be run on the first day of this year’s Hawke’s Bay spring carnival on September 10. Sanders said Bold Iris will now go out for a winter spell and return for more racing in the spring. She is out of the Sandtrap mare Aribasan and closely related to Sanriba, a horse that recorded five wins, 10 seconds and 11 thirds for Peter and Ann Evans several years ago. The mare accelerated quickly to go up and briefly head the leader Deep Beauty 250m from the finish and the two horses then fought out the finish.ĭeep Beauty looked to have the race won when he got his head back in front but Bold Iris made one last lunge on the line to get a nose decision.īold Iris was bred by Waipukurau couple Peter and Ann Evans and they race her in partnership with their Auckland-based son Royce and four other Hawke’s Bay people, John Bateman, Lyn Bibby and the brothers Allan and Wayne Chittick. “She only finished third in the jumpout but it topped her off for Saturday,” Sanders said.īold Iris was ridden by apprentice Temyia Taiaroa, who settled her midfield in a fast run race before angling to the centre of the track at top of the home straight.

She was caught three-wide throughout in a Rating 65 race over 1600m at Trentham on March 12 and then got held up in the home straight over the same distance at Awapuni on April 2.īary’s racing manager Mike Sanders thinks the drop back to 1400m last Saturday suited Bold Iris a lot more and a jumpout over 1000m at Waipukurau six days before also helped boost her race fitness. She only managed two fourths from her first nine starts back but should have finished a lot closer when unplaced in her two most recent runs. The daughter of The Bold One was then given a lengthy spell before resuming earlier this season. However she was forced to cover plenty of extra ground from a wide draw before finishing 10th out of 11. The four-year-old mare, prepared by Hastings trainer John Bary, was recording her third win from 18 starts but her first since taking out a three-year-old 1200m race at Trentham in January last year.īary thought highly enough of Bold Iris back then that he decided to test her against Group 2 company in the Wellington Guineas (1400m) two months later. Hawke’s Bay owned and trained Bold Iris made up for two recent unlucky runs with a last stride victory in a $30,000 Rating 65 race at last Saturday’s Hawke’s Bay meeting at Hastings.

Gut buster race