| HORSES |
YEAR: 2010
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Grand racemare Kiwi Ingenuity has almost certainly finished her racing career. Trainer Robbie Holmes all but confirmed the retirement after she cut her off-side tendon sheath at the back of her fetlock joint near the finish of the Christchurch Casino New Zealand Cup at Addington on Tuesday.
The cut was "very deep" said Holmes. "It's been stitched and she will stay for a week at the Canterbury Equine Clinic," he said.
While Holmes has left the door ajar in case there is a longshot change in plan, part-owner Hamish Scott said the decision was "ninety-nine percent. She's done a wonderful job, and her career from here is really as a broodmare." Holmes said racing her again wasn't really a risk worth taking. She had a tenative booking to Art Major a year ago, so I'm pretty sure that's what will happen now."
Holmes was confident of running into a place in the Cup until she started going "slightly rough" halfway up the passing lane. "I thought I'd run a hole the way we were going. She paced the last bend very nicely, then went rough for no reason at all. She got organised, and then did it again." Holmes said she caused the injury with her second break.
Kiwi Ingenuity won 11 of her 27 starts, and with 8 placings earned $523,200. Her notable wins included the Southland Oaks, the Group 1 Wayne Francis Memorial New Zealand Oaks, the Pelorus Classic, the Group 2 Caduceus Premier Mares Classic, the Group 1 PGG Wrightson Breeders' Stakes, the 4YO Diamond at the Harness Jewels in 1:52.1 and the Group 1 Rosslands Queen Of Hearts at Alexandra Park after her fourth in the Miracle Mile behind Monkey King, Smoken Up and Karloo Mick.
Credit: Mike Grainger writing in HRWeekly 11Nov2010
YEAR: 2009
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If you didn't think "wow" after Kiwi Ingenuity's win in the Pelorus Classic at Waterlea, the word would've almost certainly popped into mind when she demolished the Premier Mares Championship field at Addington last Friday night. Because, quite simply, Kiwi Ingenuity was breathtaking.
Keen out of the gate despite her wide draw, as was the case at Blenheim, the Christian Cullen mare was finally given her head by trainer/driver Robbie Holmes rounding the bend into the front straight the first time. She exploded forward in search of the lead, with arch-rival Nearea Franco matching strides with her on her inside; by the time the pair had crossed to the marker pegs starting the last lap, Kiwi Ingenuity had won the battle for the lead. Everyone knew she had spent some serious petrol getting there though...such exertion has to take its toll eventually, so she'll come back to the field for sure.
No, not this girl. If anything Kiwi Ingenuity pushed the pedal down further along the back straight, and when Holmes pulled the plugs at the 350m mark he felt the mare surge yet again. Nearea Franco and the chasing pack never looked like bridging the gap in the run to the line, and at the post Kiwi Ingenuity was nearly two lengths clear as the clock stopped at a blistering 2:20.9 - a 1:56 mile rate over 1950 metres. The $50,000 Group 2 Caduceus Club of Canterbury event had been 'over' a long way from the finish.
"At Waterlea, I was just a passenger down the back - and it was the same again tonight," said Holmes, who's in awe of the mare himself. "She was a nice 3-year-old, but she has just got so big in the chest this time in...almost like a stallion. And she's just an amazing, free-wheeling front-runner," he said, remembering back to how the Southland Oaks and NZ Oaks last season were both won in such fashion. "She would sprint for a half if you asked her to, and probably cover it in fifty-four or fifty-five."
Bred by Hamish Scott, Dr Kim Lawson and their company Equine Investments Ltd, they are joined in the ownership of Kiwi Ingenuity by close friend Abby Smith. The 4-year-old mare's now won them over $213,000, the return from seven victories and four placings in 13 appearances. An enviable record in itself, it is even more menacing considering she has drawn the 'ace' only once - and all her other marbles have been seven or worse.
"I'm really pleased for Hamish," Holmes said. "Because he is a breeder, and only a breeder really. They had a few offers for this mare early on, but he's always been a 'keeper'; it's like she is part of the family.
Credit: John Robinson writing in HRWeekly 28Jan09
YEAR: 2009
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It was exhilarating watching Kiwi Ingenuity leap clear of the chasing pack at the 300 metres in last Friday night's $100,000 PGG Wrightson NZ Breeder's Stakes. It was a clinical demolition of a high-class field of mares, for she won by four lengths which is a handsome margin in any company.
It was also amazing in some ways because she had not been quite herself before and after her win and loss at Ashburton, which was only a fortnight before this more important target. Even on Monday of last week, she had mucus round her nose which told trainer Robbie Holmes that there was a little to worry about but not much. "To be perfectly honest, when I took her out of the barn the day after Ashburton, there were signs she had a cold coming on. So we pulled some blood and the results of that told us she'd had an infection and was getting over it. There were no other signs. She always eats well and her work was great, and she always rehydrates herself. In the paddock, she just drops her head and relaxes."
The form of Kiwi Ingenuity has been picture-perfect this season - five starts for five first finishes, only to lose the one at Ashburton in the Enguiry Room. Holmes thinks he was hard-done by there. Otherwise, the score this season is 100%, with Holmes saying the strength she has developed between the end of her last campaign and the start of this has been the key to her tremendous step up.
"This time in, it has just been continuous improvement, and she has been peaking with every run. It has become pretty exciting, and the things she's done mean she doesn't have to prove anything. I wouldn't be afraid of taking her to Auckland, because she actually steers better that way round, but that won't be happening. And people ask us when will we be meeting Auckland Reactor, and I can't see that happening either, not for a while."
In the meantime, Kiwi Ingenuity is having a rest, with only the Harness Jewels being of interest for the rest of the season. She can have a month off, and have a race or two before then, or what she needs." Further from that, Holmes says it's unknown. "Hamish (Scott) is a breeder, and he doesn't like his mares to be over-raced. She is likely to do some racing next season, but to what extent we don't know. Hamish has three others in work, and there are three to come in, and one is a Falcon Seelster 2-year-old half sister to Kiwi Ingenuity who is big but I really like her."
And Holmes is clearly keen to get Kiwi Fantasy back, a horse he has a lot of time for. "It's a very nice team. Romper Stomper is due in, and Indy Village and CC's Mademoiselle are coming up nicely."
For the star of his success, Holmes owes it to Simon Pavlovich, a good friend, good horseman, and now living a good way away in Western Australia. "We worked together in a camping ground in Queensland fifteen years or so ago, and it was Simon who introduced me to Hamish. He started with a share in Kiwi Express, and it has gone from there."
Credit: Mike Grainger writing in HRWeekly 18Feb09
YEAR: 2008
 |
Robbie Holmes chanced his arm with an aggressive drive in the $150,000 Wayne Francis Memorial NZ Oaks. He made his run at the mile with Kiwi Ingenuity, following up stablemate Neat Treat, to sit second at the 1200m.
But he didn't stop there. On he went with the filly, serving it up to pacemaker Badlands Jewel and Mark Jones at the 1000m, and to his surprise he was allowed to cross and lead at the 800m. "I didn't really think Mark would hand up," he said. Not that Holmes thought it would matter much if he did or didn't. "She was jogging when she got there," he said.
Up in the stand, big Hamish Scott and his co-owner and partner Dr Kim Lawson could see hope turn to promise, and by the time Kiwi Ingenuity struck out for home at the 400m it had a look of reality. Holmes knew Kiwi Ingenuity had come to stay the course. Badlands Jewel was one of the first to throw it in, and none of the other favourites came into it as they should have. Angela's Dream closed strongly for second, and so did Natal Franco, making it a trifecta from the second line.
Holmes in very much Mr Busy, with frequent trips to Southland and places in between, and he has a team of 40 in work. Kiwi Ingenuity started her career on one such trip, racing at Nelson in January, where she had two starts and was unlucky. "I've had her right from the start, and she was a big girl then, and is 16.2h now. Early on there wasn't much of her, and although she started to show something in the summer, I had no plans for her."
But Hamish had. He wanted to win the Southland Oaks with the filly they'd bred, and Kiwi Ingenuity did that. "She just started to step up; her work kept getting better," Holmes said. They pressed on, her Southland win followed by a plucky third in the Nevele R Stud Fillies Final behind Badlands Jewel and Fight Fire With Fire. In the week leading up to the Oaks, the filly didn't take a backward step. Holmes was as confident as common sense would allow. "It was funny during the week when Graham" - Graham Pearson, the driver of Neat Feat - "said he'd probably keep me out when I came round." Pearson didn't have much say in that, however unlikely it might have been.
Kiwi Ingenuity was Holmes's first Oaks runner, and his second Group I training win, the other being with Romper Stomper in the NZ Trotting Free-For-All. Earlier driving ones have been with Lew Driver's pair, The Reckoning and Gretamaro.
This weekend, Holmes heads north to Cambridge with the daughter of Christian Cullen and her regular travelling companion Toscarni, who will race on Tuesday night. He will have higher hopes of success in this year's Jewels than he did with his lone drive in last year's extravaganza, which was Riverboat Royce.
Credit: Mike Grainger writing in HRWeekly 21May08
YEAR: 2007
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Stig will still be favourite, but Our Sunny Whiz, who did not run on Show Day and Houdini Star and Mountbatten who did, are right in the mix in a race that is now wide open. It may not suit Romper Stomper, in spite of his obvious ability at the top level and his dashing late passing lane run to catch Houdini Star and Mountbatten. Romper Stomper had done his case no good by galloping on the grass at Motukarara and doing the same on Cup Day, but there was good form just behind that when he rattled home for third in the Canterbury Park Cup behind Whatsundermykilt.
Trainer Robbie Holmes did not rate him out of it. He made a couple of gear changes and thought the mobile would be the key to it. He settled him three-deep, behind Mountbatten and the early leader Rhythm Of The Night, and kept making ground on Mountbatten after Braig had retired from a bitter war between the 700m and 400m. "I saw Ants (Anthony Butt and Mountbatten) tiring and my horse just kept digging," he said.
For Holmes, this was his first Group 1 training success. The 8-year-old by Armbro Invasion is raced by Phil Sherley, a Hamilton insurance agent, and John Dickie, who trained the horse and won a heat of the Inter-Dominions last year, and then decided that his best chance with the horse was putting him on the beach. "It's been a real challenge," said Holmes,"but I love training trotters, and I've got half-a-dozen in work and they're all either racing or not far off it."
Hougini Star was a neck off winning and a short head in front of Mountbatten, and there was a gap to Petite Sunset who doesn't need much improvement to join the elite group.
Credit: Mike Grainger writing in HR Weekly 21Nov07
YEAR: 2006
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| Gretmaro out-finishes Affairs Of State (inside) |
Later in the day, an In The Pocket filly from the grand racemare Under Cover Lover named Affairs Of State went under the hammer. She was a serious target and went for $90,000.
"I really liked her brother who came from the Sales," recalled Driver. "I got a offer, and when I couldn't pay the bills at the time, I let him go. When I saw this filly, I thought she had a nice, wee head. She was small type, a little on the fine side, but she looked as if she could run early," said Driver.
He bought her from Lincoln breeder Hamish Roberts for his nephew 'CJ', and as Gretamaro she is rivalled only by Western Dream as the best 3-year-old filly in New Zealand. She has never missed a big event, and had raced twice as many times as any other horse in the $130,000 PGG Wrightson NZ Yearling Sales Fillies Pace at Addington last week. She won the race, not easily from Affairs Of State, but it would be fair to say she never reallly looked like not winning it. It was her ninth win and her stakes won went to $233,554.
Driver was right when he gave driver Robbie Holmes credit for his judicious handling of the filly. He did not go to town over the first 2-300 metres, an the wisdom of this move paid off because he was able to secure cover three-back on the outer. At the 1200m, he gently eased out, and was in front and ahead of Affairs Of State at the 900m. The danger then was how well the lightly-tried, splendidly-bred but not race-hardened Affairs Of State would respond to a dust-up with the finely-honed Gretamaro. For a start, and even till near the end, Affairs Of State gave Gretamaro what-ho. It was a grim struggle, but 30 metres out, Gretamaro had her nose in front, and 20 metres further on, had a fraction more, and there was a convincing half a head between them at the end.
Driver is a meticulous trainer. He likes his horses to have their own paddock, and old Gaelic Skipper, who won him nearly $400,000, is there to keep Gretamaro company. "I'm happy to take the grass to the horse, rather than the horse to the grass. I'm very fussy, and I treat them all like individuals. There's a hot wire between them, but she'll kick out if anything happens that she doesn't like. And I've got to work her. She finished on Wednesday running half in a minute. She's not a horse I can cheat on," he said.
Next for Gretamaro is the Southland Oaks, and later the New Zealand Oaks and the Nevele R Fillies Final. And that, as a racehorse, will be the end of it. "She'll come back as an eight or nine-win horse, and that will be to tough for her," he said.
Credit: Mike Grainger writing in HRWeekly 22Feb06
YEAR: 2001
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| Robbie Holmes & Facta Non Verba |
Mike Berger will never forget last week. On a positive note he won races with Black Maire at Alexandra Park and Facta Non Verba at Addington, but sadly he also lost his father Geoff who died after a long battle with cancer. "He had been quite ill so it was expected, but it still hits you a bit when it happens," Berger said.
Geoff,76, had been a regular around his son's stable since he retired and moved from South Auckland to Morrinsville almost a decade ago. "He quickly made himself 'head boy'," Berger recalled fondly. "He loved the horses non-stop, and as soon as the fields came out he would be booking his seat on the truck no matter where the meeting was. Facta Non Verba was his all-time favourite, and I think the old fella was pushing him over the line when he won at Addington the other night."
Facta Non Verba's victory in the SBS/ Heller Smallgoods Fre-For-All turned around a luckless fortnight that the pacer had had in Christchurch. After looking sensational at the Cup Trials he never got much of a go in the big one when settling on the rails, then in Show Day's Free-For-All it was much of the same when he settled three then four deep.
Berger says that all the credit for this latest win has to go to Robbie and Carla Holmes, who Facta Non Verba was stabled with, and his employee Charles Te Tomo. "Charles really looked after him, and it was such a shame that he missed out on the horse's moment of glory. He had stayed with Facta Non Verba since he had gone south, but when we were getting busy back home and I needed him to come back he did so without a second thought. Charles is absolutely dedicated, and he is the sort of guy I'd trust with my life," Berger said.
Facta Non Verba has had two campaigns in Australia since July last year, winning six of his 13 starts across the Tasman, and Berger says that over Winter this is where the pacer's future lies. "His latest trip wasn't hugely successful, but we actually gained a lot out of it because a vet named Peter Hill talked us into trying a specific shoe on him and it has worked wonders. It is a three-quarter shoe with a bar across, which is a bit of an old-fashioned idea, but it doesn't put any pressure on his heel at all. I am just so pleased for Facta Non Verba because he is such a great personality; when you walk into the barn every morning he will call out to you. In this business you are not supposed to have favourites, but having been through as much as we have with this horse it is hard not to be attached to him," Berger said.
Robbie Holmes said driving Facta Non Verba to victory in the Free-For-All was the highlight of his career. "He is a front-runner. He went so well in the Cup trial in the lead and I wanted to get there at some stage tonight," he said. Berger said Holmes would be 'thanked' for looking after Facta Non Verba by being offered the drive on him in the upcoming Franklin and Auckland Cups.
Credit: John Robinson writing in HRWeekly 28Nov01