Saturday 13th June

Matamata

I’m On Safari (C Stumbles) galloped  over 800 metres at three quarter pace in 59.4, last 600 in 44.6.

Bellatrix Star (L Winks) galloped over 1000 metres in 1.07.4, last 600 in 36.9.

The Fairytale ending was denied Leaderboard in his well-publicised last career race at Te Rapa last Saturday in the time honoured Waikato Steeplechase, going down by a head in the last couple of strides to another 11 year-old, Nedwin – the race was marred by the fall and subsequent euthanasia of the Champion Steeple chaser, West Coast, undoubtedly an immense tragedy for the horse and his loyal connections.

Leaderboard had shot to the lead with 600m to go and looked to have an unassailable lead at the top of the straight, however was just a little cautious going into the last jump, lost momentum as a result, had to re-gather and was rundown in the shadows of the post by the fast finishing Nedwin

Retiring from racing is far from the end of the road for “Tiger” as he is known by his large ownership Group – shortly he will be in the hands of a leading NZ equestrian, Jody Hartstone, who is based on a property near Raglan – Jody is an active Member of the Waikato Hunt and she will be introducing Leaderboard to that discipline as well as getting him going as a dressage horse – Au Revoir Leaderboard – you were a warhorse to the end of your racing career and have given so many people so many great memories

Finally, a sincere acknowledgement to Leaderboards trainers over the eight years we have owned him, Jamie Richards of course in his early years here in NZ, then Mark Walker when he was sole NZ Trainer, recently Mark and Sam Bergerson in partnership and Mark Walker as head trainer at Cranbourne, ably assisted by Ben Gleeson as assistant trainer, plus the host of trackwork riders, grooms and stablehands, who all just loved Tiger to bits, because he was such a gentleman

And of course, all of the riders who rode him to victory – here in NZ, Troy Harris, Joe Kamaruddin, Craig Grylls, Michael McNab, Joe Doyle and in Aus Aaron Kuru and Will Gordon

Last, but certainly not least, his wonderful Ownership Group, more than 50 in number, who exalted in the highs and took the lows on the chin with nary a complaint

And here below is a great montage summarising Leaderboard’s remarkable career – this put together by Shar Amner, a Member of his Ownership Group

=====================================================================

Donna Logan rebuilds

As readers will recall, Fortuna Racing had a strong association with Donna Logan via our Singapore based team. The former New Zealand based Group One trainer, who had been based at Ruakaka for several years, had gained a license to train in Singapore and was building a successful new career there. And then, out of the blue, with Jamie Richards accepting an opportunity to train in Hong Kong and Mark Walker returning from the Singapore to head up the New Zealand operation, Te Akau offered Donna the opportunity to be their their head trainer in Singapore, hence the association by Fortuna with Donna and her husband Peter Woods at that time, an association that continued right through to the shock closure of Singapore racing and delivered a host of winners for the Fortuna Racing Team, including King Arthur, Knippenberg, Elliot Ness, Rocky and Deception

With the closure of Singapore in 2024, Donna had to weigh up her future options and in the end she decided to return to New Zealand to start from scratch and instead of returning to Ruakaka, took up the opportunity to base herself at Byerley Park near Karaka. It’s never easy for any trainer to start from scratch again, but Donna and Peter have steadily built up a nice team of runners.

I am sure our readers, particularly those who had runners in Singapore during Donna’s time there, will join with me in wishing Donna and Peter every success as the continue to build their team

See the story from NZ Racing Desk below

As Donna Logan will saddle a trio of runners on Saturday at Ellerslie on Winter Finals Day as the multiple Group One winning trainer continues to make significant strides to re-establish herself in New Zealand. The accomplished horsewoman spent seven years in Singapore but her time in the Lion City was cut short as the government put a halt to horse racing in late 2024, with the Kranji racecourse earmarked to make way for housing. Logan and husband Peter Woods returned to New Zealand and set up shop at Byerley Park, South of Auckland, rather than the northern climes of their previous base at Ruakaka. The location is proving a positive for the couple and the winners are starting to flow, while Logan is also deriving great satisfaction from mentoring her 16-year-old apprentice Tom Wigram, who celebrated his first raceday winner at just his third ride last week.

“It is good to be home,” Logan said. “We are enjoying it a lot, and it’s also nice having Tom to inject a bit of youth around the place. It’s exciting. “Byerly Park’s great, it’s very central, we’re close to Ellerslie, Pukekohe, Avondale, Hamilton’s just down the road, and even Tauranga is not that far. I just couldn’t do the travelling like I did when I lived in Ruakaka. Now with Tom riding regularly, we’re thinking, imagine if we had to drive back to Ruakaka each day.”

Re-stocking takes time and Logan has been pleased with the support she has received since returning home, posting 14 winners from a limited team, which continues to build since jumping back into the fold 16 months ago. “We’ve got around 40 horses split between two barns,” Logan said. “We’ve got a pre-training barn and a racing barn. We’ve built up a good band of staff around us since we got home and they’re very dedicated and ultra reliable.”

Logan has taken Wigram under her wing, with the four-kilo claiming apprentice sure to be in demand through the winter months, with the youngster engaged for six rides at Ellerslie on Saturday. From a showjumping background, Wigram spent school holidays riding trackwork in Cambridge before a mutual contact put him in touch with Logan.

“Tom was a little bit disheartened with New Zealand. He didn’t know if he’d get the opportunity as an apprentice here and asked a lady who worked for me many years ago to get in contact with me to see if I could recommend somewhere in Australia for Tom to go,” Logan said. “I said, I don’t know him, and I’d have to work with him before I could recommend him to anybody. So he came to work with us, and we spoke about what his desires were, what he wanted to achieve long-term, and I just said, I don’t know that going to Australia is right at this point in time. I think you’d get chewed up and spat out over there. So Tom asked if I would be interested in offering him an apprenticeship, and the rest is history. He lives with Peter and I and we get on exceptionally well. He is very driven, very devoted, and passionate about racing full stop. Whether it’s Australia or New Zealand, he’s always watching races, he’s watching all trials. He’s really devoted to trying to get ahead in life.”

Logan believes all three of her charges are solid each-way chances at Ellerslie on Saturday and she is pleased to see a Winter Series with $70,000 stakes on her doorstep. “We’ve always had that winter series at Ruakaka over the years, and I think it’s so appealing for clients who have horses racing at this time of the year,” she said. “It’s a real bonus, because your winter horses deserve an opportunity to race for good money. I think it’s a really good idea that they’ve put together and that it is at Ellerslie. It’s the shop window for New Zealand racing, and you just have to look at the acceptances to see how popular it is. Beat Of The Sun (The Autumn Sun) is a very progressive horse and he races over 1600m. He’s an out-and-out stayer in the making. I think you’ll see him at his best over 2000m, but he will still go a good race on Saturday. Long Island (NZ) (Reliable Man) is going to be suited to the mile and Ellerslie. She’s raced well there before and Tom’s claim will be important. He’s just got to get her nicely balanced and I think she’s a good top four chance. Curved Glory (NZ) (Ghaiyyath) is dual accepted but will probably go to the Progressive Final over a mile rather than the three-year-old race.”

Beyond the Ellerslie trio, Logan is pleased with the younger stock emerging from her barn. “We have got a nice Satono Aladdin filly out of the Good Faith family who looks exciting,” Logan said. “We also bought a Sword Of State filly at Karaka and the sire has made a good start and she is one to look forward to. Belle Rebelle (NZ) (Ribchester) has already proven herself to an extent as a winner and stakes placed from just three starts and we have a good opinion of Arcadia (NZ) (Contributer), a Contributer filly who won well at the trials at Ellerslie. She played up at the gates at the Avondale trials yesterday and we’ve just got to iron out that issue but I think she has got exceptional ability and there is a bit to work with.” – NZ Racing Desk

=====================================================================

Guest Commentator – Des Coppins

Greetings John, Fortuna Syndicate Members and Friday Flash readers

Your pride and joy Leaderboard gave his all in his final race in the Signature Homes Waikato Steeples. He had the race won everywhere bar the line but he went down fighting to the equally evergreen 11 year old, Nedwin. Pride mixed with emotion would be an honest way celebrating the finale.

On one hand you’d be “high-fiving” with your fellow owners, but at the back of your mind, like all lovers of the jumping game, you’d be feeling the sadness that followed with the announcement of the demise of the super star, West Coast.

Racing is a great leveller. You celebrate the highs – and you’ve had many with Leaderboard – but you share in the lows, too, either with your own horses or when something worse happens and that was a bitter pill to swallow to know West Coast had taken his last breath.

I know we have mixed opinions on jumps racing and each to their own. West Coast couldn’t muster much pace on the flat and if his astute trainer Mark Oulaghan  hadn’t first spotted the talent in the jumping arena a second chance in life on the racetrack would have gone begging and we’d have no cause to continuously admire and celebrate so many of his conquests which elevated him to the highest peaks at all the major venues.

All sporting events need champions and racing had a very special one in the form of  West Coast. Thanks for so many wonderful memories West Coast and commiserations to Mark, the Williamson family, your owners, and to all the stable staff and past and present riders who you were associated with.

Leaderboard may not have reached the great heights of West Coast but in his own rights  is  as versatile as you would ever get in a thoroughbred with wins at the highest level on the flat and over fences and a winner in 3 different countries. He possibly could have gone on for another season the way he’s currently performing. However, at 11, his future was written for him by someone in the halls of power at NZTR. The same goes for the one who narrowly outmuscled him,  Nedwin, along with the 4th placed, Prince Turbo. All three are in their  last jumping season which will end with the last jumps meeting  in September.

I said last week and I’ll say it again, this mandatory retirement age is a bit of an indictment on those caring people who know more about their horses than anyone. I feel this rule could be tweaked and make it a case by case scenario. If 11 year olds  are in form why can’t we let them race. If, however, a horse, at 11,  has lost form completely, then rightfully it’s time to bow out.

TOP TEN JUMPERS

As a keen supporter of jumpers I thought I would share my thoughts on which would be my 10 favourites for various reasons in the 55 years I’ve been associated with racing. I am very proud to say I was on track in most of the NZ wins. My list is missing the English Grand National winners in Seagram (1991)  and Lord Gyllene (1997), only  because of their limited or no time over fences here.

10. Royal Mail: He won the 1977 Wellington Hurdles and the 1976 Grand National Hurdles and in 1981 ran third in the English Grand National Steeples behind Aldaniti.
9. Chumson: won the 1977 Wellington Steeples and the Grand National Steeples in the same year as well as other notable jumps events.
8. Brockton: won the Great Northern Hurdles-Steeples double in 1972 as well as a second Great Northern Hurdles in 1971.
7. Loch Linnhe: carried big weights and won Great Westerns, Nationals, Great Northerns and the Wellington Steeples.
6. The Cossack: over a highly decorated 8 seasons he recorded 19 wins and 11 placings and won the Great Northern Hurdles, the Grand National Hurdles , the Waikato Steeples, the Wellington Steeples , the Hawkes Bay Hurdles and the Australian Grand National Steeples amongst others.
5. Sea King: won 20 races in 77 starts.He won the main races on both sides of the Tasman including the Australian Grand National Steeples in his last race. He held a unique record of winning both the Waikato Hurdles and Waikato Steeples.
4. Tallyho Twinkletoe: He’s the first  horse ever to win both the Australian Grand National Hurdle and the NZ Grand National Steeples in 2019 since 1930. He was a clinical weight carrier often lumping 70kgs in the best competition. He’s now a keen competitor in the hunting field.
3. Hypnotise: Three consecutive wins in the Great Northern over the famous Ellerslie Hill proves what an outstanding stayer he was. When the Northern was held at Ellerslie that was the yardstick. It was the Melbourne Cup for jumpers. To win it three times as well as winning the Pakuranga Hunt Cup also three times proves in no uncertain terms he was the daddy of them all when it came to Ellerslie cross country races in the modern area.
2. Hunterville: He loved Ellerslie, too. He also won three Grest Northern Steeples under  big weights  He cost just $1k and his successful rider was amateur Denis Gray. Each time he ploughed through the deepest of tracks to get the job done and won the great race in consecutive years, 1983,84 and 85.
1. West Coast: He etched his name in the record books to win three consecutive Grand National Steeples. He also won back to back Great Northerns at Te Rapa. The Wellington Steeples, the Hawkes Bay Steeples, the Koral Steeples and the Manawatu Steeples were other big race wins for this incredible and never to be forgotten ‘chaser.

IMPROVERS FROM TE RAPA

MISS BO PEEP: she got on heels in the home straight in the open sprint and has difficulty obtaining clear running until near the 250m. She is ready to win again. Te Rapa seems her favourite track.
JOSHUA BROWN: his two runs this term indicate he’s spot on to win third up. He began a tad awkwardly but ran to a good one in Tisse who narrowly mastered him in the shadows of the post. This period is when he really puts his rivals to the test and wetter ground is what he really likes.
RENOVATIONS: she had to deal with a tricky draw and while she ended up 10th out of 14 in the rating 75 she did ok with the second quickest final 400m.

Good punting!
Des Coppins
021 448 052

=============================================