After dealing with several major challenges over the last couple of years, Hawke’s Bay Racing is looking forward to welcoming a more pleasant challenge in a fortnight.
The Poverty Bay Turf Club and Hawke’s Bay Racing have introduced the nationwide Vet Services East Coast Challenge Special Conditions Maiden Series, which will culminate in the $100,000 Vet Services East Coast Challenge (1400m) at Hastings Racecourse on Livamol Classic Day, October 10.
All 13 heats have been run and won, and Hawke’s Bay Racing chief executive Darin Balcombe is looking forward to welcoming trainers from the length of the country to compete in the series final next month.
“We are really excited about the East Coast Challenge. It seems to be taking shape really well,” he said.
“We wanted to do something different with the MAAT series that runs through the carnival because by the time we get to the last one there was always a couple of horses that seemed to dominate it, and the field didn’t have a lot of depth, and you would end up with an eight-horse field.
“We have always been thinking of having an in and you’re in race for a while and this was just an opportunity to have it. It gives a maiden runner a chance to target a Group and Listed stake level.
“All-in-all there will be 15 automatic qualifiers, which will be the winners from the 13 heats plus the two second placings from the wild cards. Any positions that are left available will be made up from the best of the second placed horses (from the heats).
“We had our second wildcard on Saturday, and they get automatic entry as well.”
Cambridge mare First Up took out the Vet Services East Coast Challenge Wild Card (1300m) at Hastings on Saturday, and trainer and part-owner Caitlin McKee is looking forward to returning to the track in a fortnight to race for a six-figure purse.
“It was a nice race to win,” McKee said.
“She has come through Saturday really well. She has eaten everything up and is happy as. She will come in and do a bit of quiet work tomorrow (Tuesday). I am happy with her.
“I think we will aim for that (East Coast Challenge).”
McKee acquired the mare from fellow Cambridge trainers Ben and Ryan Foote, and said she has appreciated time to mature.
“She spent a year in the paddock, which I think has done her the world of good,” McKee said. “She has been really easy and is a neat horse to have around.”
Balcombe said there are plenty of other trainers looking forward to chasing the big prizemoney on offer in the series final.
“There is a lot of excitement out there from the owners that we have talked to,” Balcombe said. “I know there is quite a few of the trainers that have been targeting it and are quite excited about it.
“It was good to see the horse from the Kelvin Tyler barn (Go Thea) up here on Saturday, and she is definitely targeting it. It is good to see the southerners come up. The horse that won a heat down at Riccarton on Saturday (Sheza Professional) is actually Hawke’s Bay owned, with Peter Grieve, so I am hoping that will come up as well.”
While the East Coast Challenge is welcome by Hawke’s Bay Racing, a few other challenges over the last few years, particularly with the track, have not.
Group One racing returned to Hastings on Saturday following a two-year hiatus because of remedial work to the track after a slip in the first race on the second day of the 2024 Hawke’s Bay Spring Carnival.
Racing returned to the track in May before two race meetings this season, but pressure was mounting in the build-up to last Saturday’s feature meeting, and Balcombe couldn’t have been happier with how it went.
“To get Group One racing back and to get it back on a track, which I think we had pretty much bang on, was a testament to all the work that the team, especially the track team, put in to get it there,” he said.
“It was a difficult forecast through the week, with showers forecast every day, and we actually ended up getting basically nothing. It was tricky, but they (track team) got it bang on, which was brilliant.
“We had three meetings back and they were all on a Heavy track, so we were desperate to get back to a good track, and finally mother nature played the game and we got there.
“There was a lot of pressure around when to put water on, how much to put on, all those sorts of things. When the forecast is a bit itchy it multiplies a bit, and there was a lot of pressure from various areas to get it right. Credit to a couple of them, they came up on the day and congratulated the team, which was really pleasing.
“We didn’t get any negative feedback through the day, which was unusual and pleasing at the same time. We are really happy.”
While pleased Saturday’s meeting was a success, Balcombe said his team are now focussed on Livamol Classic Day in a fortnight, the club’s biggest meeting of the year.
“We have got to deliver again,” Balcombe said. “As I said to the team, we are only as good as our last raceday, so we want to make sure that we get it even better on the big Livamol Day.
“The place will be packed out and we want to put on a great show. It is the big one, and we get up to 8,000 people here. The eyes of the industry will be watching again and we want to make sure we really deliver and do it well.”