After finishing among the minor placings in the feature races at Te Rapa on Saturday, Kevin Myers and jockey Dean Parker were back on top at Hawera a day later, picking up an early double over the fences.
Myers had a trio of contenders in the New Zealand Horse Ambulance Trust Maiden Hurdle (3100m) to kick off the meeting, and two of those, Duke Of Plumpton and Murphy, were second and third-favourites respectively with Kahu Rock on top at $4.30.
Duke Of Plumpton was making his jumping debut after a successful flat career in both Australia and New Zealand, establishing a record that included six wins for co-owners Patrick Payne and Myers. Well-prepared for his first attempt, the nine-year-old settled back in the field under Parker while Youledo stormed out to a sizable lead heading into the second lap.
The leader began to tire nearing the 800m and Kahu Rock led the charge to run him down, while Duke Of Plumpton entered the home straight with five horses ahead of him. His ability on the flat was telling in the finish, and despite landing behind Kahu Rock over the last, he powered over the top late to score by a half-neck with Murphy a close margin back in third.
Parker is based at Myers’ stable out of Wanganui and he was pleased with the gelding’s first-up effort with plenty of improvement still to come.
“He’s been schooling for a while, he’s probably not the quickest jumper over a fence but his flat ability makes up for that in between the jumps,” he said.
“There’s definitely a lot of room for further improvement but he gives a nice enough feel, he’s still got a bit to learn in terms of jumping in a race as he mucked a few fences up and just needs to flow along.”
A $15,000 purchase for Myers at the 2017 Karaka Yearling Sales, the son of Bachelor Duke has earned more than $229,000 in prizemoney from 45 starts. His half-brother, Slowpoke Rodriguez, won eight races in Australia in Payne’s care for Myers including the Crisp Steeplechase (4200m) in 2020.
The Parker-Myers combination were back in the winner’s circle in the following event, with the progressive Mugshot taking out the Big Blade 0-1 Hurdle (3100m).
Flying slightly under the radar, the son of Echoes Of Heaven was in the middle market at $9.20, with Fourty Eight closing race-favourite at $3.50 ahead of Ata Rangi. In similar fashion to his stablemate in the previous, Mugshot sat near the tail of the compact field and jumped consistently throughout, conserving energy before the pressure came on at the 800m.
Swooping into contention in the home straight, Mugshot flew the last fence alongside Fourty Eight and had the winning momentum, pulling clear of the favourite by three-quarters of a length.
The win was Parker’s second from four starts aboard the six-year-old, who has continued to improve through his opening season as a hurdler.
“I expected him to go well early on, I felt he went quite well in his first start at Hastings to be fair, then his win at Waverley was quite good, he just got a bit lost through the line,” Parker said.
“He jumped really well today, there’s more improvement to come with him as well and we definitely haven’t reached the end of his distance range, he’d happily look for another 1000m.
“I think he’s a pretty nice horse going forward.”
Myers purchased Mugshot via gavelhouse.com in 2020 for just $700 from breeder Geoffrey Georgetti, and in 10 starts, he has recorded three wins and just shy of $50,000 in stakes earnings.
Parker was briefly sidelined with an injury following a fall at Woodville in May and has had plenty of success in the second half of the season, particularly aboard Myers’ talented contingent.
“It was good to get a winner on my first day back from injury, it was a bit of a pick me up,” he said.
“Today was good too, to get the new season going with a few winners."