Joe Doyle celebrates another big win after Mustang Valley had easily accounted for her Arrowfield StTwelve months ago the weather had the final say in forcing the abandonment of the second day of the Hawke’s Bay carnival, but try as it might last weekend, the show still went ahead on Arrowfield Stud Plate Day.
The most significant impact of the weather that yet again bashed East Coast regions was two-fold. Scratchings included the odds-on favourite Legarto and La Crique, who had won last year’s postponed Arrowfield Stud Plate, while the heavy track impacted – for both better and worse – the performances of those horses that still competed.
The most obvious was Mustang Valley, who added to a compelling heavy track record with her career total sixth win in those conditions, perhaps bringing belated rewards to those fixed odds punters who had otherwise taken a hit with Legarto’s withdrawal.
The Andrew Forsman-trained had claimed her first Group One success on a heavy Hastings track in the Livamol Classic last October, a week after she had chased home La Crique on a Soft5 track at Matamata. As an autumn three-year-old she had also finished second in the Gr. 3 Sunline Vase on an Ellerslie track rated Good3.
Mustang Valley is the clear fixed odds favourite at $2.60 to add a second Livamol Classic at Hastings on Saturday week, and should she live up to that billing it’s likely she’ll join Forsman’s Melbourne stable for spring carnival features.
“There are so many options over there and she’s still in the Cox Plate, but there’s also a $2 million race for five-year-olds over 1800 metres in Sydney that looks fairly attractive,” Forsman told RaceForm.
“She’s been a great horse for me personally, and part of that enjoyment is the excellent ownership group behind her. They’ve left it entirely to me to plan a programme – for me as a trainer, you’ve got to appreciate that sort of respect.”
Joe Doyle, the young Irishman whose achievements have been a revelation since his first stint in New Zealand last season, again made the most of the opportunity presented to him. After last weekend, he led the jockeys’ premiership with 30 wins at a strike-rate a shade over five and stands alone in breaking $1 million in stakes through the first two months of the season.
“Big wins don’t come any easier than that; she towed me into the race and she was just waiting for me to give her the signal,” the affable 27-year-old said after completing a treble on the day.
“I have to pinch myself with how things have gone for me down here, but it’s the old story – the secret to being a successful jockey is getting on the fastest horse – quite simple you would have thought!”
One possibly unique statistic that came out of Mustang Valley’s Arrowfield win was that Doyle was her 14th different jockey in her 14 starts at four and five years. Doyle is currently sidelined by a suspension that ends next Wednesday, and no doubt he’ll be looking forward to breaking that sequence when he takes the mount in the Livamol.
Lisa Latta, the first and still only woman to claim a premiership as a solo trainer, no longer prepares the numbers that took her to that career pinnacle, but there’s still no denying the quality of performance coming out of her Awapuni stable.
That was again evident last weekend when Lantern Way shook off his maiden tag in the Gr. 2 AHD Hawke’s Bay Guineas and stablemates Diss Is Dramatic and Old Town contributed to another big day.
Lantern Way, yet another big winner for Satono Aladdin, is raced by a partnership involving long-time stable stalwart Craig McNeill and is now the $8 equal second favourite for next month’s Al Basti Equiworld New Zealand 2000 Guineas.
