Legless Veuve
Darryl Sherer
Brothers Calvin and Ken Hart have some serious business to attend to across the Tasman this weekend.
The siblings run their own ventures in Marlborough, a Blenheim bar and grill and a shearing contracting business respectively, but their interest in Australia is focused on a new pursuit.
The Harts are part owners of three year-old filly Legless Veuve (NZ) (Pins), who is starting in the Thousand Guineas, a group one race at Caulfield in Melbourne on Saturday.
Legless Veuve has had only four starts, winning its last two to qualify for the Guineas. The first was a maiden race, the second a group two outing, which it won impressively. The Thousand Guineas is a $NZ538,000 event, restricted to three year-old fillies, and has been won by such good horses as Atlantic Jewel, Miss Finland, Alinghi, Special Harmony and Shankhill Lass.
The Harts were persuaded to buy a share in the Kiwi-bred Legless Veuve by another Marlborough man, former senior representative cricketer Paul Fitzgerald, now based across the ditch. The filly, by Pins out of Hyades and a full sister to Tootsie, was purchased at the 2014 NZ Yearling Sales and is owned by a 10-person syndicate.
Calvin Hart said he and his brother had not had a lot to do with the racing scene, unlike his late father, John Hart, who enjoyed plenty of success at both gallop and harness events, once having a starter in both the NZ Trotting and Galloping Cups in the same year.
"I'm looking forward to it," he said. "You can't get much better than having a runner in a group one race I suppose.
"We are both pretty excited."
Fitzgerald explained the comical origin of the horse's unusual name. "At naming day with the owners at Randwick races everyone got legless on Veuve [Clicquot] champagne and forgot to name her. The name was suggested the next day."
Legless Veuve was paying $16 for a win at the NZ TAB earlier in the week, with the betting agency's website suggesting they were "lovely odds" for the big race. The Harts and Fitzgerald will be hoping they are proved correct. -Stuff
The siblings run their own ventures in Marlborough, a Blenheim bar and grill and a shearing contracting business respectively, but their interest in Australia is focused on a new pursuit.
The Harts are part owners of three year-old filly Legless Veuve (NZ) (Pins), who is starting in the Thousand Guineas, a group one race at Caulfield in Melbourne on Saturday.
Legless Veuve has had only four starts, winning its last two to qualify for the Guineas. The first was a maiden race, the second a group two outing, which it won impressively. The Thousand Guineas is a $NZ538,000 event, restricted to three year-old fillies, and has been won by such good horses as Atlantic Jewel, Miss Finland, Alinghi, Special Harmony and Shankhill Lass.
The Harts were persuaded to buy a share in the Kiwi-bred Legless Veuve by another Marlborough man, former senior representative cricketer Paul Fitzgerald, now based across the ditch. The filly, by Pins out of Hyades and a full sister to Tootsie, was purchased at the 2014 NZ Yearling Sales and is owned by a 10-person syndicate.
Calvin Hart said he and his brother had not had a lot to do with the racing scene, unlike his late father, John Hart, who enjoyed plenty of success at both gallop and harness events, once having a starter in both the NZ Trotting and Galloping Cups in the same year.
"I'm looking forward to it," he said. "You can't get much better than having a runner in a group one race I suppose.
"We are both pretty excited."
Fitzgerald explained the comical origin of the horse's unusual name. "At naming day with the owners at Randwick races everyone got legless on Veuve [Clicquot] champagne and forgot to name her. The name was suggested the next day."
Legless Veuve was paying $16 for a win at the NZ TAB earlier in the week, with the betting agency's website suggesting they were "lovely odds" for the big race. The Harts and Fitzgerald will be hoping they are proved correct. -Stuff