Amarula
Trish Dunell Photography
For several years, campaigning horses through the winter was a foreign concept for Matamata trainer Peter McKay.
Seldom did horses carrying the blue silks with the yellow lightning bolt race past the end of April as McKay put both himself and his horses in holiday mode.
Things changed when McKay's son Shaun began his apprenticeship and the stable kept rolling into the winter months, mainly to support the promising young rider.
"We used to take a month off then work them at home for a month so we were virtually four months away from racing," McKay said.
"But that changed when Shaun got his apprenticeship and now we train for more outside owners than we used to so it's a bit harder to tell them we are taking them away from racing for a few months."
Another factor that has enticed McKay to continue campaigning a winter team has been the broadening of racing at Ruakaka, usually meaning superior track conditions to most winter venues.
"It's good money to have a crack at on a good winter track," McKay said.
McKay will produce seven runners at Ruakaka on Saturday, headed by Group Two winner Amarula, who tackles the Bream Bay Design & Sprint Bowl (1200m) carrying the 60kg topweight.
"It's been hard to know what to do with him. We could turn him out for winter and then bring him back up for spring racing but he's a better horse with small breaks," said McKay, who races the Thorn Park four-year-old gelding with his wife Kim.
"He's quite a thick-set horse and even now he's gelded he can get quite heavy and it takes a lot of work to get the condition off him.
"Kim and I had a week away and he had 10 days in the paddock and freshened up nicely.
"Ngaire Fraser's horse [Lewis Carroll] is pretty smart and only carries 53 1/2 kilos so will be hard to beat but if we can run second to him we'd be happy.
"He's classy enough to give this a good shake."
McKay is wary that Amarula's Gr.2 Hawke's Bay Guineas win precedes the qualifying period of 18 months for black-type performances to earn horses a higher place on the order of entry for the Gr.1 Tarzino Trophy (1400m) at Hastings on September 2.
"It makes it tough on a horse like him because his rating is so high he's best in weight-for-age racing but he can't make the field for those weight-for-age races," McKay said.
McKay's other runners at Ruakaka are De Niro, Stokers Rock, Valante, race rivals Lucky's Revenge and Barcelo, and debutante As Per. - NZ Racing Desk.
Seldom did horses carrying the blue silks with the yellow lightning bolt race past the end of April as McKay put both himself and his horses in holiday mode.
Things changed when McKay's son Shaun began his apprenticeship and the stable kept rolling into the winter months, mainly to support the promising young rider.
"We used to take a month off then work them at home for a month so we were virtually four months away from racing," McKay said.
"But that changed when Shaun got his apprenticeship and now we train for more outside owners than we used to so it's a bit harder to tell them we are taking them away from racing for a few months."
Another factor that has enticed McKay to continue campaigning a winter team has been the broadening of racing at Ruakaka, usually meaning superior track conditions to most winter venues.
"It's good money to have a crack at on a good winter track," McKay said.
McKay will produce seven runners at Ruakaka on Saturday, headed by Group Two winner Amarula, who tackles the Bream Bay Design & Sprint Bowl (1200m) carrying the 60kg topweight.
"It's been hard to know what to do with him. We could turn him out for winter and then bring him back up for spring racing but he's a better horse with small breaks," said McKay, who races the Thorn Park four-year-old gelding with his wife Kim.
"He's quite a thick-set horse and even now he's gelded he can get quite heavy and it takes a lot of work to get the condition off him.
"Kim and I had a week away and he had 10 days in the paddock and freshened up nicely.
"Ngaire Fraser's horse [Lewis Carroll] is pretty smart and only carries 53 1/2 kilos so will be hard to beat but if we can run second to him we'd be happy.
"He's classy enough to give this a good shake."
McKay is wary that Amarula's Gr.2 Hawke's Bay Guineas win precedes the qualifying period of 18 months for black-type performances to earn horses a higher place on the order of entry for the Gr.1 Tarzino Trophy (1400m) at Hastings on September 2.
"It makes it tough on a horse like him because his rating is so high he's best in weight-for-age racing but he can't make the field for those weight-for-age races," McKay said.
McKay's other runners at Ruakaka are De Niro, Stokers Rock, Valante, race rivals Lucky's Revenge and Barcelo, and debutante As Per. - NZ Racing Desk.