O¯ hau bred horse races in interprovincial championship
Cetus to wear colours of the province
Ahorse born and bred in O¯ hau will represent Horowhenua-Ka¯piti in a Ranfurly Shield-style horse race at New Plymouth on Saturday.
Cetus, a 9-year-old gelding, will be easy to spot in the running of the $60,000 ITM Interprovincial Championship (1600 metres), with his jockey wearing the red, white and blue colours of the province.
The Horowhenua connection doesn’t end there. It was a real family team effort behind Cetus, with Levin trainer Donna Beck giving husband and jockey Trevor the mount, while their son Oliver shares in the ownership of Cetus.
Cetus does his training every morning at the Levin Training Track on Mako Mako Rd — he was given a light jog this morning — while connections would be heartened by his effort in a jump-out trial at the course on Tuesday morning.
Up against open-class horses, the mid-week trial was a chance for Beck to put the final polish on Cetus. He went well, rounding off the 1000m heat strongly, giving his trainer confidence her horse was well.
“He’s working beautifully, and to be given the chance to represent our province is pretty cool,” she said.
Although getting on in horse years, Cetus was lightly raced, winning
four of his 23 career starts. He boasts a bit of black-type in his pedigree too; his dam City of Dreams is a full-sister to former top-stayer Sculptor.
Cetus was bred by Ohau ¯ horseman Peter McKenzie and trained early in his career by
Foxton trainer
Chris Rauhihi, and then at O¯ taki by Tony Allan, while he also spent time
racing in the South Island under Riccarton trainer Mike Pitman before returning to Levin earlier this year.
Form analysts would suggest Cetus is to come up against some proven performers on Saturday, the likes of Victor Vegas, Le Sablier and Mauna Kea, but in his favour was a penchant for heavy tracks, which he will certainly strike at New Plymouth. Horowhenua-Ka¯ piti-based horses had won the Interprovincial event before. Levin trainer Craig Ivil prepared Leebrearne to win in 2008, while Foxton trainer Sue Walsh took it out in 1996. In a rare occurrence that might appeal to the parochial punter, the HorowhenuaKa¯piti rugby team kicks off their Heartland Championship season against East Coast in Ruatoria tomorrow. There was the opportunity for punters to have a multi-bet, com