Starweka update January 22nd 2019
Visit to Kevin Gray Stables January 6th 2019
Read the story here
22 Dec 2018 – Greetings Team Starweka. We spoke to Kevin Gray during the week and Starweka is working well. With our blessing Kevin has spent extra time conditioning Starweka for a solid campaign, which should commence sometime in the New Year. He is extremely happy with her and says, “I think she will run like a hare”. Kevin also said that there is a lot of racing after Christmas that we can tap into and often the fields drop off a bit around that time, which can give added opportunities to race. That sounded pretty good to us and we were very happy with Kevin’s positive comments.
Invitation – Sunday January 6th 2019:
Kevin has extended an invitation to all syndicate members to visit the stable.
Copper Belt Lodge
160 Green Road
RD 6
Palmerston North
We will meet at Kevin Gray’s stable at 10.30am on Sunday 6th January 2018, to see Starweka and to have a look around Kevin’s farm. We expect to be there for an hour and then go on to have lunch at Joe’s Cafe in 38 Princess St, Palmerston North, 4410
19th Nov 2018: Janine and Les visit Copperbelt Lodge to chat with Kevin Gray about Starweka:
This post includes pictures and videos
Kevin Gray talks about Starweka
Starweka walking with Holly 19/11/18
19/11/18: Les and Janine had a great visit to Copperbelt Racing, the home of two of the nicest people in racing – Kevin and Kathleen Gray. Starweka is coming up a treat and Kevin is very pleased with her progress, which is still in the conditioning phase of her preparation.
26th Oct:
Starweka has now settled into Copperbelt Lodge with master trainer Kevin Gray, who is very pleased with ‘Keri’ – the nick name the girls in the stable have given her. Kevin likes Keri, which is a great start, and also he is a fan of Showcasing progeny; Progeny from Showcasing are having big success on the racetrack with both colts and fillies at the moment. Kevin said she has a great action and is working very well. There is no sign of any previous back issues which the filly had over six months ago, and during that complete break she has matured and strenghtened. In Kevin’s words – he thinks the syndicate is going to have some fun. Listen to his interview here:
5th October 2018:
Starweka arrives at Copperbelt Lodge to be trained by master trainer Kevin Gray.
22 August 2018:
Starweka arrives at Kamada Park for pre-training and conditioning. She made excellent progress at Kamada with no sign at all of her previous back issues. She remained in work at Kamada until the 5th October.
18/1/18 Update on Starweka’s progress:
Early in January, Starweka was showing signs of not being very relaxed and happy coming on and off the track when she was working. The vet checked her out and prescribed a regime which included the chiropractor, equisage etc and to modify her training programme. When she showed no signs of improvement, an x-ray was taken. The results came through on the 12th of January which showed there was nothing wrong with the spine and no sign’s of any issues. In light of this x-ray result the Veterinary advice was to continue with Starweka’s work and to also continue with the prescribed treatments. Following on from that ten days later, Tony Pike reported that her back had not improved and that the veterinary advice was to give her three months off – which should take care of the issue – again we know it isn’t skeletal, so can only assume it is muscular and to do with her growth and maturity.
26/10/17: Good things take time – Starweka to have a short break
Starweka – pictured above at the Cambridge Trials on Tuesday 25th Nov 2017. You can watch the trial here Starweka Trials – 24 Oct 2017
A plan has been discussed thoroughly with Tony Pike and the decision has been made to give Starweka a three week spell. She will be back in work on the 20th November and it is predicted that her first race will be in January after another trial. Why the delay?
Firstly Tony said that he believed she needed time to strengthen up – his post trial report stated:
Tony’s report:
Starweka trialled yesterday at Cambridge over 800m, ridden by Maija Vance. She jumped well from an inside barrier and held a handy position through the early and mid stages of the trial. On straightening, the field quickened and she fought on well until the final 100m of the trial where she weakened slightly to run fourth.
After watching the replay and talking to Maija Vance I feel that she needs a bit more time to strengthen up before she can be really competitive on Raceday. If we sent her to the races now she would be competing against some very strong three year olds. Because of the backlog the fields are also very competitive for example there were 75 nominations for a recent three year old race. What I would like to do with her is give her a brief spell now, and get her back into work mid-November to prepare her to contest some good three year old races in January. There are a lot of races to pick and choose from then, particularly in fillies and mares races. I want to give her every opportunity to race well and competitively and I believe this is the best option for her at this stage. She did everything right in her trial so education is not a problem. We just need to give her some space to strengthen up and then target some good racing opportunities for her.
Les and I were happy with that decision. As the Mainland Cheese man says ‘good things take time’. Tony has always said the horse comes first and we respect his judgement.
So a brief pause which means our race-day start will be in January – see the work / time chart noted below.
Just remember folks that Starweka had 3 half brothers all winners and two half sisters both winners. Patience is a virtue. Good things take time.
Starweka ready for work – 29th Sept 2017
Starweka – 2014 Filly by Showcasing out of Blue Hope – a half sister to Skyweka
29 September 2017 update from Pike Stables: Starweka has been in the stable for five weeks now. We’ve just been building on her base fitness. As you know working around the wettest winter in 40 years has proved challenging with horses programs at present !! So the weather has played a big part in causing delays with Starweka’s programme. Earlier on we were expecting Starweka to trial early October. This has now been put forward towards the end of October.
She had her first gallop onTuesday 26th September. She travelled nicely over 400 metres at 3/4 pace just to increase her fitness to the next level and we will look at a barrier trial towards the end of October.
2017:
7th August – Pre-training
23rd August – to Pikes stables
Conditioning and strengthening programme
Late Oct – Planned trial
Nov -Dec 2017 first race
Calendar from May 2017:
First Trial Tuesday May 23rd May 2017:
View the report here: Starweka’s debut at the Taupo Trials May 2017
Update May 22nd: The Wallaces visited the stables the day before Starweka’s first trial scheduled for Taupo. She looked a treat. It was good to get up close and personal with her and to see that she was well prepared for her trial the following day.
Tony’s comments about the filly are worth listening to:
A Visit To Pike Stables 22nd May 2017
Update May 7th 2017: Starweka had a very nice gallop on Saturday May 6th. She was well behaved and her previous education has prepared her well heading towards a jumpout next week – (the week of the 15th May) and then on to her first trial planned for the last week in May.
Trainers Report May 5th 2017: Starweka is due to have a gallop tomorrow morning (6th May 2017) at Cambridge in company over 800 metres. She is coming up nicely this preparation and it looks like we will take her to a Barrier jump-out here at Cambridge in a fortnight’s time. Depending on how she performs in that jump-out she should be ready to go to a barrier trial ideally towards the end of May and we will see how she handles the track conditions. The barrier trial should give us a line as to whether or not she can progress to a couple of race day starts in the early winter. At the moment the weather is reasonably settled and we should get some reasonable track surfaces. We will keep increasing her work load over the next 2 to 3 weeks ahead of her barrier trial, and that will give us a good line on where we are heading so far with this preparation
April 2017:
The Showcasing x Blue Hope filly has completed seven weeks pre-training and has had a couple of quiet three quarter paces before arriving into the stables this morning. She will have her first bit of serious work on Saturday morning which will be good to get the ball rolling with her.
We will aim to give her a jump out in a couple of weeks time and she should be ready to trial towards the middle to end of May.
April:
Calling all Weka’s – We have a name….
March 2017 – She’s Back:
Yes she is back – back in the capable hands of Tony Pikes Pre-trainer Pedro Teixeira. Pedro and his partner Natasha are both Galloping Wekas. When the filly first went to Pedro’s training establishment last year, they liked her so much they took a share, and so no doubt Pedro was pleased to see the filly return to his stables after a nice spell, whereby she has grown and matured. If you want to know more about Pedro then paste this link into your search bar
Naming the filly – yes it is that time again. Over the next week I will be sending you out an invitation to submit your names for the ‘Name the Weka Filly’ competition. Some great names coming forth – but be aware that it looks like we will need to have the word Weka in the name. You see Galloping Weka’s are getting a bit of a reputation around the place and so it is kind of a good thing to have our own trademark.
Syndication: Is progressing nicely with an awesome group of people joining the syndicate. We have had a lot of interest lately and this week I have sent out all the information about the filly to answer several enquiries. If you have mates asking you about it then email them this link:
https://thegallopingwekas.wordpress.com/2014-showcasing-blue-hope-filly/
Status as of the 10th March 2017 is as follows:
The Blue Hope Filly has her first jumpout:
January 2017:
And the gates are open – and they’re off!!!…..well eventually !!
Great news that the filly has had her first jump-out! As noted in my previous website blog, Tony Pike said she will have learned a lot from this experience. She missed the jump and then took off like a pocket rocket trying to catch the other horse. Tony was pleased that she has that experience under her belt and that he can go forward from there. There is a possibility that the filly will have a brief spell and then back to the track for some more educational experience heading towards her first trial. Please click on the link below to view this event. Showcasing-Blue Hope filly (Inside gate)
BLue Hope Filly – first Trial Jan 5th 2017
Bred and owned by Les and Janine Wallace, this filly is a half-sister to Skyweka, who is currently in training with Tony Pike and is proving to be a very useful mare. Skyweka is a Douro Cup winner and on target for a promising summer campaign. This filly will be trained by Tony Pike
Blue Hope is the dam of 5 foals all winners: This filly is her 6th foal.
The syndicate commenced on Nov 1st and the filly is already in work preparing for a start as a two year old. There are still some share’s available. Broken in by Jeremy Whale of Diamond Lodge, the filly spelled at Longlands stud, before going to Pikes Pre-trainer Pedro Teitxeira in October.
On the 15th Dec 2016 she moved to Tony Pikes stables ready for some serious education. All of the progeny out of the dam – Blue Hope – have been winners. The sire of this filly – Showcasing – is having excellent success on the track and his progeny are doing well. The filly is a very nice quality type of filly, a good walker and nice mover – she looks the part.
Full details of the syndication are as follows:
Terms of the Lease: The lease will be along the same lines as the Skyweka Lease – view the process through the stories on the website.
- The syndicate becomes “The Galloping Weka Syndicate #3
- The Lease begins on Nov 1st 2016 – anyone joining after this date will need to backdate their payments to November 1st and we would ask all those joining the syndicate that they commit to being a syndicate member for a period of two years. It is a major paper war if anyone pulls out of the syndicate midterm. Obviously if the filly doesn’t show anything then the lease can be terminated, however, we really like this filly and we are looking forward to racing her; she comes from a winning family – all the progeny out of Blue Hope have been winners.
Syndicate Shares:
- The syndicate comprises of 10 x 10% shares
- A 10% share costs $300 per month.
- Each 10% share can be split between mates at their preferred percentage share. For example – currently we have a couple of groups of 5 people with a 2% share each, which makes for a fun and enjoyable gathering when the filly is racing. Note that in this case every shareholder is noted on the NZ Racing form which then qualifies that person for raceday rights and membership benefits.
Costs of racing:
- We have calculated the overall costs to race a horse at $30K per annum based on racing Skyweka over the past 2 years.
- Each shareholder will make an automatic payment based on their percentage share, to be deposited every month into the syndicate bank account.
- Automatic Payments begin 1st of November 2016.
- Full Bank statements and invoice copies are emailed out every month
- The lease will be available for two years from Nov 1st 2016 until Nov 1st
- If the filly shows as much promise as SKyweka we (Les and Janine Wallace) are keen to keep the syndicate going for as long as syndicate members are keen to continue racing the filly – so a right of renewal is noted in the lease form.
- There will be no right of purchase on the filly.
- There will be no race earning commissions paid to the Wallaces who will retain a share in the syndicate which they will pay for like other syndicate members.
Pearl Bonus: (Note that SKyweka has already won 2 Pearl Bonus’s to a total of $20,000.)
The Filly has been registered for the Pearl Bonus Series at a cost of $690 paid by the Wallaces. If the filly does win a Pearl Bonus, then this fee of $690 will be deducted from the first Pearl Bonus payout. However if the filly does not win a Pearl Bonus, then no fee will be charged to the syndicate.
Stakes Winnings:
- If the filly wins stakes money this money will be accumulated and paid out at the termination of the lease based on the percentage owned, at the termination of the lease.
- The reason for holding any winning funds is twofold – firstly for ease of administration purposes as the syndicate has a number of people involved. Secondly – if the filly shows true promise as a race-mare, then there is potential to race her in Australia and take advantage of the larger value stakes over the ditch. She would have to be a good filly to take up this option. If all this came together, the opportunity would require funding from stakes earned. The syndicate will not be asked for extra funds. An off shore racing campaign would have to be self-funded through stakes won and would only happen if she has the ability
- Syndicate members will be emailed monthly any trainer updates while the horse is in training. Emails, texting and Facebook are used for the bigger syndicates and Pike Racing are very welcoming of owners
- Note that on most racedays, syndicates do get looked after by the clubs, but if we do get the chance to experience a significant raceday event eg Skyweka on Wellington Cup Day, then funds for the hospitality to host the syndicate on that day will be deducted from the syndicate account. Note again that our syndicates are very transparent financially and all members are privy to all accounting transactions monthly.
- Please phone Janine on 021 488 093
- Pictured below a series of pics taken mid November at Pikes pre-trainer Pedro Teixeira’s stables
THE GALLOPING WEKAS 