Hastings trainer John Bary has saddled plenty of big-race winners on home soil, but none
with the shock factor of Callsign Mav’s $82 boilover in Saturday’s Gr1 Tarzino Trophy
(1400m).
Bary had previously won the season-opening Group One feature in 2013 with Survived, who
also won the Gr.3 Hawke’s Bay Gold Cup (2200m), while quality mare Miss Wilson captured
the Gr.3 Spring Sprint (1400m) in 2017.
Most notably, the glittering career of former stable star Jimmy Choux included home-track
victories in the Gr.2 Hawke’s Bay Guineas (1400m), Gr.1 Windsor Park Plate (1600m) and
Gr.1 Spring Classic (2040m), along with a second placing behind Mufhasa in the 2011 edition
of Saturday’s race.
Jockey Jonathan Riddell was a key part of that Jimmy Choux story, riding the $3.6 million
earner in all but two of his 26 starts, and on Saturday he teamed up with Bary again for
another memorable triumph.
Riddell played his part to perfection, urging Callsign Mav forward from his midfield draw and
taking up a prominent position in the slipstream of Deerfield and The Mitigator.
Riddell drove Callsign Mav through between that pair at the top of the straight, and the rank
outsider dashed to the lead with 300 metres to run.
Favourite Avantage gave chase down the outside, with Supera flashing home in the closing
stages closer to the rail, but Callsign Mav held them all out by three-quarters of a length.
“I couldn’t believe how well the horse was going when the split opened,” Riddell said. “He
was strong to the line, he just kept going. Full credit to John and all of his team.”
Callsign Mav came into Saturday’s race well under the radar, with a Foxton trial in early
September his only public appearance since finishing fifth in the Gr.2 Wellington Guineas
(1400m) in March.
The first Group One winner for Mapperley Stud’s ill-fated stallion Atlante, Callsign Mav has
now won four races and $188,000 in stakes for an ownership group that includes Bary and
six others. – NZ Racing