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📻 IMPORTANT AUCKLAND UPDATE 📻
Rain, rain, go away
Joshua Smith, LOVERACING.NZ News Desk • October 28th, 2025 4:43 pm
Pour The Wine will contest the Bayleys Mount Maunganui 1300 at Tauranga on Saturday | Photo: Kenton Wright (Race Images)
Rain, rain, go away – that’s the thoughts of many trainers around the country as the wet weather persists through the spring.
One of those trainers is Barbara Kennedy, who has been holding out for better tracks for many of her team, and her patience is starting to wear thin, with the Byerley Park horsewoman set to be met by another Heavy track at Pukekohe on Wednesday.
Kennedy was excited about the prospects of all three of her entrants, however, she said with the track unlikely to improve from its Heavy8 rating on Tuesday morning, all three will likely be scratched.
“They have just shown that they go better on Good tracks,” she said. “At the moment it is already a Heavy8 and at Byerley here it is already raining, so I don’t see it getting any better than a Heavy8.
“Everyone is just waiting for these better tracks, and this rain is just not going away. It is a bit unfortunate, I would have had three really nice runners tomorrow had we been on better tracks, but this weather is just not helping us out.”
Kennedy’s attention has swiftly turned to Tauranga on Saturday where she is set to line-up Pour The Wine in the Bayleys Mount Maunganui 1300 and Lachie in the Aztech Signs 1600.
“Lachie is coming along really nicely,” she said. “His first-up run over 1200m at Te Aroha was a little bit short for him, he is looking for a bit further.
“If we get a better track on Saturday, he will definitely be one running on, hopefully in the placings.
“Pour The Wine had a bit of a foot issue, that is why we scratched her from Ellerslie. I have just put her in with the hope that she will be spot on for it.”
While Kennedy’s trio of runners on Wednesday will likely be saved for another day, she has high hopes for all three this preparation.
Three-year-old Frosted filly Glacial Storm, who is out of stakes performer Jip Jip Rock, has shown plenty of promise, winning a trial at the start of winter, and Kennedy expects a bright future once her manners improve.
“Glacial Storm is a little bit of a tricky filly,” she said. “In her trials she tends to do things the wrong way around, she gets very keen in the early stages. We just want to figure that out with her first.
“She is a filly we don’t quite know where we are going to be at with her, she has shown quite nice work at home, but we just want to get that maiden out of the way first before we make any plans with her.”
Kennedy has high ambitions with fellow Barneswood Farm mare Hero Of War, eyeing the Dunstan Horsefeeds Stayers’ Championship Final (2400m) at Ellerslie on Boxing Day if she continues on her current trajectory.
The daughter of Nicconi won on debut over 1400m in May and has returned from a spell to finish runner-up in both of her trials this time in.
“She is coming along the right way,” Kennedy said. “She is a filly who has taken a bit of time to get to where she is at the moment.
“She is one that is going to go over a bit of ground and possibly heading towards the Dunstan Stayers Final if she stays over ground like we think she will.”
Kennedy also believes Wee Nessy could be in for a good preparation after pleasantly surprising her connections with her debut performance at Ellerslie 10 days ago.
“Her first run was really impressive,” Kennedy said. “We weren’t expecting a lot from her, but she was hitting the line pretty strong at Ellerslie, so we have stepped her up to the 1600m, which will probably suit her a bit better.
“We will just take each race as it comes with her. She doesn’t give away too much in her work, that’s why her run surprised us that she was finishing so nicely. She could be anything.”
