Lightly-raced Tavistock five-year-old Henry Robin (NZ) (Tavistock) is set to make his New Zealand debut at Te Aroha on Friday when he contests the Ecolab 1600.
Bred by Sir Patrick and Lady Justine Hogan, Henry Robin was offered through Woburn Farm’s 2021 New Zealand Bloodstock Book 1 Yearling Sale draft where he was purchased by Henrietta, Dowager Duchess of Bedford, for $440,000.
He was broken in by Cambridge trainers Maxim and Samantha Van Lierde before heading across the Tasman where he had five starts for Ben, Will and JD Hayes, including a victory over 2520m at Cranbourne in January last year.
The gelding has been plagued by injury and returned to the care of the Van Lierdes last year, for whom he is set to make his New Zealand debut this week.
“It will be quite sentimental, having broken him in,” Maxim Van Lierde said.
“Henrieta, the Dowager Duchess of Bedford, is a very good friend of ours and we break in a few of her young horses, and we have been fortunate enough to train a couple as well.
“We broke him (Henry Robin) in and did all of his education and then he went off to Australia. He has had a fair bit of misfortune with injury over the years, so he has been back and forward to us just to do a bit of spelling and get him up to speed again.
“He predominately did his racing with Lindsay Park in Australia, and he won over 2500m over there. The boys did a phenomenal job with him, but he ended coming back through injury.
“He has had a long injury layoff, we have trialled him twice since and then he wasn’t quite right, so we turned him out again and now we have got him back up this time.
“George Rooke galloped him this (Tuesday) morning at Cambridge and gave him the tick of approval, he was very happy with him.”
Henry Robin will be having his first start in more than 12 months and his conditioners are pleased with him ahead of his resuming run, with the mile distance and inside barrier of two being their only concern.
“The distance will be far short of his best,” Van Lierde said. “He has won over 2500m but on the big, roomy track at Te Aroha, if he is finding the line and running on well, we will be very happy.
“He is probably best drawn out. Being a Tavistock, he wants a bit of racing room, he is quite a big horse. We will certainly be telling Masa (Hashizume, jockey) to get off the fence when he can and give him some clear air.”
Meanwhile, Van Lierde will be keeping a close eye on the weather in Taranaki this week, with stablemate Slippery (NZ) (Keano) set to contest the rating 65 1000m at New Plymouth on Saturday.
“Slippery is a new acquisition to the stable and we are excited by him,” Van Lierde said.
“He has shown that he is more adept on softer tracks, so we are on weather watch with him. If it is too firm, we may just save him for when the rain comes, but we have been very happy with the way he has been working.”
