The 30-year-old was not just on her first race-riding journey to Otago on Saturday, it was the first time she had ever set foot on soil south of Christchurch.
The jockey was not going to let a lack of local knowledge go against her before riding for Riverton trainers Graham & Michael Eade.
Hemi did her homework on the Wingatui track before her five rides on the Saturday’s programme.‘‘I went for a walk around the track and it is quite undulating.
"I knew that the top of the turn is the very highest point so I had to hold [La Nouvelle Vague] him together and once we got to the top of that I just let him go."
The jockey had also done her homework on her horse’s racing style, which led to a key tactical decision early in the listed cup.
"I watched a few of his replays and he likes to keep rolling, he is not a stop-start sort of horse."
That knowledge led to a quick decision to get La Nouvelle Vague comfortable after a muddling tempo early in the 2400m event.
"Coming down the straight the first time they went quick and then they just put the anchors on. He is a really big horse that can’t really go that slow.
"As soon as he got to the front he settled quite nicely."
Hemi would not have had her first trip to Otago had the connections of La Nouvelle Vague not struggled to find a local rider to mae the 53kg to ride the horse.
"I didn’t get the call up until Thursday, really late Thursday," Hemi said.
"They rang me up and asked me to come down."
Saturday’s win furthered La Nouvelle Vague’s staying record. All of the galloper’s wins have come past 2100m.The frustrating part about that is finding suitable races for the horse, co-trainer Graham Eade said.
"We have been looking for that sort of race, [a] good staying race.
"It was a perfect ride."
A lack of options past 2100m has Eade calling for more longer-distance racing to grow the quality of stayers in New Zealand.
"We need staying races."
"We need real good staying races to get our horses up to Australian standards."
Saturday’s programme could possibly demonstrate Eade’s point. There was only one other race beside the Dunedin Gold Cup further than 1600m.
That race also demonstrated Riverton trainers know what they are doing with stayers, after Starbuck won for Kelvin Tyler.
Tyler gave similar instructions to winning jockey Kelvin Kalychurun, to the tactics seen aboard Starbuck’s Riverton counterpart, La Nouvelle Vague.
"He is a bit of a one-pacer really so we just had to go a bit early and try to out-stay them and out-grind them."
- Jonny Turner
