It’s the race that kicks off Group 1 racing for the season and attracts a quality field year in, year out.

We caught up with Russell Warwick, General Manager of Westbury Stud and sponsor of the Tarzino Trophy to chat about the race, favorite editions and why Tarzino Trophy Daffodil Raceday is such a highlight for many racing enthusiasts.

How did this sponsorship come about?

Jess Innes came to us when the three Hawke’s Bay Group 1 sponsorships were coming up and asked if any would be of interest to us. We decided to take over the first race - the Mudgway Partsworld Stakes. We felt it was a good race for us to be associated with, being at the beginning of the breeding season and at the time, the first Group 1 race in the Southern Hemisphere for the season. Mufhasa came out and won the first edition which laid a very good trend to follow.

We named the first edition the Makfi Challenge Stakes, as we had just bought him out from Europe. It ran as the Makfi Challenge Stakes for some time, until he went on to Japan. We really enjoyed the timing of the race and the quality of horses it attracted. We had just purchased Tarzino and felt once again it would be a good promotional tool for him, so we continued our sponsorship and renamed the race the Tarzino Trophy (in 2017).

Do you have a favorite edition of the race?

There’s been some very good horses win over the years. Mufhasa won the year we started the sponsorship – he was a great horse, winning 10 Group 1 races throughout his career. Ocean Park in 2012 was another great edition. He then went on to Melbourne where he performed very well. Kawi was a horse that got a fair bit of attention, winning the race twice.

It’s a race that’s been synonymous with good horses.

What does the Daffodil Day initiative mean to you?

There are so many people touched by cancer. We felt due to the collection day for the Cancer Society falling so close to the running of the Tarzino, it was a good opportunity to partner up on Daffodil Day and assist them in raising money and bringing further awareness to the great work that they do.

The El Roca-Sir Colin Meads Trophy started in 2017. How did that originate?

There was always a 3-year-old race on the card that was designed to give horses the opportunity to run at Hawke’s Bay over 1200m and then go on to the Hawke’s Bay Guineas. The quality of horses it attracted was always high – Bostonian ran in it one year and some very good horses have won over the years. This was recognised and the race was given listed status.

We have always sponsored the El Roca and I suggested we registered the name as the Sir Colin Meads El Roca Trophy. He’s an icon in New Zealand and had such a close affinity with racing. Sir Colin Meads also suffered from cancer, so that tied into the day.

Personally, we had a very good affinity with him also. He had shares in Ruud Awakening, Passing Shot and Charlestown, which were all black type horses and bought out of Westbury. It just made sense to recognise someone like Sir Colin Meads and to know there’s always going to be an ongoing race in the carnival that recognises Sir Colin is great.

There’s a lot to love about this raceday! In your eyes, what makes it such a great day of racing?

Everyone is always itching to get back racing after a long winter. You see those good horses back at the track. This Saturday we’ll see the likes of Avantage and Jennifer Eccles, who were two of the highlight horses in New Zealand last year. It’s a day that lays the foundation for some of those horses that may go over to Australia and end up competing in races like the Cox Plate. Last year we saw Melody Belle win the race and then head to Melbourne where she raced very successfully.

History shows that it’s a great stepping stone for New Zealand horses for the remainder of the spring.

Please note: While COVID-19 alert level 2 restrictions remain in place, Tarzino Trophy Daffodil Raceday will proceed behind closed doors - that's not to say you'll miss out on the action however! Tune in to Trackside (don’t forget you can stream live on our website) to watch the events unfold at this iconic spring raceday.