Eight-year-old gelding Ace Royale (NZ) (Per Incanto) is set to make his raceday return following a three-year absence when he heads to Wanganui on Friday to contest the Liquorland Wanganui R86 1200.
Bred and raced by his trainer John Kiernan, Ace Royale showed plenty of promise in his formative years, posting five wins and three placings in his 12 starts prior to an injury enforced layoff.
“He has had two tendon injuries in the same spot,” Kiernan said. “He is a very big, heavy horse. He never went sore, I just picked it up beforehand and when he came back the second time after following all of the vet’s advice, I just turned him out the old fashioned way for a long spell.
“He is a promising horse, otherwise I wouldn’t have gone through all of this.”
Ace Royale returned to the trials last month where he finished fourth in his 1000m heat behind Group One performers Faraglioni (NZ) (El Roca) and Field Of Gold (Starspangledbanner).
Kiernan was happy enough with the trial, and while he is looking forward to seeing Ace Royale tested on raceday, he said there is still plenty of improvement to come from the son of Per Incanto.
“It was just an ordinary trial, nothing to write home about,” he said. “He doesn’t do a lot of fast work and the training tracks aren’t the best every day, he is probably 85 percent (fit).”
Ace Royale has drawn barrier two in his comeback race, with Wanganui rated a Soft5 on Thursday morning.
“He is a hard track horse, but he has got to get going, you don’t have too many options now,” Kiernan said.
Kiernan has plenty of time for his gelding, but said he isn’t getting too carried away with his return.
“We will just take one step at a time and get him fit again,” he said. “You never know if they are going to be competitive after tendon injuries. If he comes back to what he used to be there is no reason why he won’t head to some good races.”
Kiernan bred Ace Royale out of his six-win mare Criss Cross (NZ) (Cape Cross), and he is enjoying keeping his hand in the game after a long and successful career in the industry.
Based on the Kapiti Coast, Kiernan first became hooked on thoroughbreds when he lived in Trentham as a child, and a fire was lit to pursue a career in the racing industry.
“When I lived at Trentham, during my primary school years, I would go and help out Jack Winder and Bill Ford after school when they travelled down,” Kiernan said. “In those days they would come down and stay for two weeks for the three days at Wellington. They would do that about four times a year.
“My mother’s father had some shares in horses when he was sharemilking up in the Waikato. A couple of my uncles were apprenticed to Jack Winder, but they outgrew it.
“I always loved horses right from the first time I went to a race meeting. After I left school, I went and became a blacksmith and I used to ride work at Woodville.
“The bloke I was apprenticed to always had a horse and I would always be down there riding work for other people. I would go down and light a fire in the blacksmith’s shop early in the morning and then go and ride a few in work and school a few horses. In those days Woodville was the equal biggest training centre in New Zealand.”
Kiernan went on to grow his own farrier business in New Zealand before he decided to head across the Tasman where he shod some of the best equine athletes to grace Australian tracks.
“I had the biggest business in New Zealand as a farrier in the seventies with Syd Brown, Eric Ropiha, and Jock Harris,” he said.
“I then went wandering around Australia. When I was in Sydney I was travelling Syd Brown’s horses, he was New Zealand’s leading trainer many years ago. When he didn’t have any more carnival horses I went down and worked for a bookmaker in Victoria and he had a trainer’s license and I travelled some of his horses like Battle Sign that won a Sydney Derby and Philomel won a Perth Cup.
“I lived in Perth for a few years after doing the travelling and had the largest thoroughbred business in Western Australia for several years.
“As a blacksmith I was lucky enough to be there in a golden era. I have shod many horses for lots of different trainers. I would have done about eight Derby winners for Bart (Cummings). There used to be two Derbys held in Perth back in those days. In the seventies, all the big trainers like Colin Hayes, Cummings, Tommy Smith and Geoff Murphy would travel to Perth most years.
“I was lucky enough to do those trainers horses for several years. Shoeing-wise, Kingston Town would have been the best horse (I shod), he was the Muhammad Ali of the whole lot.
“Daryl’s Joy would have been only an inch behind him. He was the best two-year-old in New Zealand and the best three-year-old in Australia, and the best grass galloper in America. Gunsynd would be right there too.”
While Kiernan had a successful time in Australia as a farrier, he also had a memorable time as a trainer.
“I bought a broken-down horse in each state and have won a race in each state on the mainland, I didn’t go to Tasmania,” he said.
Kiernan then returned to New Zealand in the early nineties where he pursued breeding thoroughbreds, alongside training his own horses, and had great success with homebred Pillage ‘N’ Plunder (NZ) (Victory Dance).
He trained the son of Victory Dance to win the 2003 edition of the Gr.2 Hawke’s Bay Gold Cup (2200m) before crossing the Tasman to take out the Gr.1 Adelaide Cup (3200m).
It was a golden couple of years for Kiernan, who also trained No Mean City (NZ) (Star Board) to win the Gr.1 Auto Auctions WFA (1400m) at Trentham a year prior.
“No Mean City was another broken down horse I got sent,” Keirnan said. “He won the WFA at Trentham over 1400m and gave Damian Browne his first Group One winner in New Zealand. Star Satire was second and she held the New Zealand record for the 1400m and had for many years. The third and fourth horses had won at Caulfield and Flemington. There were nine or 10 runners and he was the only non-Group One winner. He was backed from eighties to 12s, so at that stage he was probably New Zealand’s biggest shortener.
“It was his first start in open company, it was Group One weight-for-age and that was how good he was. But he was very unsound. He pulled off a big betting plunge in Australia when he won at Newcastle. He was a really good horse.”
Ten years later Kiernan enjoyed competing at Group One level once more with a couple of horses he trained for Tommy Heptinstall.
“I am a public trainer, but I have only had Tommy Heptinstall send me two horses once when their trainer Andrew Campbell was having a break,” he said. “They both got to the Derby – Weissmuller and Travolta. Other than that, I have probably only ever had a couple of outside horses to train, and one of those was the mother to Ace Royale. I acquired her off the owners as they didn’t want to breed.”
Ace Royale is the only horse Kiernan has in work at the moment, with his full-brother Headline News (NZ) on the sidelines after picking up an injury at Trentham last month.
Kiernan has led a colourful life in racing, and he is hoping he is not done yet, believing Ace Royale may be able to take him towards the top once more if he recaptures his form of old.
