A Superstars farewell for Beach Ball
Garrick Knight - Raceform • May 8th, 2025 11:30 AM • 3 min read
Former New Zealand Cup placegetter Beach Ball will finish up his New Zealand career at Addington on Friday night, chasing Group Two victory in the process.
The classy son of Somebeachsomewhere has drawn the ace in a stacked edition of the $60,000 Continental Event Hire Superstars Championship for trainer Kevin Chapman.
It could well be the last time Chapman gears up his pride and joy, with a flight to Sydney booked for next week.
“I have done a deal with owner Mick Harvey and the horse is heading to Luke McCarthy in Sydney next week, if not before,” Chapman told RaceForm.
“Mick made an enquiry about him right back at the time Benny Hill had him, willing to either buy him or do a deal.”
Chapman resisted but says he continued to be hounded with offers from a who’s who list of trainers in Australia. Eventually, a programming issue and a visit from Harvey saw him push the button on a deal.
“After this Friday night there is not another mobile start for him until New Zealand Cup Day (November). He can begin from a stand, but I really think he’s better suited to mobiles, which he will get in Sydney.
“With him going to Luke, I can still see him race on TV every week and there’s also the possibility he could come back here for certain big races, too.”
Chapman revealed he had held discussions with recently passed Victorian horseman Greg Sugars about a deal during Cup Week last year.
“And I had been thinking very recently about ringing him to see if he wanted to do something.”
But his death a fortnight ago, plus the less buoyant industry in Victoria at present, forced his hand towards Harvey and McCarthy’s stable.
“Mick Harvey has had Ripples over here racing in Auckland for Emma Stewart, so he came down and met us last week. We yakked for three hours and I just got a good vibe. Mick seems like my kind of bloke and one I’m happy to be in partnership with.”
Chapman also threw a nomination in for Beach Ball for the upcoming Inter Dominion Series in Brisbane in July, but says that trip will be up to McCarthy.
“It was only $150 so why wouldn’t you? I thought it was good to have the option since Luke will probably be taking a team up there.”
A winning farewell is certainly no given with the strength and depth of the field Beach Ball faces, but Chapman is adamant of two things – he won’t be beaten for gate speed and he’s only now reaching full fitness.
“After the Cup last year, he got a really bad quarter crack and was out for eight or nine weeks. Being a ‘bull’, he can get big and burly and fat ‘inside’ which takes a fair while to get rid of. He’s really only getting there now, to that ideal fitness.”
Beach Ball has placed in his last three starts, two of them coming off the top end with ‘catch me if you can’ tactics. Chapman says it’s been an attempt to combat the “New Zealand style” of racing which he thinks doesn’t suit his horse.
“If he doesn’t get out there and set the tempo, they’ll go a 63 middle half and sprint home in 55. I can’t wait for the day he gets to Menangle, there’s tempo on and he’s not making it. Then we’ll see the best of him.
“It’s why he ran third in the (New Zealand) Cup – Swayzee ensured there was a strong tempo the whole way.”
Rakero Rocket is a noted gate runner, back from a concerted northern campaign and drawn close enough at five to be a threat for the early lead. But Chapman says it will be up to driver Robbie Close to make that decision.
“I’m happy with where my guy is at – that recent hard racing has topped him off nicely. And nothing will cross him off the gate, so we’ll lead if we want to. I’m sure there will be plenty come looking, but if we decide to hand, it has to be to the right horse.”
Chapman identified Pinseeker as “the horse to beat” after his excellent fifth in The Race by betcha and a last start fourth at Rangiora off a 30-metre handicap.
“Pinseeker is the horse to beat. Horses don’t go any better than he did at Rangiora.”
Harrison John will no doubt attract plenty of punter support after winning his last two starts and drawing well, while the Mark and Nathan Purdon-trained Vessem will also carry plenty of respect into the race.
In other news, Beach Ball isn’t the only Kiwi star joining McCarthy, with two-time Group One-winning mare Coastal Babe heading to him this week.
The daughter of Downbytheseaside has been purchased out of Steven Reid’s Rangiora stable by N40 Racing’s Joshua Davine, who made a big splash across Australasia at the recent round of yearling sales with many high-priced purchases.
Davine bought him off a mostly Australian ownership group, headed by large-scale syndicators Summit Bloodstock.
Coastal Babe won last year’s Victoria Oaks and the 2023 Caduceus Club Classic for Reid, as well as two rich Harness Million finals at Listed level.
