Group One Hopes For Cambridge Couple

Success on the opening day of the spring carnival at Hastings will fuel ambitions of a first Group One victory for a new husband and wife training partnership. David and Emma-Lee Browne are hoping for a winning performance from Blizzard on August 29 to warrant return trips to the carnival.

“He’ll run in the open mile and if he wins, and he would need to, we would like to have a crack at the Windsor Park Plate,” co-trainer Emma-Lee Browne said. “After that there are a few different options to try and get him back for the Livamol Classic.”

From riding at a the track as a teen, Browne has been in the industry for a long time. She began a new training partnership with David this season after previously operating in tandem with her father Jeff McVean, a high performance coach with Equestrian New Zealand.

Browne says it takes a bit of ground work to learn the different ways of the industry but you never stop learning.

“I’ve been quite fortunate to have previously show-jumped. Having an understanding in other areas is definitely worth it”.

Being Jeff McVean’s daughter, we can assume Emma-Lee knows a fair bit in the ways of preparing a horse for competition.

Blizzard was a two-time winner during last year’s Hawke’s Bay festival and subsequently ran fourth in the Gr.3 New Zealand Cup and was unplaced in the Gr.1 Auckland Cup, but he is unlikely to be tried again at two miles. “He’s bred to be a sprinter, although he has defied that already, but I think the 3200 metres is a bit of a push too far for him,” Browne said.