Jockey Aaron Kuru got the horse to settle reasonably well at the head of the field in last week's 3100m event and, despite bungling the last two fences, The Shackler was still too dominant for his rivals, winning by 4 and three-quarter lengths.
Several big bets had been placed on The Shackler to take out the race, including a last-minute $10,000 outlay to return $27,000. But his supporters must have had their hearts in their mouths when the gelding went down on his nose after hitting the top of the second-to-last fence. The Shackler did remarkably well to stay on his feet and then scrambled over the final jump and on to victory.
Jockey Kuru said afterwards that it was only The Shackler's supreme fitness that enabled him to recover after their mishap.
"I'm just lucky enough he stayed up," Kuru said. "A tired horse would have gone down but Paul had him rock-hard fit."
The 25-year-old also brought up his first Wellington Steeplechase victory aboard Amanood Lad to give him a memorable double on his former home track. He learnt to race-ride by working for the Hastings stable of Patrick Campbell and for John Bary before making the move north.
The Wellington Hurdles-Steeples double took Kuru's winning tally for the season to 18 and put him five in front of Will Gordon on the jumps jockeys premiership for this season.
Amanood Lad had to lump topweight of 70kg in last week's race but still proved too tough for his six rivals in the 5500-metre event. Kuru saved every inch of ground during the early and middle stages before sending the 12-year-old forward to challenge the leaders at the second-to-last fence. They were clear in front after jumping the last and went on to win by 2 and a half lengths.
It was Amanood Lad's sixth steeplechase victory and he created a new weight-carrying record for the race since metrics were introduced in 1974. He also joined four others as the oldest horses to win the Wellington Steeples, the others being Orient in 1890, Haydn in 1907, Teak in 1971 and Lord Zirito in 1995.
The Germano gelding is owned by Te Awamutu couple John and Shirley Blair and began his racing career from the Cambridge stable of Ben Foote, who prepared the horse for his first five wins over the big fences, including the 2015 Great Northern Steeplechase. It was on his advice that the horse be transferred to Nelson as he wanted to concentrate on flat horses.
Nelson is unsure what horses he will be taking to next month's Grand National meeting at Riccarton. He said this week that, with the Kaikoura Coast road still closed, it is now an arduous journey to get to Christchurch and return.
"War horse" Sea King a class act
New Zealand jumper Sea King was described by commentator Rick MacIntosh as a "war horse" after he captured another major jumping race in last Sunday's $A100,000 Brendan Drechsler Hurdle at Bendigo.
The evergreen 10-year-old was chalking up his 11th hurdle victory to go with five over steeples and proved a class above his rivals, lumping topweight of 70kg to a 1 and a half-length victory.
Whanganui trainer Kevin Myers decided to send Sea King across the Tasman after the horse finished a game third in the Hawke's Bay Hurdles at Hastings on July 1. His intentions were for the gelding to defend his crown in last Sunday's $A100,000 Mosstrooper Steeplechase, a race he has won for the past two years. But a technicality around his eligibility meant that his connections had to quickly switch to the hurdle race.
Sea King has entered the Ballarat stable of Patrick Payne for this Australian campaign and was ridden by successful jumps jockey Brad McLean. He stalked the leaders throughout before issuing his challenge with two fences to jump.
Sea King was marginally in front at the last obstacle and drew clear in the run to the line to take his stake earnings to close to $800,000.
The Shinko King gelding was bred by Central Hawke's Bay woman Sue Harty, who still shares in the ownership of the horse, along with Otaki trainer Rachel Frost and Auckland's Chris O'Reilly. Frost trained the horse in the early part of his racing career before he was transferred to Myers to further develop him into a jumper.
Harty said this week that Sea King is lucky to be alive as his dam, Ocean Princess, suffered so badly from grass staggers that she almost had her put down. "We nearly gave up on breeding from her because she was so bad and if we had, Sea King would never have been born," Harty said this week.
The horse was also lucky to escape with his life in a freak accident during the running of last year's Melbourne's Crisp Steeplechase.
A horse racing in front of Sea King clipped a section of the running rail causing it to spring out and the sharp edge drove straight into the Kiwi jumper's chest.
The impact dislodged Sea King's rider, Steven Pateman, and resulted in the horse suffering a nasty gash, about the size of an average human fist.
Despite the serious wound, the tough competitor carried on riderless and nearly completed the 3900m journey before being caught.
Fortunately Sea King's injury missed any vital organs but required several stitches and necessitated him being sidelined for the rest of the year. It was touch and go whether the horse would race again.
The horse is now expected to contest the Crisp Steeplechase before tackling either the Australian Grand National Hurdles or Australian Grand National Steeples.
Onefortheditch adds another
While Sea King was adding to his great record across the Tasman last Sunday his New Zealand trainer, Kevin Myers, was saddling up another win in New Zealand.
Myers stunned punters when he produced the Hawke's Bay-owned Onefortheditch to take out a $25,000 Rating 75 race over 1400m at New Plymouth at odds of 12 to one.
The Elusive City mare was having her first start since finishing seventh over 1600m at Whanganui more than a month ago but Myers had given the horse a 1200m trial at Waverley this month to help fit her for Sunday's assignment.
Onefortheditch is owned by Myers in partnership with two Hawke's Bay men, Graham Duffy and Paul Robinson. The 5-year-old is now the winner of five races from 24 starts and her stake earnings are now just short of $70,000.
Bonniegirl retired
Injury has fast-tracked the stud career of the black type winner Bonniegirl. The Darci Brahma mare won five of her 16 starts from the stable of Murray Baker and Andrew Forsman, including the Listed NZB Finance Sprint at Hastings in what has turned out to be her final race.
Bonniegirl is owned by Sir Owen Glenn, who bought the horse after that win.
"We bought her after she won at Hawke's Bay in April," Glenn's Hunter Valley-based bloodstock manager, Geoff Roan, said.
"Murray thought it was worth pressing on with her, but she suffered a hind leg fracture of her cannon bone in trackwork at Cambridge. Fortunately, she's okay and she'll be going to Iffraaj this year."
