The Cossack has been in the care of Craig Thornton since that Australian debut and Nelson said the former New Zealand trainer-jockey has been very happy with the horse's progress.
Although he was a winner at his only steeplechase race in New Zealand, The Cossack had to school over the Australian steeplechase fences to the satisfaction of stewards before he could start in tomorrow's 4500m event.
The trial was over 2800m on the Coleraine track on August 15 and The Cossack finished less than two lengths from the winner in third place.
He was ridden by Hastings-born jockey Aaron Kuru, who used to be the number one stable rider for Paul Nelson when based in New Zealand but now resides in Victoria.
Nelson said he has viewed a video of the trial and was happy with what he saw.
"It was a pretty nice effort. They had raced on the track the day before and it was pretty cut up down on the inside so he was kept out wide in the better ground," he said.
"He worked up to them quite easily and wasn't really pressured at the finish."
Nelson thinks the Australian steeplechase fences should suit The Cossack better than their hurdle jumps, which are noticeably smaller than in New Zealand.
"The hurdle fences are more upright than ours and he jumped them quite big," he added.
Nelson said when he took another of his star jumpers, Chibuli, to Melbourne back in 2002, he decided against giving him a hurdle start there and entered him straight into a steeplechase.
The horse, who had won 10 races in New Zealand, four of them over jumps, took out the prestige Crisp Steeplechase (4000m) on his Australian debut but unfortunately fell in the Grand National Steeplechase at his next start and had to be put down.
The Cossack is the winner of nine of his 14 hurdle starts as well as the one steeplechase victory and is owned by Nelson in partnership with three other Hawke's Bay men, Peter and Doug Grieve and John Frizzell.
Nelson was on track to watch The Cossack contest the Australian Grand National Hurdle and was on a flight back to Melbourne on Thursday to put the finishing touches on the horse before tomorrow's big race.
New Zealand jockey Shaun Phelan, who has been The Cossack's regular rider in the past 12 months, is also travelling back to Australia to retain the mount.
The Cossack will carry topweight of 70 kilos in tomorrow's race, with his main opponent expected to be another New Zealand-bred jumper, Flying Agent.
The 10-year-old Raise The Flag gelding has been weighted with 68.5kg and is the winner of two his last three steeplechase starts, the most recent being in the prestige Crisp Steeplechase (4200m) at Sandown on August 7.
Bred by Brian and Lorraine Anderton of White Robe Lodge, Flying Agent was initially trained in New Zealand by Brian Anderton in partnership with his son Shane, winning two of his 14 starts before his sale to Australia.
The Cossack and Flying Agent will be out to continue the great record New Zealand-bred horses have had in the Australian Grand National Steeplechase, winning three of the last four runnings of the race.
Another jumps win for in-form stable
The Hastings stable of Paul Nelson and Corrina McDougal has dominated the country's jumping races this winter and revealed another promising hurdler when Rocking Good Time was successful at last Sunday's Waverley meeting.
The nine-year-old Roc de Cambes-sired gelding produced a strong staying performance to score an impressive one-and-a-half-length win in a maiden hurdle race over 3000m.
The Nelson-McDougal stable has chalked up 15 wins since June 6, 14 of them in jumping races.
The stable has claimed six prestige jumping races in that time, the $60,000 K S Browne Hurdle (The Cossack), $60,000 Ferguson Gold Cup Steeplechase (No Tip), $60,000 Waikato Steeplechase (Argyll), $60,000 Hawke's Bay Hurdle (The Cossack), $60,000 Hawke's Bay Steeplechase (Argyll) and $75,000 Wellington Hurdle (Nedwin).
Nelson said this week Rocking Good Time has only been in his stable about six weeks, the horse having previously been trained by Cambridge-based Ralph Manning.
Manning owns Rocking Good Time in partnership with another Waikato man, Tony Coombe, and had given the horse 47 starts on the flat for three wins, four seconds and five thirds.
Since joining the Nelson-McDougal stable, Rocking Good Time has had two hurdle starts, finishing third over 3200m at Te Rapa on July 30 before last week's success.
Nelson said this week he and Manning had talked about a jumping career for Rocking Good Time for several months and things were finalised after the horse finished second in an amateur riders' race over 2200m at Rotorua on June 27.
"I said to Ralph, 'when is this horse going to have a jumping race?' And he said 'I've brought his covers with me today so you can put him on your truck now if you like!'" Nelson said.
Jockey Shaun Phelan rated Rocking Good Time his best ride at Waverley last Sunday and he certainly rode a confident race on the gelding.
He settled him a distant last in the early running before starting to take closer order over the final 1000m.
Rocking Good Time measured the fences well, putting in some magnificent leaps, and quickly improved to challenge for the lead with two jumps to clear.
The horse took over in front jumping the last hurdle, and raced clear in the run to the line.
Nelson said there are no definite plans for the horse now but there is every chance he will contest another hurdle race at the Wanganui meeting that has been transferred to the Woodville track on September 22.
Special breeders function at HB races
The Hawke's Bay/Poverty Bay Thoroughbred Breeders' Association is the new sponsor of the Group 3 Gold Trail Stakes, and to mark the occasion it is putting on a special function at the Hastings racecourse on September 10.
The $100,000 Gold Trail Stakes (1200m) for three-year-old fillies will be one of the feature races on this first day of the Colliers Hawke's Bay Spring Carnival.
The time-honoured event is also the first race in the New Zealand Bloodstock Filly of the Year series and regularly draws a top class field.
The Hawke's Bay/Poverty Bay Thoroughbred Breeders Association's function that day will be in the Karamu Lounge, in the Members Stand, and to make the day even more exciting the MC will be auctioneer extraordinaire and raconteur Steve Davis.
The room has a capacity of 120 people and tickets are now on sale at $75 a head.
To book your tickets RSVP by September 3 to tracy@codenz.com along with payment to bank account 02-0644-0099237-000 (surname reference).
On receipt of payment, a confirmation email, tickets and further information of the day's proceedings will be sent out.
Racing awards night September 9
This year's annual Hawke's Bay/Poverty Bay Racing & Breeding Awards function will be held in the Cheval Room at the Hastings racecourse on Friday, September 9.
Sponsored by Bramwell Bate Lawyers, the awards recognise the achievements of Hawke's Bay/Poverty Bay thoroughbred trainers, breeders and horses during the past racing season.
The function will be a cocktail evening commencing at 6pm and tickets, at $65 a head, can be purchased from the Hawke's Bay Racing office.
The award categories are:
• Chouxmaani Investments Three-year-old of the Year
• Thoroughbred Breeder of the Year (wins)
• Thoroughbred Breeder of the Year (points)
• Thoroughbred Breeder of the Year by NZ-bred progeny (points)
• Group & Listed winners
• Broodmare of the Year
• Owner of the Year (points)
• Trainer of the Year (wins)
• Trainer of the Year (strike-rate)
• HBPB Trained Horse of the Year (stake money)
• HBPB Owned Horse of the Year (black type race performances)
Filly foal for Melody Belle
Champion New Zealand mare Melody Belle gave birth to her first foal last Saturday night, a filly by top Australian sire Written Tycoon.
The daughter of Commands was originally bought as a yearling by Te Akau principal David Ellis and she went on to win 14 Group One races for Fortuna Syndications, with two of the members of that syndicate being Waipukurau couple Trevor and Debbie Walters.
Upon her retirement from the racetrack, Melody Belle was sold as a broodmare in Australia for $A2.6 million ($2.9m) to Yulong Investments.
"We are absolutely thrilled with the first foal of Melody Belle," said Yulong's chief operating officer Sam Fairgray.
"You could not get a better first foal. A super job by the mare."
