"It was a very special day for Jan and I and a great thrill for both of us."
The Sherratts have retained a 50 per cent shareholding in both horses and race them with some close friends.
The Anarchist, a seven-year-old gelding by Raise The Flag out of Politic, was recording his first win, with his best previous placings being a second in a maiden steeplechase at Awapuni last August and four fourths.
He is raced by the Sherratts in partnership with a syndicate headed by the horse's co-trainer, Paul Nelson.
"Paul had this group of guys that raced another horse with him. It was a winner but there was a storm up at Paul's Airhill Stud and the horse went through a fence, broke a leg and had to be put down.
"He said to me how about giving them a 50 per cent share in The Anarchist and so we did."
The other members of the syndicate are Paul Nelson's brother Mark and his cousin David, Mike Stowell, Peter Tod, David Holden, Stuart Mitchell, Allan McLeod and the estate of the late Brian Guerin.
The Anarchist and Donardo fought a neck-and-neck tussle over the final stages of last Saturday's race with the former gaining the ascendancy close to the line to score by a long neck.
Sherratt said The Anarchist is a horse that has taken time to strengthen and mature and is a dour staying type.
"The distance last Saturday was really too short for him. He'll stay all day and the long-term plan is the Great Northern Steeplechase," he said.
Now that jumps racing will no longer be staged on the Ellerslie track, the Great Northern Steeplechase-Great Northern Hurdles double will this year be run at Te Rapa on September 18.
Argyll is an eight-year-old gelding by Gallant Guru out of Politic and is a horse the Sherratts had intended to sell as a youngster.
"He was up at Ben Foote's place at Cambridge being prepared for the Two-year-old Ready-To-Run sale but we decided to keep him," Sherratt said.
"Ben and his partner Kim Rogers have kept a 10 per cent share between them and the other 40 per cent is owned by Paul Nelson and his wife Carol."
Argyll has not been without his share of problems but has now recorded three wins, two seconds, two thirds and a fourth from 24 starts.
"He's had a bit of an attitude but Paul and Corrina have changed a few things with him and it's obviously worked," Sherratt said.
"He's had a tendon injury and developed kissing spine when he was up at Ben's place," Sherratt said.
"When he first came down to Paul's place he wouldn't jump but Paul gets Tommy Behrns [an equine manipulator] to go over all of his horses and he seems to have brought him right."
His win last Saturday followed a dominant victory in last month's $60,000 Waikato Steeplechase (3900m) and he also won a maiden steeplechase at Te Aroha in August.
The Nelson-McDougal stable lined up two horses in this year's Hawke's Bay Steeplechase and took out the quinella, with Argyll getting home an eight-length winner over No Tip.
Shaun Phelan, who has built up an outstanding record with the Nelson-McDougal stable this season, was given the choice of mounts and opted for No Tip.
The winning mount on Argyll went to English jockey Charlie Case, who is on a working holiday in New Zealand and based at the Nelson/McDougal establishment.
Argyll disputed the pace with West Coast for most of the race before jumping to a clear lead at the second to last fence. He was then challenged by stablemate No Tip but had plenty in reserve and surged clear again in the final stages.
It was the sixth time Paul Nelson has trained the winner of the Hawke's Bay Steeplechase, the last three of those in partnership with Corrina McDougal.
It also capped another huge day for the training partnership as they also claimed the $60,000 Te Whangai Romney's Hawke's Bay Hurdle (3100m) with The Cossack and the $20,000 Hawke's Bay Hunt Maiden Hurdle (2500m) with Noess. They have now won 23 races this season, 13 of them in the past month.
It was also a deserved Hawke's Bay Steeplechase win for the Sherratts after two second placings in the race. Their horse Proposition was runner-up to Captain Jingle in 2008 and filled the same placing behind Climbing High in 2011.
Proposition, who won six races including a McGregor Grant Steeplechase and a Manawatu Steeplechase, has been one of the best horses the Sherratts have raced in the past, with Just Like Cricket and Second Innings two others.
Just Not Cricket won 11 races including the Great Northern Hurdles (twice) and the Grand National Hurdles while Second Innings won seven races and was placed in both the Grand National Hurdles and the Great Northern Hurdles.
Argyll will now be aimed at this year's $100,000 Grand National Steeplechase (6400m) at Riccarton on August 13.
Politic has now ceased breeding but the Sherratts have the one-race winner Imperial Party (by Ghibellines) out of the mare coming on, as well as an unraced three-year-old filly by Nadeem and two-year-old unraced filly by El Roca.
Class jumper The Cossack rules again
One of the worst feelings a jumps jockey can have is when they know their mount is going to arrive at a fence on the wrong stride.
Top horseman Shaun Phelan had that feeling when riding champion jumper The Cossack approaching the final jump in last Saturday's $60,000 Te Whangai Romney's Hawke's Bay Hurdle.
The Cossack, sent out a raging hot $1.50 favourite for the 3100m feature, had taken a commanding lead and only had to negotiate the last jump safely and victory was his. However, he got in a bit too close, crashing through the top of the fence but still managing to stay on his feet.
The incident cost The Cossack valuable momentum but he showed his toughness and tenacity by rallying again, under the huge weight of 73kg, to surge clear and win by three lengths.
It is the biggest winning weight carried to victory in a Hawke's Bay Hurdle since the introduction of metrics, while the biggest weight ever carried to win the race was by Loch Lommond, who won with 12st 7lb (78kg) in 1884.
It was The Cossack's 13th win from 46 starts and his eighth jumping success in a row. That successful run over fences started when he took out the Great Northern Hurdle in October 2020 and he has since won a Waikato Hurdles, Wellington Hurdles, Grand National Hurdles, a second Great Northern Hurdles, KS Browne Hurdle, Ken and Roger Browne Maiden Steeplechase and now the Hawke's Bay Hurdle.
Phelan, who has been aboard The Cossack in the last six of those wins, was fairing the worst when the horse misjudged the last fence and was full of praise for how he managed to stay on his feet and recover so well.
"This horse is incredible," Phelan said in his victory speech.
"I'm just a very lucky person to sit up on top of him and go for the ride."
It was Phelan's fourth win in the race after previous victories aboard Kipkeino in 2017, Monarch Chimes in 2018 and Tommyra last year.
For the training partnership of Paul Nelson and Corrina McDougal, it was their second success in the race after No Change scored in 2019, while Nelson also prepared Ho Down to win in 2010, when training on his own.
Nelson had been confident The Cossack could win again despite carrying at least 6kg more than his rivals, but admitted the effort had taken a fair bit out of his champ.
"He knows he has had a hard race all right as he looks pretty tired now he has cooled down," Nelson said after the win.
Future plans for the horse have yet to be finalised, but there is a chance he could head across the Tasman for feature jumping races there.
The Cossack, whose stake earnings have now topped $400,000, is owned by Paul Nelson in partnership with three other Hawke's Bay men, Peter Grieve and his son Doug, and John Frizzell.
The quartet bought the horse off Peter Grieve's brother Ivan, who bred him out of the Galileo mare Stellardelmar.
Ivan Grieve paid A$90,000 for Stellardelmar as a weanling from a Gold Coast sale in Australia and has been optimistic for her as a racehorse.
However, she stripped a back leg when she got tangled up in a fence as a young horse and never got to the races.
Grieve is still breeding from Stellardelmar who has since left the two-race winner Galileo Express, who he races in partnership with South Island trainer Bruce Tapper.
He also has an unraced three-year-old gelding by Turn Me Loose out of the mare and a weanling filly by the same sire.
The Cossack's win last Saturday provided Peter Grieve and his son Doug with a notable double on the day because they also race Noess, who took out the maiden hurdle.
The Zed five-year-old chalked up his first win in nine starts when he scored a half-length win over Abu Dhabi in the 2500m event.
Peter Grieve bred Noess out of the Corrupt mare La Fox and he is the third successful horse that he has raced with the same name.