Clearing the second fence in the feature race, race five, the Woodville Service Station Open Steeplechase, Raucous leads Prince Turbo in the first of three circuits.
Clearing the second fence in the feature race, race five, the Woodville Service Station Open Steeplechase, Raucous leads Prince Turbo in the first of three circuits.
Woodville-Pahīatua Racing Club hosted a surprise jumps meeting last month, which is a rarity on its calendar.
It came with three weeks’ warning courtesy of Te Aroha Racing Club, which was unable to hold the scheduled meeting due to its course conditions.
Woodville-Pahīatua Racing Club secretary Lorrin Koronui says the committee was delighted to host the race day as the programme for the course was a bit lean over winter.
Sponsor Warren Roache, three part-owners of the winner of race three, Country Bumpkin, and Woodville-Pahīatua Racing Club secretary Lorrin Koronui, who presented the winners' wine.
The downside was that it was a jumps meeting, with two jumps races and a steeplechase, meaning a lot of work was required to put it together. Great teamwork prevailed to take the jumps out of storage and set them up to strict standards.
The significance of the Woodville meeting was that the steeplechasers were in need of a solid competitive workout before some major jump events on the NZ Racing Calendar, including the Grand National Steeplechase at Riccarton on August 12.
The field, just seven horses, was nevertheless a top field, and many of the best trainers and owners were there to see how their horses fared weeks out from the big race.
To add interest, there were four flat races scheduled, mostly for amateur jockeys competing in a nationwide Flair-sponsored Amateur Riders’ Championship Series. They included the current leaders Scotty MacNab and Chelsea Sharp.
The TAB was operating and more than 150 punters on-course had the novelty of betting on steeplechasers and amateur jockeys – the horses’ form not being a lot of help.
The meeting started with two jumps races, where hurdles stand upright. These races are long - both 3000 metres with eight hurdles per circuit, giving both horse and jockey a thorough workout.
Race one started spectacularly with the favourite’s jockey falling off at the first hurdle, but the remaining 15 made it home safely, and in race two, a smaller field completed the three circuits uneventfully.
Amateur riders leave the start in race three, the Bush Ground Spreaders 2200-metre.
Two amateur flat races followed race three, the Bush Ground Spreaders 2200m Maiden, which was won by Country Bumpkin, a horse that ordinarily would have been old for its first win, at nine years old, but as an ex-steeplechaser with many placings, it is common to take time to flat race.
On the last straight of the final circuit, the positions are reversed.
How they are placed in the final straight.
Race five was the meeting’s feature race, with the six horses racing 4000 metres on a heavy track rated 10 by course attendants. This was a very long race by Woodville standards, but the big steeplechases are often longer than that as the brush fences are spaced out and leaning – the Riccarton NZ Grand National being 6400 metres.
Two more flat races concluded the meeting just as vivid rainbows threatened imminent storms.
Office secretary Lin Burrell holds two special NZ Racing Hall of Fame certificates from Woodville for a top racer in Daryl's Joy and a top trainer in Syd Brown.
The event had its pot of gold for the Woodville-Pahīatua Racing Club, which had also recently received two trophies from the NZ Racing Hall of Fame pertaining to one of Woodville’s top horses, Daryl’s Joy, and one of its iconic trainers, Syd Brown. They will hang at the course as inspiration to other trainers.
