Racing: Botch-up costs certain win

John Wheeler knows he was lucky to win yesterday's $25,000 Rotorua BoP Hunt Cup with Wexford Bay.

Wheeler is perhaps New Zealand's greatest judge of jumpers and had a new understanding of the Ken and Ann Browne-trained Primo Canera after beating him by half a length in yesterday's feature.

Primo Canera would have won the big race by lengths had he not made a complete mess of the fence at the 600m on the last round.

It says a lot for Shelly Houston's ability in the saddle that she stayed with him when the pair looked certain to part company.

Fences are there to be jumped - that's the discipline of jumps racing, but few horses you can remember could have recovered after the botch Primo Canera made a couple of fences from home.

Shelley Houston was blown away by Primo Canera's talent.

"You could not have asked for more. After what he did he had to show a lot of heart. He got stopped in his tracks, but still kept going and if he hadn't run out of distance he might have picked up that other horse if he'd had another 100m.

"He's like riding a 2-year-old that doesn't know what he's doing."

Wexford Bay is not bred to be a jumper - he is by multiple group one winner McGinty from a mare by another group one winner, Beechcraft.

"He won at the jumping championship at Paeroa two years ago and won his last two jumping starts in Melbourne," said Wheeler at Rotorua yesterday.

That Paeroa jumps meeting was where Wexford Bay registered his first steeplechase win when ridden by Wheeler's Melbourne stable foreman, Brett Scott.

Wexford Bay has a steeplechase record of four wins and a second from six starts, but had it not been for Wheeler's reluctance to accept a first opinion on an injury the horse would not be racing.

"The vet in Melbourne said he had done a suspensory ligament and that he was finished," Wheeler said.

"But I was going over to Melbourne and told Scotty to leave him in the stable for a few days until I got there. When I saw him I knew it wasn't ligament trouble. He had bruised his splint bone."

Wexford Bay has bounced back.

"He's pretty good, but that other horse [Primo Canera] is smart."

Primo Canera, giant size and roach back and all, had a big reputation even before he won at Ellerslie prior to yesterday's win.

No one will bet you about next year's Great Northern Steeplechase right now, but no market would risk Primo Canera if they did. His size and developing stamina can only make him better.