Racing: Catch me if you can - Fannin superb

Wise Men Say won his second Great Northern Steeples at Ellerslie. Photo / Trish Dunell

Shaun Fannin won our greatest jumping race because he had nothing to lose.

Fannin produced one of the most daring tactical riding changes in Great Northern Steeples history to cajole Wise Men Say from a slugger into a dashing front runner and as a result the 10-year-old is now a two-time Northern winner.

Wise Men Say, who won the Northern when it was last run at Ellerslie two years ago (the track was closed last winter) had been lacking ambition for much of this winter and trainer Raymond Connors even thought Saturday's marathon might be the old boy's last race.

That gave jockey Fannin free rein to try something different, although he wasn't quite expecting Wise Men Say to be 10 lengths clear for much of our most gruelling race.

"We thought he might have been getting back and not trying as hard so the plan was to ride him handier," says Fannin, who was riding his second Northern winner. "But he jumped the first two fences so well I just let him roll.

"It was a lot of fun and when he was coming down the hill and then into the straight and I couldn't really hear anything else coming I just enjoyed it."

Wise Men Say, all going well, will now probably get the chance to emulate former stablemate Hypnotize and be back next September to try to win a third Northern, with the win giving Connors his fifth training success in the race as well as one as a jockey. "We will have to give him a crack at it now," smiled Connors.

"It is a race that has been very good to us so to see him bounce back like that was very satisfying. And it was a great ride from Shaun."

Although Wise Men Say was the star of the jumping show on Saturday, fellow Central Districts trainer Harvey Wilson might deserve an award for the story of the jumps racing season after Bad Boy Brown outstayed Laekeeper in the $125,000 Great Northern Hurdle.

Wilson only has two jumpers in work and Bad Boy Brown has won our richest hurdle race and finished a nose second in the Grand National Hurdle. His other jumper is It's A Wonder, who bolted away with the Grand National Steeples last month.

The former Olympian wouldn't be drawn on which leg of that exclusive double means more but expects that Bad Boy Brown will eventually join It's A Wonder over the bigger fences.

The win was extra special for jockey Isaac Lupton as it brought up his 150th win over jumps in New Zealand, joining a club with only five other members.

Great Northerns

Wise Men Say won his second Great Northern Steeples in a dramatic form and tactics reversal.

Bad Boy Brown gave trainer Harvey Wilson an unusual jumps double.

The latter's win propelled jockey Isaac Lupton into an elite club.