Top rider Ross Elliot might be making his last appearance at Trentham when he partners Sir Avion in the $45,000 Wellington Steeplechase tomorrow.
Elliot, aged 31, said he was tired of the constant wasting needed to maintain his riding career and was unlikely to be riding next winter.
"I haven't made up my mind, but I don't think so," Elliot said when asked if he would be riding next year.
In the meantime, he has not renewed his licence for the next season, though he will need to if Sir Avion runs at the Grand National meeting in Christchurch next month.
Elliot struggles to ride at less than 62kg and has had to waste to ride Sir Avion at that mark tomorrow.
"There's no money in it [riding jumpers] and I don't enjoy it any more," Elliot said.
"It would be different if I could line up and ride 61kg every week. I would be happy to do that, but I can't.
"You can put a lot of work into a horse, schooling it and educating it, then, six months down the track, it lines up with 60 kilos in a big race which it can win, and you can't ride it.
"Either that or you kill yourself getting down to the weight."
It was a situation Elliot experienced only last month when Sir Avion won the $100,000 Great Northern Steeplechase, with 60kg, with Wayne Hillis in the saddle.
"It was disappointing, though I was probably more thrilled for the connections and the O'Connor family," Elliot said. "They have been behind me all the way and they had a lot of knockers going into the northern meeting."
Trainer Kevin O'Connor had also made it clear that Elliot would always have first refusal on the mount and Hillis, who rides Our Bro tomorrow, is probably one of the few riders to win a Great Northern and not have the ride at the horse's next start over fences.
Elliot, who began his riding career in the central districts, won numerous feature races on the flat before increasing weight forced him to confine his riding to jumping races and highweights.
He was only millimetres away from capturing one of the great races when the runner-up in the 1994 Cox Plate on Rough Habit and won five group one races, including the Queensland Derby.
He also won the New Zealand Oaks at Trentham, the One Thousand Guineas at Riccarton and the Sires' Produce races at Awapuni and Ellerslie.
Elliot has also achieved a rare double at Hastings, winning both the Hawkes Bay Cup and Hawkes Bay Steeplechase.
His other big wins over fences include the Wellington Hurdles (twice), Great Northern Hurdles, Waikato Steeplechase and Waikato Hurdles.
Elliot has no doubt Sir Avion is a big winning chance tomorrow.
"You have to be confident when you are on the best horse in the field. He's a super-talented horse."
Sir Avion will be having his first experience of the Trentham figure-of-eight steeplechase course but Elliot did not see that as a significant drawback.
"He's a very good jumper. He sometimes gets the fences short, but he never makes real mistakes."
Sir Avion was a $2 favourite last night and Elliot said his mount would have the edge on second favourite Bodle.
"Bodle is a very good horse - though I don't think he beat much last week - but if it comes down to a true staying test, I might be on the better horse."
- NZPA
Racing: Steeplechase may be last hurrah
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