Gulliver is delighted for his mate and fishing buddy. "Cory really deserves this, I'm so pleased for him."
For himself, Gulliver had been seriously disappointed when Rangatira, uncharacteristically, ran out of puff and finished well back in the Hawkes Bay Steeplechase at his previous start. "I really thought he was okay for that race, but he obviously wasn't."
Singlehandedly, Rangatira created a hugely exciting Wellington Steeplechase by racing fiercely in front well clear of the opposition throughout.
Much had been made of how horses could establish long leads in Wellington Steeplechases only to be brought undone when hitting the final 375m of the heavier home straight on rejoining the course proper.
Not one like Rangatira. Any horse who can win a Great Northern Steeplechase (last year) with three trips over the Ellerslie Hill is not going to be worried by a short scamper down the Trentham home straight.
If anything, Rangatira looked to be going stronger at the winning post, with the rest more out of sight, than at any part of the race.
So much so that on returning, Perrett declared the toughest part of the entire race was pulling Rangatira to a halt after the finish.
"He was loving it out there, the further he went the better he got. He wanted to go around again."
Rangatira misjudged the first of the stand double on the middle round, but otherwise jumped beautifully.
Gulliver would love to think his remarkable steeplechaser could win the Great Northern in successive years and Rangatira should get his chance. He carried 66kg, only 1kg above the minimum, on Saturday and even with a penalty for this victory he should still be at a competitive weight.
Topweight Tom's Myth won the race two years ago but last year jumped erratically and finished well back. His jumping was far from perfect again and he finally got rid of rider Shaun Phelan with a lap to run.
Just Got Home wasn't true to his name after winning Saturday's $75,000 Wellington Hurdles.
Carting the horse home, it was a long trip back to Auckland for driver Megan Liefting, wife of the horse's trainer Rudy.
First, the departure for the long journey was delayed while veterinarians tended to the bad gash on a hind leg when a rival landed on him at the fence near the 1000m.
Then terrible weather on the Desert Road meant slow progress. "I wasn't sure of the road through the heavy rain in the dark," said Megan Liefting, "it was late when we got home."
Connections were lucky the horse that landed on Just Got Home did so on the side of his hind leg, away from the tendon down the back of the leg.
It is almost certain Just Got Home will be missing from Riccarton and the Grand National, but a decision has to be made about whether to give the emerging jumping star another jumping race leading into Ellerslie's Great Northern Hurdles.
The future of Just Got Home's handicap is uppermost in the minds of the Lieftings.
"That's why we made a decision early on that he would only target the big races, instead of the lesser open-class races, because you get more money and the same rehandicap."
With just four jumps races behind him, Just Got Home is still learning, but appears to be shedding the tendency to race too fiercely.
"Cody Singer has found out that the best way to help him over that is to throw the reins at him and let him sort himself out."
Just Got Home has inherited from his dam, Oaks winner Justa Tad, the ability to handle most types of footing, although he seems to really like winter tracks. "The mare was the same. She won the Lowland Stakes in a bog and took the Oaks on a good track."
