KEY POINTS:
If all goes to plan a little after 12.50pm at Te Rapa today you should see why Aaron Tata's still riding over the big fences.
The Cambridge trainer is so enamoured with the jumping prowess of exciting debut steeplechase winner Tempo he's shelved a safer life to go along for the ride.
Tempo's Waiuku trainer Bob Hackett, himself a former jumps rider, and wife Helen, who rides the horse in most of his work, say Tata's love affair with the 6-year-old stretches back two years.
"We sent him to Aaron's for two weeks while we were on holiday to get his ticket," said Helen Hackett.
"When we got back he told us, 'You're not getting me off this fella'."
Tata had a long wait, however, between discovering Tempo's untapped talent and a race-day payoff.
Tempo and Tata actually won a chase trial in May last year, but a combination of the horse's back problems and his dislike of deep puggy winter tracks kept the combination sidelined for another 12 months.
Nothing though was going to stop the pair in their jumps debut at Pukekohe on May 23.
And Tata isn't fazed again today, despite the stronger field they face in today's feature, the $10,000 Porritt Sand Steeplechase.
The Hacketts, who juggle Tempo's preparation with pre-training duties for John Sargent's stable, prefer to take a wait-and-see approach before pouring through the open-grade calendar.
But it's clear they're already having a lot of fun with the gelding they would have quit as a weanling if the owners at the time could have agreed on the sale price.
At one point they had an open grade sprinter on their hands - Tempo quit maidens in a 1m 22s performance over 1400m - and then a potential New Zealand Derby runner.
Whether the son of Rhythm's latest career direction pays off with a Great Northern or Grand National prize only time will tell.
But Hackett, 65, would like to think Tempo is potentially the best jumper he's ever had - and there's been a few through the front gates over the years.
"We won't be travelling too far from home with him this year though," said Hackett.
"The Northern [at Ellerslie] is the race we'd like to aim for next season. He's already schooled over the hill last year and flew up and down it."
Wife Helen can vouch for Tempo's bottomless reserves.
She rides him in most of his beach and hill work and says if she let him, he'd keep charging south to Port Waikato, turnaround and return home looking for more.
Jump To It, another last-start maiden chase winner, should be the toughest for Tempo to out-stay today.
But after six seconds in nine starts, the 9-year-old broke through against questionable rivals at Te Awamutu.
And don't forget that two starts back he was still 5 1/2 lengths adrift of Waitete Boy, the horse Tempo comfortably brushed off last time out at Pukekohe.
