KEY POINTS:
Ben Foote saw himself more than the opposition as the biggest threat to Proposition in yesterday's $15,000 Inter-Island Steeplechase at Paeroa.
As it turned out neither was an issue.
Foote thought his inexperience in training jumpers may have impacted on his preparation of Proposition going into a major race against top class opposition He was wasting his time worrying.
In what you could call a dog fight, Proposition mastered a determined challenge from classy Primo Canera to score impressively.
"It's good to get that over and done with," said a relieved Foote.
Most would not have even considered Foote's inexperience a factor, but the Karaka trainer wasn't so sure when he considered yesterday's very tough conditions.
"I've only trained three jumpers and I worried about whether I had him ready."
Proposition and Primo Canera fought a tough battle in the home straight, but Jonathan Riddell on the winner said he was never really concerned.
"I didn't want to do too much on him and although the other horse fought back well, I only did what I needed to on my bloke."
The jumping game has been re-jigged and desperately needs a star and in Proposition it looks to have found one, along with a couple of other impressive winners in recent weeks.
It might be more than a month away, but the Great Northern Steeplechase is already shaping up as a classic jumping event.
"I'll run him in the Pakuranga Hunt Cup as a lead-up to the Northern," said Foote.
Great Northern icon Just The Man failed to make an impression on the leaders from mid-field yesterday, but he is likely to derive a huge amount of benefit from the experience as he heads to his main target again.
The runner-up's stablemate Havana City took third ahead of Waitete Boy.
In-form Tony Ihaka was an unhappy camper when he was brought down on All Redy a couple of fences from home when Jump To It and Missy Browne crashed. Ihaka believed he was a chance to be right in the finish.
Earlier in the day, apprentice Cory Parish won the first two hurdles races on The Shoe and Mario and later again finished second in two of the flat races.
Joanne Rathbone won the lesser steeplechase on Franconero, who improved sharply to win by a wide margin from Zackaroo for Just the Man's trainer Davina Waddell.
