KEY POINTS:
He's won 18 races and more than $400,000 in stakes.
Twelve of the wins have been on the flat and the other six over hurdles.
Four wins have been in feature winter flat races and his feature hurdle wins include last year's Awapuni Hurdles. His win in Saturday's $60,000 Wellington Hurdles at Trentham completed a double after taking out last year's race.
It also completed another feature double for the year, having won the $50,000 Waikato Hurdles at Te Rapa in May.
Little wonder Wanganui trainer Evan Rayner rates Van Winkle his favourite horse.
"He would have to be," Rayner said after Saturday's win. "I have had some good horses but nothing that's won that many races and keeps going. And he's won good races."
Among the better hurdlers Rayner has trained have been 1990 Great Northern Hurdles winner Star Count and Mister Divinsky who was notching his sixth hurdle win in a row when taking out the 1990 Grand National Hurdles.
Rayner marvels at Van Winkle's durability. Overall he has a record of 85 starts for 18 wins, 14 seconds and 10 thirds. He was racing at the Wellington winter meet on Saturday for the eighth year in succession.
Van Winkle carried topweight of 67kg to victory on Saturday and he officially turns 11 on August 1.
"You never know whether he's going to win another one," Rayner said.
"He's getting weight, he's getting on and I thought he must come to the end of it. But the way he won today, you have to press on."
Rayner said Van Winkle would probably head south for the Grand National meeting at Riccarton next month but was not sure of the horse's contesting the $60,000 Grand National Hurdles (4200m).
Van Winkle has finished second and fifth in the race in the last two years but Rayner said the longer distance of such races seemed to find the horse out.
"We said we wouldn't go," Rayner said. "We might run the first day and come home."
Van Winkle was ridden on Saturday by Jamie Gillies who has been the horse's regular rider this year.
He was aboard the horse for his win in the Waikato Hurdles and another feature win for Gillies this year was the $30,000 McGregor Grant Steeplechase at Ellerslie on June 4 aboard Fair King.
Gillies, 30, is a younger stepbrother of Michael Gillies who won the Wellington Hurdles on Floodlight in 1983.
The lead swapped between Van Winkle and Counter Punch on Saturday but when Counter Punch began to tire nearing the top of the straight, Van Winkle strode ahead and went on to score by five lengths.
There were three casualties in the race. Gold Heist fell with about 1100m to run and Just Not Cricket crashed at the fence with about 800m to run and in the process brought down Waikiki Prince.
Jade Lewis, the rider of Waikiki Prince, received concussion and is automatically stood down from riding for three weeks.
The riders of Just Not Cricket and Gold Heist both said their mounts were travelling well before the falls.
Just Not Cricket's rider Isaac Lupton said: "He was going very well. I hadn't even gone for him when he went."
Gold Heist's rider Missy Browne said: "He was smoking. That was probably why he fell, he was a bit keen."
- NZPA
