Hunt Cup back in business
Sunday’s resurrected National Jumps Day at Te Aroha will see the dust wiped from an iconic trophy.
First competed for in 1885, the Waikato Hunt Cup will be up for grabs in the day’s open steeplechase after lying idle for several years.
‘‘It’s a marvellous gold cup,’’ said Waikato Hunt master Grant Mcgregor. ‘‘It’s great that it will be competed for again.’’
Like the magnificent cup, National Jumps Day has also been in recess for several years but with the backing of New Zealand Thoroughbred Racing, the Waikato Hunt Club, the Maramarua Hunt Club and a major sponsor the popular meeting is back in business.
The Te Aroha Jockey Club plans to work hard to restore the meeting to the glory days of a few years ago.
‘‘It’s a popular event, a good day out,’’ said club president Wayne Lowen. ‘‘The Waikato Hunt and Maramarua Hunt wanted to get involved which is great and they will have a good crew on track. It’s the last chance for the jumpers for the season and we are expecting good fields.’’ The day’s feature will be the Bayley’s Waikato Hunt Cup an open steeplechase over 4250 metres carrying an attractive $40,000 stake, up from $20,000 last year.
The Maramarua Hunt Steeplechase is for maiden jumpers while the restricted open Mike Fraserjones Hurdle carries a $20,000 stake. The eight-race card also features a maiden steeplechase and hurdle, two amateur rider races and two highweights.
Seventy nominations for the four jumps races confirm the popularity of the National Jumps Day concept with strong numbers numerically for the support card.
Sunday’s will be the club’s sixth jumps meeting this winter and the steeplechasers will negotiate a new live fence constructed at the 600m mark adding to the seven existing live fences. ‘‘The track is in absolutely beautiful order at the moment,’’ Lowen said.
‘‘If we get some decent weather we’re expecting a good crowd and good racing.’’
The Kevin Myers-trained trio of Palemo, The Big Opal and Yipson head the Hunt Cup nominations which also has emerging steeplechasers Lacustre, Just Got Home and Thenamesbond as contenders. Ooee, El Corby and Pukeake Sam head the restricted open hurdle nominations.