Wanganui jumper prevails in frantic finish
IT MIGHT not have been a Group I race but the owners of Prologue enjoyed winning the Waikato Hurdles just as much as the fourhorse war went right to the wire.
In one of the most exciting jumping spectacles seen at Te Rapa in years, Prologue, Just Got Home, Maharishi and Wee Biskit were virtually neck and neck over the last few hundred metres.
And when Aaron Kuru’s whip was knocked out of his hand just before the second last fence, if you’d been trying to pick the winner, Prologue would not have been your first choice.
But, with Kuru screaming at his mount instead, the horse responded just enough to claim a nose win over Just Got Home, with a short neck to Maharishi and half a length to Wee Biskit.
It wasn’t your usual
bunch
of jumping owners who went out to greet their brave horse afterwards, high profile owners Paul and Cushla Smithies and Peter and Kim McKay more used to celebrating the wins of dual Group I winner Puccini who has banked nearly a million dollars.
For Paul Smithies it was his first jumps winner and for Peter McKay it was the first time he’d been in the birdcage with a jumper for 25 years when he used to ride over fences.
But as the pair pointed out, they are only minority shareholders now, holding 5 per cent each.
‘‘That’s the man you need to be talking to,’’ said Smithies, pointing to trainer Raymond Connors who, along with his father Mark shares in the ownership.
Smithies, who bred Prologue, sent the son of Duelled down to Connors at Wanganui after his once promising career on the flat imploded.
‘‘ After he came from last at Matamata and bolted in we thought we had a champion on our hands. But he went in the wind and, after an operation, didn’t come back that great,’’ Smithies said.
‘‘So I sent him down to Raymond, who’s my second cousin, hoping he might have another career as a jumper. He’s won four hurdles now and there looks to be more in store.’’
While agreeing Prologue had now proved he was up to the best, Connors said he had not planned beyond yesterday’s prestige jumping event.
‘‘But he has great stamina, and keeps going at the same pace, so I guess a race like the Northern Hurdles is now a possibility. He seems to handle all types of footing but I think he still prefers better ground.’’
Connors rated Prologue the best hurdler he has trained but he still has a long way to go before he can be compared to Connors’ previous iron horse Hypnotize, who won three Great Northern Steeplechases.
While just pipped home, Just Got Home gave Pukekohe trainer Rudy Liefting the confidence he was looking for to continue with his plans to race the horse in feature jumps race in Australia.
‘‘He needed a decent jumps race to knock the edge off him,’’ said Liefting responding to an observation the horse had spoiled his chances by refusing to settle early yesterday.
Earlier, In For Fun stamped himself as a jumper of the future when he scored a decisive win in the maiden hurdle.
Rider Troy Harris had the fiveyear-old travelling sweetly behind the pace all the way and he extended in the home run to easily beat Hunter’s Creek by one and a quarter lengths.
Trainer Ken Duncan predicted a bright future for In For Fun who had his early education with Dave Haworth at Foxton.
‘‘Davey always rated him highly. He just took a long time to mature,’’ Duncan said.
While In For Fun’s jumping form line last season read PFP (pulled up, fell, pulled up) Duncan said he had a lot of bad luck and he had been forced to run him in steeplechases because he couldn’t get a hurdle start.
‘‘He’s still a year away from his best but he’s had all the education now,’’ Duncan said. ‘‘I was surprised he handled the track today – it can’t be as bad as they think.’’
When asked what he would do now with In or Fun he replied: ‘‘I’ll give him a big pat and take him home.’’