Double completed
Tallyho Twinkletoe first to achieve prestigious feat in 89 years
New Zealand jumper Tallyho Twinkletoe has cemented himself as one of the stars of the sport with a brilliant victory in Sunday’s Grand National Steeplechase at Ballarat.
It was a dominant win by the wellbacked favourite, with Kiwi jockey Aaron Kuru finding the gap from the 1000m putting the nine year-old in prime position, reports Racing.com.
The only concern for onlookers was when Tallyho Twinkletoe made a minor mistake at the second-last jump but he recovered quickly, finishing nine lengths ahead of his nearest rival in Spying On You.
The victory saw the Kiwi become the first horse since Mosstrooper in 1930 to do the Grand National Chase
and Grand National Hurdle double in a season. The Chase win also topped off an astonishing season for trainer Patrick Payne, who will almost certainly be named JJ Houlahan Championship Trainer of the Year.
Payne was full of praise for the jumper, declaring him the best he’s ever been associated with on ability.
“I used to love Sea King, but he [Tallyho Twinkletoe] is the best horse. Just can take the race by the scruff of the neck, he had the race, it’s silly to say, but from the mile, he had them covered. Not many horses can maintain a gallop like that.”
He again deflected credit to the horse’s New Zealand conditioner Kevin ‘Dummy’ Myers.
“They’ve always thought he was a pretty good horse back in New Zealand and that sort of proves it.”
The victory was made even sweeter for the jumper’s part-owner Jo Rathbone, who had flown from New Zealand for the race. Rathbone was emotional following the win due to the horse having overcome numerous injuries in his career.
“It’s just unreal, absolutely unreal,” she said. “We just kept bringing him into work and then he’d have small issues, he ended up being out for 21⁄2 years off and on.”
The plan is now for Tallyho Twinkletoe to go home to New Zealand for a well-earned spell before potentially returning to go for backto-back Grand National Steeplechase victories next year.