Shaun Fannin rides Jesko to thrilling Manawatū Steeplechase victory
Fannin prepares the 7-year-old son of Atlante with his wife Hazel out of their Awapuni base and looks to have a prodigious talent over fences on his hands with Jesko
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5 days ago
- NZ Herald
Perennial placegetter Captains Run picks Grand day to finally come out on top
Captains Run finally shed his big-race bridesmaid tag in the 150th running of the Racecourse Hotel Grand National Steeplechase at Riccarton on Saturday. Billed as a two-horse war between favourite Jesko, who had won the Koral the week before, and West Coast, who was looking for his fourth win
NZ Herald
6 days ago
- NZ Herald
West Coast trying to join four-peat club in Grand National Steeplechase
The four-peaters are a rare breed. The most recent, obvious adored four-peater was Winx, who won four Cox Plates in a row. Mic drop. Yeats won the prestigious Ascot Gold Cup four times and in harness racing Blacks A Fake won the Inter Dominion four times, but not in a row. There have been five-peaters (now there is a term you really don't hear that often). The great Australian sprinter Manikato won the William Reid Stakes five straight years from 1979 to 1983. Then there is the king of the peats, Koral. The big southerner won the Homeby Steeplechase at Riccarton seven times and finished second another. They got so sick of etching his name on the trophy they simply named the race after him. Which brings us to the $200,000 Racecourse Hotel Grand National Steeplechase at Riccarton today. It is the 150th running of the iconic race, which could have so easily been lost had jumps racing been canned. But today's 5600m is a chance for West Coast to join Winx, Yeats and the Penrith Panthers in the four-peat club. West Coast is a magnificent horse. Big, raw-boned but with a certain nobility in the way he stands. What is notable is the way he has carried 73kg in almost every steeplechase he has contested in the past two years, including his second and third Grand Nationals. There is no doubt he is the most accomplished horse in today's Grand National but eventually something has to give. West Coast is now a 10-year-old and carries 7kg more than favourite Jesko, even though the latter has been our form steeplechaser this winter. West Coast may have carried that same daunting weight to win the last two years but there was no Jesko in those races. To rub salt in the wounds, Jesko has stolen West Coast's regular rider Shaun Fannin, who trains the former and so obviously rides him. West Coast will still be our great racing warrior and he will still do what he always does in the home straight today: continue to go forward. But will he join the four-peaters? That may depend on what toll the step up to 5600m takes on Jesko. He had too much speed and too little weight for Captains Run and West Coast in the Koral (yep, that one) last Saturday and if today's race was over the same 4250m trip Jesko would start $1.30 again. But whether his leg speed burns quite so brightly, after 5000m and with 600m more to go, might decide this race. Earlier in the day, West Coast's stablemate Berry The Cash tries for one of those aforementioned three-peats in the Grand National Hurdles. He faces the same weight issues as West Coast but his arch-rival Dictation has been scratched so history awaits him. Michael Guerin wrote his first nationally published racing articles while still in school and started writing about horse racing and the gambling industry for the Herald as a 20-year-old in 1990. He became the Herald's Racing Editor in 1995 and covers the world's biggest horse racing carnivals.
NZ Herald
02-08-2025
- NZ Herald
New stars of jumps racing light up Riccarton as Nationals loom
Fannin got Jesko over the second last efficiently enough, then balanced him up and asked for a better jump at the last. He got it, pushed the turbo button and in three strides the 4250m race was over. Jesko showed the speed of a horse who was able to place in a 2200m flat race just eight days earlier and was simply too fast for Captains Run and West Coast. Those two were brave, but heart and stamina were no match for sheer leg speed on a day when Riccarton basked in sunshine rather than producing a winter bog. The question now for the army of punters in love with Jesko is how much harder the 5600m of next Saturday's Grand National Steeplechase will be? And whether Jesko's younger legs can still outsprint his rivals, especially if the weather changes and the track is deeper? Fannin, who trains Jesko with his wife Hazel, thinks the horse can handle the more daunting challenge, especially as Jesko can't be re-handicapped for Saturday's win. 'The way he got to the line today gives me confidence he can win again next week,' said Fannin. Jesko is now $1.50 with the TAB to win the National, pushing West Coast out to $4.20 as he attempts to win the race for the fourth straight year. Earlier in the programme, Dictation suggested he is the horse to beat in next Saturday's Grand National Hurdles when he bolted away with the Sydenham Hurdles. It was redemption for the Hastings jumper as he had led and was about to win the same race last year before dislodging his jockey at the last fence, allowing Berry The Cash to win. A week later Berry The Cash went on to win the Grand National for the second time with Dictation's co-trainer Paul Nelson opting to bypass the iconic race. That won't be the case this year. Dictation had already shown he has improved since last season when he won the Waikato Hurdles two starts ago and the ease of his victory yesterday will worry connections of his rivals next week. He was bold in front, relaxed after chancing two consecutive fences down the back straight and never really looked in danger of defeat. He and Berry The Cash now share $2.60 equal favouritism for the Grand National Hurdle. 'I think he will improve with that run too,' said Nelson. 'He missed a little bit of work after he banged a leg following that Te Rapa win [Waikato Hurdles] so this will bring him on.' Helping Dictation further is the fact he won't be re-handicapped for Saturday's race, which means he will still have a 7kg swing in the weights over Berry The Cash when they go an extra 1100m. Michael Guerin wrote his first nationally published racing articles while still in school and started writing about horse racing and the gambling industry for the Herald as a 20-year-old in 1990. He became the Herald's Racing Editor in 1995 and covers the world's biggest horse racing carnivals.
