The husband and wife team of Shaun and Hazel Fannin, successful trainers of Jesko, show off their trophies after the horse’s decisive win in last Saturday’s $100,000 Wellington Steeplechase.
John Jenkins is a longtime racing journalist based in Hawke’s Bay.
Last Saturday’s bizarre turn of events in the 4000m steeplechase race at Trentham brought back memories of a similar incident in another jumping race on the Trentham course 44 years ago.
Three jockeys were suspended after taking the wrong course in the opening event at last Saturday’s Wellington meeting.
Michael Roustoby (Smug), Dean Parker (Catch And Release), and Joshua Parker (Fabulous Nancy) all mistakenly veered right instead of left through a complex section of the jumps course 400m from the finish, resulting in significant ramifications.
Stewards launched an inquiry after the race, deeming the trio had breached the rules by deviating from the correct route. Smug was first past the post but all three runners were disqualified.
As a result, Hey Hey Hey, Zeefa Zed, and Muse were the only official finishers, with Hey Hey Hey awarded the race following the disqualifications. Their riders were the only ones to take the correct route.
However, under the official rules of racing, the race should have been declared invalid as, although those three horses took the right gap onto the course proper, all three of them had cut the corner and gone inside the marker pegs in doing so.
Roustoby and the two Parkers all admitted a charge of taking the wrong course and the Judicial Committee handed each jockey a three-week suspension, citing “incompetent riding” as the reason for the penalties.
The riders’ confusion was brought about by the fact that two sections of the running rail, in different areas, had been taken down at the top of the home straight. It meant that jockeys were faced with two gaps when directing their mounts to join up with the course proper.
The 1981 running of the prestigious Wellington Hurdles is one race former jockey Paul Hillis would like to forget.
Hillis, one of the most successful jumps jockeys of that era and a personal friend, was aboard a horse ironically called Paul’s Boy and they were clear in the lead approaching the home turn in the 3100m event.
Back in those days, the hurdle course at Trentham was on the inside part of the track, with only the last fence put up on the course proper.
All the youthful Hillis had to do was steer Paul’s Boy out through the gap in the running rail and on to the course proper before heading for the finish line, with one fence to jump.
But, instead of steering Paul’s Boy through that outside gap, Hillis kept his mount on the hurdle course and jumped the next fence in the lane before, to his horror, he realised he had taken the wrong route.
Purcil was the only horse within striking distance of Paul’s Boy coming to the home turn and his jockey, John McGifford, almost followed Hillis the wrong way. It was only a last-second decision that saw him haul the grey around and make it safely through the outside gap, with the rest of the field following him.
Purcil was now left clear in front and, once safely over the last jump, he kept up a strong run to the line to win by 10 lengths from Diprose.
Upon pulling his mount up, the hapless Hillis had to take Paul’s Boy all the way back to the gap at the top of the home straight and then trot him down the course proper back to the birdcage, past the grandstands and having to endure a barrage of boos and jeers from the crowd.
Hillis had not ridden on the Trentham hurdle course previously and all he could say at the time was: “I was out in front, sticking to the rails, and when I came round the corner and saw a hurdle in front of me I simply put my head down and rode for it. It wasn’t till I heard the crowd screaming that I took a quick look back to see what was wrong and saw that the grey horse was out on the course proper and I was still on the inside track.”
To add to his woes, the Judicial Committee suspended Hillis for three riding days.
At least Paul’s Boy’s owner-trainer Sam Brosnan was somewhat sympathetic towards his rider.
“How are you feeling?” Brosnan asked the young man in the jockeys’ room afterwards.
“Not too good,” replied Hillis. “Strewth, I’m sorry mate.”
“Oh well,” said Brosnan quietly. “I know you didn’t do it on purpose but would you have won?”
“I don’t know how well that grey horse behind me was going but your bloke had plenty left. He was going like a winner,” Hillis replied.
John McGifford, on eventual winner Purcil, had no doubts about what the outcome should have been.
“Paul’s Boy would have beaten us,” he said. “He had three or four lengths on us and was travelling better than we were. Second was the best I was hoping for, either that or for him [Paul’s Boy] to make a blue at the last fence.
Just like Paul’s Boy, Smug should have won last Saturday’s maiden steeplechase at Trentham as, even after taking a much wider path into the home straight, he was still clear of the opposition as he crossed the finish line, albeit after taking the wrong route to get there.
Last Saturday’s incident-packed race was also marred by the demise of Catch And Release, who pulled up lame after crossing the finish line. He was found to have suffered a fracture to the right hind fetlock and was humanely euthanised.
Catch And Release was bred by his Hawke’s Bay owner Ivan Grieve, who raced him in partnership with Hastings trainer John Bary.
The six-year-old gelding was the winner of two races from the Wanganui stable of Kevin Myers, one on the flat and one over hurdles, and was a half-brother to the champion jumper, The Cossack.
Jesko has HB syndicate jumping for joy
A group from Hawke’s Bay were rejoicing when Jesko crossed the line a decisive winner of last Saturday’s $100,000 Grant Plumbing Wellington Steeplechase.
The latest star on the jumping scene is raced by a large group, including the Hawke’s Bay-based Blast Off Syndicate, which owns a 30% share.
There are 10 people involved in the Blast Off Syndicate, including Jill Fannin, the Hastings-based mother of Jesko’s co-trainer, Shaun Fannin.
The others in the Blast Off Syndicate are Jeremy and Sharron White, Jill Deadman, Liz Hearn, Marcia Mabey and Judy Nelson from Hastings, Rachel Martin (Wairoa) and Sue Dykes and Heather McDonald from Dannevirke.
Jesko, in the hands of Shaun Fannin, completed a hat-trick of wins over the steeplechase fences and brought up his seventh win from just 22 starts with another quality performance in the 4900m feature.
Fannin, who prepares the seven-year-old alongside his wife Hazel, produced a perfect ride, dictating all of the pace while conserving as much energy as possible for the last 600m slog in tough conditions.
Jesko jumped superbly throughout and shook off the attentions of another champion jumper in The Cossack with one fence left to clear.
He was then challenged by the Kevin Myers-trained Call Me Jack and the pair went stride for stride through the crossing and on to the course proper with Jesko marginally in front as they cleared the final obstacle.
Fannin then asked his mount for the supreme effort, and Jesko responded, forging away to the joy of his many supporters to win by 3-12 lengths from Call Me Jack with a huge gap back to The Anarchist, who battled solidly for third.
Fannin purchased Jesko for $3300 through the Gavelhouse auction site and still owns a major share in the horse, who has now won $170,940 in stakemoney.
Fannin now has his eyes on the $200,000 150th Grand National Steeplechase (5600m) at Riccarton in August with Jesko, a race he has won the last three editions of aboard reigning New Zealand Jumper of the Year, West Coast.
Flamin’ Romans strikes again at Caulfield
Flamin’ Romans, a horse Dannevirke’s Steve Prenter has a 20% share in, ended a seven-month drought from the winner’s stall with an emphatic 1-1/2 length victory in a A$80,000 Benchmark 78 race over 2000m at Caulfield last Saturday.
The well-related gelding collected his second win from only four starts at Caulfield and took his career tally to five wins from 17 starts.
Previously a winner over the same distance and in the same Benchmark 78 grade at on the Caulfield track last October, the five-year-old put in a repeat performance on Saturday.
The Ciaron Maher-trained Flamin’ Romans was third-up in a new campaign and had been building to another win, having resumed with a seventh over 1500m at Sandown in May before a last-start second in a 2000m race at Mornington on June 9.
The five-year-old began well for jockey John Allen and took up a handy position. He briefly appeared to be labouring coming around the turn but then regained his momentum, after straightening for home, and surged to the front in the final 150m before going on to win by 1-1/4 lengths.
A full-brother to his Group 1-winning stablemate Smokin’ Romans, Flamin’ Romans has now had 17 starts for five wins, seven placings and has amassed A$255,740 in stakes.
Steve Prenter also owns a 15% share in Smokin’ Romans, who has won 11 races from 48 starts, the most recent being in the Listed A$300,000 Warrnambool Cup (2350m) on May 1.
Smokin’ Romans won the Group 1 A$1 million Turnbull Stakes (2000m) at Flemington in October 2022 and then went on to finish seventh in both the Caulfield Cup (2400m) and Melbourne Cup (3200m) that year.
Flamin’ Romans and Smokin’ Romans were bred by White Robe Lodge’s Brian and Lorraine Anderton and are by the stud’s successful sire Ghibellines. Their dam is the Yamanin Vital mare Inferno, who herself won 10 races, including two editions of the Group 2 Canterbury Gold Cup (2000m).
42 Havelock North homes are out of limbo after two-and-a-half years.