Sometimes you just have to stick to the gameplan, even if it seems like the situation is getting away from you.
Matamata's Old Countess under jockey Buddy Lammas had the patience and the nerve to run down local defending champion Yipson (Shaun Fannin) heading towards the final turn to win the $20,000 Jolt Coffee House Wanganui Steeplechase yesterday.
Yipson, trained by Kevin Myers, led most of the 4100m jumps feature at the Wanganui Racecourse, despite having raced on Wednesday, only to be passed at the final turn by Old Countess, who then held off the hard charging Our Jackson (Isaac Lupton), trained by another local in Raymond Connors.
Punters picked up a cool $10.50 for the upset victory, which came after Old Countess had spent the first two runs past the finishing post in clear fourth as Lammas opted to tail Yipson, Zardetto (Elen Nicholas) and Tizza Secret (James Seivwright).
Yipson would move clear of the chasing Zardetto and Tizza Secret twice on the back stretch, extending the advantage to at least five lengths and making it seem unlikely anyone could make up all of that distance even when the 2017 winner began to tire.