Racing: McGlades show their gratitude by beating their hostess home

Shelley Houston. Photo / APN

This wouldn't happen in any other sport.

Ann Browne provides the training facility for Sheryl and Roger McGlade to get Karlos fit enough to beat the Ann Browne-trained Mount Sinai in Saturday's $33,500 Dunstan Feeds Waikato Hurdles at Te Rapa.

That's not quite as brutal as it sounds - more, it's part of the community feel that exists in the jumping game.

Ann and the late Ken Browne developed a specialised hill training property at Cambridge, which allows horses a greater degree of fitness than conventional racetrack training.

"You can't get horses fit enough to win these early-season races without that type of training," said Sheryl McGlade after Karlos outlasted Mount Sinai at the end of a tough home straight battle.

"We take this horse to Ann's place twice a week."

The McGlades were as delighted for rider Lance Macfarlane - surely New Zealand's tallest jockey - as for themselves.

"He does a lot of work and doesn't get that many opportunities," said Sheryl McGlade.

Macfarlane said the second half of the race worked out better for him than the first half.

"It got a bit messy early and it took a while to get him into the right position."

Mount Sinai's rider Shelley Houston thought she would have won but for her horse landing awkwardly behind over the last fence.

Macfarlane is not so sure.

"He changed on to his other leg in the home straight and got a second wind."

Karlos flew the last hurdle beautifully.

Like his sire Krona, Karlos is not big, but he has plenty of grunt and has real ability over hurdles and steeples.

The McGlades are now faced with having to decide what to aim Karlos at.

The little chestnut has had only two steeplechases for a maiden win and second to Hypnotise in the Great Northern Steeples last year.

"These early hurdle races were really only meant to be getting him ready for the McGregor Grant Steeplechase [at Ellerslie on June 6]."

Sheryl McGlade said she felt a touch of sadness around the victory through the absence of her two former partners in Karlos, Jen and Neil Morrison, who have both died.

The couple raced with McGlade, Karlos' dam Just Jojo, a Grand National winner and completing a real family picture is the horse's sire Krona, who was a big winner when trained by Roger McGlade.

Macfarlane was keen to celebrate the win - not with champagne, but something he could put on a plate.

"I haven't eaten for two days and I'm going to make a mess of something."

One of the favourites, veteran High Season, was pulled out of the contest and has almost certainly run his last race.

Rider Richard Eynon said the horse could not manage the slow track.

"He felt awful. His jumping went to pieces and he just didn't want to be there.

"He felt like he got out of bed on the wrong side."

* Saturday wasn't a great day for jumps jockey Shelley Houston.

She thought Mount Sinai would have won the Waikato Hurdles but for landing awkwardly behind at the last jump, eventually finishing second to Karlos.

Then she thought she would win the Waikato Steeplechase two races later, only to crash from the favourite Climbing High with a little more than a round to travel.

"Oh, well," she said with the resignation jumps jockeys are famed for, but you felt there were other words she wanted to use.

Jumps jockeys are a resilient bunch.

Richard Eynon, who won the $33,500 Waikato Steeplechase on Mali Juraj, flew to Melbourne late Saturday night to ride Petushki in the A$75,000 Great Southern Steeplechase yesterday, but could finish only seventh, 19.7 lengths from the winner.

John Wheeler's stablemate Banna Strand finished third to Zealous, by Zabeel.