Racing: Amanood Lad shapes as highlight at Ellerslie

Amanood Lad on his way to winning the Rheem NZ McGregor Grant Steeplechase. Photo / NZME

Any amount of elements go towards the make-up of a high class racehorse.

Fine American horseman Benjamin Alley Jones once said the most important parts of a racehorse are their brain, heart and lungs - and you can't see any of them.

Jones may well be right, but opinions on horses, as they say, are like bums, everyone has one.

Bart Cummings, who seemed to know a thing or two, always maintained happiness is a horse's best asset.

With respect to the above opinions, without question attitude separates the good from the outstanding in thoroughbreds.

Which is why Amanood Lad is going to be the box office highlight at Ellerslie today.

Melbourne Cups aside, there are few better racecourse sights than a top-class steeplechase on a fine day at Ellerslie when the best are out on the track, equine and human.

And that's what we've got going in today's $50,000 Pakuranga Hunt Cup. Amanood Lad, Jumper of the Year, announced a week ago, ridden by Australia's ace jumps horseman Steve Pateman - a cross between our own now-retired greats Brett Scott and Craig Thornton, at least as good as either and probably fractionally better, which is about as high a compliment you could give anyone.

Pateman is so quiet and pleasant to converse with he could have been a choirboy in another life. But to suggest that is contradictory - when those who risk life and limb over huge jumps aboard a 550kg animal get focused under race conditions no quarter is asked for or given.

It's everyone for themselves and at times in certain situations they can make those idiots who compete in cage fighting look tame.

Pateman's personality perfectly matches the majority of top-class racehorses - quiet and contained away from the racetrack and Attila the Hun under saddle on raceday.

Trainer Ben Foote says Amanood Lad is such a pussycat at home he hates being on his own. "He almost refuses to be loaded on and off the float on his own.

"If he goes out to work on his own he doesn't want to know anything about it." The other Amanood Lad, the raceday model, could not be more different.

Foote says he has never seen the horse give up trying. "Even when he's headed towards the end of his races he still wants to win. He'll continue to chase those in front, he hates being beaten."

Shades of the personality of the late, great Bonecrusher. Although he could be a touch contrary, Bonecrusher was essentially a kind horse off the track but on raceday, like Amanood Lad, he didn't so much want to totally beat the opposition into submission as much as he wanted to hospitalise them. And a few of them towards the end of those races wished that's exactly where they were.

Jumper of the Year or no, Amanood Lad has a job on his hands today.

At 70kg he has a clear 5kg more than the next in the handicap and that relativity over 4900m is massive.

Sprinters carry big weights best because the time they are racing is so short. You can multiply that 5kg a number of times to appreciate how good Amanood Lad is being required to be today over the 4900m with Carinya and Snowdroptwinkletoes chasing him late in the race under much lighter weights.

Carinya finished close up behind Amanood Lad in the McGregor Grant Steeplechase on June 1 and trainer Dan O'Leary expects some improvement from her first look at the Ellerslie course.

"We rode her closer than usual when Snowdroptwinkletoes beat her at Wanganui last start because there were novice jumpers in the race and if we rode her at the back as usual and one of the novices fell she might have gone over the top of them.

"She'll be ridden back this time and that suits her best." Foote says nothing switches Amanood Lad on more than the sound of horses behind him trying to run him down.

He can be guaranteed that in the final 500m about 2.47pm today.