Racing: Exciting international prospect makes his mark

There is an old line in horse racing that the toughest time to buy a horse is immediately after a winning run.

So, yes, owner Brian Jeffries was only joking when he declared at the Dunstan Feeds Waikato Hurdles winning presentation that right now might be an appropriate time to sell Blakes Boy.

You wouldn't think about it.

Blakes Boy is only five years old, he has only five jumping starts behind him and he made a class field look ordinary at Te Rapa on Saturday. His value is immense when you think of the millions involved in the world's richest jumping race, the Nakayama Grand Jump in Japan.

An additional plus is that Blakes Boy looks lean in condition for an extremely tall horse and time will be his friend.

He looks headed for a stunning career.

Just how stunning, he will tell us at the upcoming Great Northern replacement meeting at Ellerslie.

Jeffries, who runs a kiwifruit operation in Te Puke, said later that he couldn't believe the reaction to his throwaway line about selling his horse.

Joanne Moss trains Blakes Boy on the East Coast at Makaraka Beach and says the rising star will probably take the path through most of the feature hurdle races this winter.

Jeffries is aware of the need to protect a jumper's handicap once a feature race is in the bag and says he has been impressed with the recent John Wheeler coup of taking the relatively unknown Frankoo Verymuch to Australia and winning a couple of hundred thousand dollars in two starts in a week.

"That's the sort of thing I'd be interested in - it's just a matter of being aware of it."

Winning rider Isaac Lupton knew he was in the racing game as he walked out the gates at Te Rapa on Saturday night. He'd arrived through the same gates six hours earlier believing he would win the $50,000 Ecolab Waikato Steeplechase on Lucky Tip, with "some hope" on Blakes Boy. Lucky Tip finished a close third in the steeplechase.

One of the biggest Blakes Boy fans is Coran Pemberton, who rode the favourite and runner-up Van Winkle.

"That's the way I thought I was going to win," said Pemberton as he watched the replay of the race.

Although reluctant to make excuses against a top-class winner, Pemberton felt there would be other opportunities for Van Winkle.

"He went a bit too hard at times. He was okay when I let him have his head and took him to the front in the middle stages, but he hadn't been there long when Just Jeff came around us again and my bloke went back to pulling again.

"At the 600m my horse was cruising and I thought we were going to win. When the winner came around us my horse went with him for a couple of strides, but that was all. The winner is very good."

Pemberton said Van Winkle had a good blow after the race and should be fitter for his next hurdle race.

Trainer Evan Rayner indicated Van Winkle will be at Ellerslie at Queen's Birthday Weekend.

Arron Tata felt Just Jeff would have been closer to the winner had he raced more kindly.

"He settled well early, but when they [Van Winkle] took me on in the middle stages he grabbed the bit. He fought on well for third though."

Dondinello (9th) and Udidwhat (8th) did not threaten, although Dondinello made half a bid to put himself in the race at the 1000m.

Nathan Hanley, rider of southerner Udidwhat, said the horse "was not that happy in the testing ground".

"Having said that, he didn't get the best of runs - it was tight in that bunch at the back of the field, everywhere he went he seemed to get hampered. He feels like he'll be a better steeplechaser."

Shelley Houston said Dondinello, an impressive course winner two weeks earlier, is getting a bit carried away with himself. "The plan was to ride him back. He seemed to lose confidence and his jumping became pretty ordinary. He pulled up tired."