Racing: Great Northern Steeplechase has grand final feel

The Cossack. Photo / Race Images

Jumps racing looks set to provide what is a rarity these days — a grand final at Te Rapa next month.

While most sports have a final or finals, New Zealand thoroughbred racing doesn’t have many season-ending, champion-crowning races.

The Group 1 Guineas races come too early in the season for that, the Derby and Oaks are great races but often also lead in to more lucrative Australian targets, while our best 2-year-old racing often feels like it is over quickly.

The two New Zealand races that come closest are the Auckland Cup, which neatly wraps up staying summer, and the BCD Sprint at Te Rapa, which can often decide whether the Railway or Telegraph winner is our best sprinter.

But this year’s Great Northern Steeplechase at Te Rapa on September 17 is shaping as everything a grand final should be. It is our richest and most prestigious jumping race, is season-ending and it should have Saturday’s Grand National winner West Coast up against the horse who may be the best jumper, The Cossack.

Adding to the storyline is the pair have met only once over the big fences, and while West Coast won the Wellington Steeples, The Cossack emerged with as much merit in third after being checked at a crucial time.

The prospect of the pair going head-to-head while also having to give their other rivals huge weight advantages feels like the perfect end to what has been an entertaining jumping season.

The way West Coast effortlessly defended his Grand National title at Riccarton makes it even more remarkable that if the TAB had a market on the Great Northern Steeplechase right now, The Cossack would probably be the favourite.

Perhaps even more incredible is the fact the TAB don’t have a market open for our greatest jumping race, considering punters can futures bet on races like the Karaka Million 3-year-old, which is five months away.

● Entain’s latest partnership should be easy to gauge the impact of, linking with New Zealand Bloodstock to double the bonuses for the Pearl Series.

The Pearl Series meant fillies and mares who were nominated as yearlings were eligible for bonuses up to $10,000 for winning specific fillies and mares races, but with Entain now on board, those winning bonuses will double to $20,000, plus a new $100,000 final.

That new level means a filly or mare winning a standard maiden race could earn over $30,000 for that victory, equivalent to winning a race with a $50,000 prizepool.

With the bonuses doubled, NZB have reopened series nominations for fillies, and owners or breeders will have until August 31 to register their horses. NZB will be able to gauge how many horses who weren’t originally paid up for the series will now sign on because of the increases.