Racing: Heavy track set to pose true test to jumpers at Hastings

Berry The Cash will return to action at Hastings today.

Just how much size matters in the jumps racing game could decide whether star trainer Mark Oulaghan dominates today’s Hawke’s Bay meeting.

The Hastings fixture has been cleared to go ahead even after a rough week of weather in the region but will be run on a true heavy 10 track.

That won’t stop both of Oulaghan’s outstanding jumpers West Coast (Hawke’s Bay Steeples) and Berry The Cash (Hawke’s Bay Hurdles) starting long odds-on as they face similar challenges carrying enormous weights.

That is nothing new for West Coast, our best jumper, who will carry his usual 73kg - the maximum allowed for a jumper here.

It is the same weight he carried to win the Manawatu Steeples last start and before that the Great Northern last September, while he carried 72kg to defend his Grand National title last August.

His task still won’t be easy today as he meets another former Great Northern winner in Te Kahu (2021) and the consistent Izymydaad, but West Coast has sheer brute strength and size on his side.

He is an imposing horse; a throwback to some of the big jumping stars of the past, albeit a better-looking version than most of them. But there is no doubt his size helps him with the huge weights that are now his normal racing diet.

Stablemate Berry The Cash has a way to go to match West Coast’s jumping feats but his development this season suggests he is now our best hurdler, bolting away with both the Manawatu and Waikato Hurdles as he launches jockey Portia Matthews into the big-time.

But those wins have come at a cost, with Berry The Cash having to carry a huge 72.5kg today, whereas he carried a comparatively modest 69kg to win at Te Rapa last start.

He has risen so sharply in the weights not only because of his 11-length romp but because the top weight that day, Nedwin, has been allowed to bypass today’s hurdle.

So now Berry The Cash, just four wins into his hurdle career, is being asked to carry a very good horse’s weight without the same daunting physical gifts that allow West Coast to do it so successfully.

For example, Berry The Cash meets his Te Rapa placegetters, Smug and Lord Spencer, 3.5kg worse off in the weights and while today’s race lacks proven Grade 1 depth, if he can win again he might be something a bit special.

Northern Lights

While the jumpers will take centre stage at Hastings, some talented youngsters will add intrigue to the northern meeting at Ruakaka.

Horses like Illicit Dreams (R1, No 3) and Hard Attack (R2, No 3) have raced in the 1000 Guineas and Karaka Million respectively this season, while Dan Vegas (R7, No 2), an impressive 3-year-old debutant winner last start, doesn’t look finished winning yet.

Today’s meeting also gifts Warren Kennedy some good rides to try to press further ahead of the injured Michael McNab in the jockey’s premiership, with McNab sidelined until next Wednesday at the earliest.

No Mac Attack

James McDonald’s stellar Group 1 winning season has come to a premature end with the champion Kiwi jockey to miss the last Group 1 of the Australian season today.

McDonald has been ruled out of the Eagle Farm meeting, which hosts the Tatts Tiara – the final major of the Australian season.

McDonald spent Wednesday night in hospital after suffering severe pain in his side while riding at Warwick Farm.

He was diagnosed with gallstones and while he was able to return home on Thursday night he will miss today’s meeting and the opportunity to add to his remarkable 19 Group 1s for the season.

That is made up of 14 in Australia, four in Hong Kong and one in Japan, while he won both Karaka Millions at Ellerslie in January.