Racing: Sights set on Great Northern

Steve Pateman, left, almost kisses the Ellerslie turf as Amanood Lad botches this fence in company with Rosetown Joe, centre, and Tim early in the McGregor Grant Steeplechase yesterday. Photo / Dean Purcell

Top Victorian horseman Pateman confident after Amanood Lad’s win in McGregor Grant.

Genius Melbourne jumps jockey Steve Pateman is desperate to win Ellerslie's Great Northern Steeplechase but yesterday he might have done his chances of realising his dream considerable harm.

Pateman rode a picture perfect race on last year's Great Northern winner Amanood Lad to win the $50,000 Rheem McGregor Grant Steeplechase.

To say this was a magnificent performance is underselling it. Amanood Lad had not raced in the nine months since last year's Great Northern and carried an extremely tough 70kg topweight.

Over the last fence, McCulley and Shaun Fannin challenged hard and the collective opinion was that his superior fitness and 5kg weight advantage would prevail. What hadn't been factored in was Amanood Lad's absolute class, which saw him draw away by nearly four lengths.

"This is a great horse," said Pateman, who is not prone to gushing. "I thought he was going too hard for the first half of the race and I was sure he wouldn't be able to last given his lack of racing.

"But when he came over that last fence he pumped up his tyres and off he went - remarkable."

Trainer Ben Foote was staggered by the victory. "I can't believe he's done that - there is so much improvement in him."

Amanood Lad was blowing so hard when he was unsaddled heaving was the only way to describe his breathing. It took him several minutes to return to anything that could be called natural breath.

It was Pateman's first win in several riding visits to New Zealand and while that was a huge thrill, the Great Northern is the only race that matters.

"To be honest, I believe the Great Northern Steeplechase does not receive the international exposure it deserves. It's one of the great races in the world, but people in the Northern Hemisphere don't know a lot about it.

"It's a great race and this is a great horse."

Foote is worried what weight Amanood Lad might be required to carry in the Great Northern.

The 70kg yesterday was a magnificent effort, but carrying that weight in the much longer Great Northern with its three trips over the Ellerslie Hill is a much bigger ask.

"But I'm delighted. I'd have been over the moon if he'd run second to Carinya and he comes out and wins. Amazing, really, and I've just been down to see him and he's cooled down well."

Amanood Lad redeems himself with this magnificent leap. Photo / Dean Purcell

Carinya kept making ground throughout the last round and finished a stylish second. She will end the season with a couple of major wins and an extremely high rating.

Steve Pateman left Ellerslie to fly back to Melbourne with one thought: "I finished second in the Northern last year chasing Amanood Lad home on Tobouggie Nights and I'm thrilled to be on the horse this year.

"I'm so looking forward to the race this year."

There were a couple of remarkable elements of Missy Browne winning yesterday's Aqualine Products 2400 on Joking.

For starters, it was her first race ride in seven years.

The second is that during that time she has endured a broken neck.

And to add a bit of mystery to the race Missy Browne left the Ellerslie birdcage wearing riding silks bearing the name "Shelley Houston".

Why? "Because I threw mine away after breaking my neck," she said as she dismounted from Joking.

Houston rode any number of winners in those silks since Missy Browne broke her neck in a race fall in a steeplechase at Paeroa in 2008.

Most won't forget the sight of Browne being rolled on to a sack and dragged out of the path of the horses in the second round of that race.

In those days, she was a professional rider and yesterday she reappeared as an amateur to win the event.

She moved Joking forward at the 1000m and took a narrow lead wide on the track, where most runners were heading for much of the day.

Although challenged strongly in the closing stages, Joking kept going strongly and won well.

"I was getting worried in the home straight, because I'm not the best loser you've ever seen. It's nice to win."

Particularly when you have waited seven years.

Soaring skyward
•Victorian cross-country jockey Steve Pateman thoroughly enjoyed his win aboard Amanood Lad yesterday.
•He is now looking forward to ticking the Great Northern Steeplechase off his bucket list after finishing second last year.
•Missy Browne made a winning reappearance riding as an amateur after a seven-year absence.