Racing: West Coast etches name among greats with Grand National Steeplechase win

West Coast wins the Grand National Steeplechase.

Sensational steeplechaser West Coast etched his name amongst the greats of the New Zealand jumping scene when he collected his third win in a row in Saturday’s Racecourse Hotel & Motor Lodge Grand National Steeplechase.

The son of Mettre En Jeu became only the second horse to win the race three times since its first running in 1875, and the first to do it in consecutive years at the 149th edition of the event.

The Mark Oulaghan-prepared fencer won his first National with 65kg on his back, but carried the maximum allocated weight of 73kg on Saturday, with jockey Shaun Fannin bringing up his 11th win from 16 starts aboard the nine-year-old with a copybook ride.

Fannin had him tracking pacemaker Al’s Red Zed throughout and with 600m to run he looked the likely winner as he strode to the front with two fences to clear.

Lightweight Matamata raider Auld Jock was having none of that and chased West Coast with menace into the final 400m but couldn’t quite muster enough of a sprint at the end of the 5600m journey as West Coast held him comfortably by around a length at the line.

Oulaghan was taking it all in his stride but the pride in his voice was unmistakable as he evaluated the winning performance.

“I think to win three in a row, something that hasn’t been done for around 130 years, is pretty special,” Oulaghan said.

“It’s great and he is a great horse. A really good fencer, clean-winded and stays, he just seems to have it all.

“The owners are great people and strong supporters of South Island racing so deserve to end up with a horse like this.

“You never know, but it is on the cards we could be back again next year.”

Fannin was rapt with run as he gave all the plaudits to his mount.

“He is an absolute superstar, the crowd came here to see a superstar and they did,” he said.

“He is such a good jumper that he makes up ground at each fence and when Al’s Red Zed jumped off the rail at the 800m I saw the chance to put some pressure on.

“I made that move before we hit the worst of the ground in the home straight and he was just too tough.

“I’m honoured to work with Mark and a wonderful team and I’m proud to be part of this journey.”

Raced by the Williamson family from Twizel, West Coast took his career record to eleven wins from 37 starts, with all wins coming over fences as he took his prizemoney earnings to a few hundred dollars short of $500,000.

The win provided Oulaghan with the same feature double from a year earlier with Berry The Cash winning his second Grand National Hurdles (4200m) earlier on the card.

Tipped as a two-horse battle between the $1.70 favourite and the Paul Nelson-trained Nedwin ($2.60), who also carried 73kgs, the early stages of the race were anything but comfortable for rider Portia Mathews aboard Berry The Cash as they spent most of it cluttered up behind runners while also putting in a faulty leap at the third fence on the journey.

In contrast, Nedwin set up a leisurely speed in front but when he bungled the fence leading into the home straight the first time he was joined by Lord Spencer who continually shaded him at each obstacle until taking a clear lead with 800m to run.

Nedwin began to fade and tightened Berry The Cash as Matthews was urgently trying to extract her mount into clear air approaching the home bend.

Berry The Cash picked himself up and changed around the outer before unleashing a powerful staying burst in the closing stages that saw him stride past runner-up Run Jakko Run in the last 150m, with Metallo battling on gamely for third.

“Mark (Oulaghan) and I discussed the plan, and we were always going to ride him back like last year rather than forward like we had been lately,” a beaming Matthews said.

- LoveRacing.NZ