Taika and Mathew Gillies on their way to winning the Great New Zealand Hurdle at Te Aroha on Friday. Photo / Kenton Wright
The more things change, the more they stay the same.
It may have a new permanent home and a new name, but New Zealand’s richest hurdle race continues to be dominated by Paul Nelson and Corrina McDougal.
Taika triumphed in the inaugural running of the $150,000 J Swap Great New Zealand Hurdle (4200m) at Te Aroha on Friday, adding his name alongside the Hawke’s Bay stable’s six previous victories when the race was known as the Great Northern Hurdle.
According to jumps racing statistician Chris McQuaid, Nelson began his record-breaking haul in this race with Chibuli in 2002, followed by Just Not Cricket in 2006 and 2007. McDougal joined Nelson in partnership during the 2018-19 season and they have shared subsequent victories with The Cossack (2020 and 2021), Nedwin (2023) and now Taika. No other trainer has won the race more than four times.
McDougal represented the stable on course on Friday while Nelson continues his recovery from knee replacement surgery a month ago.
“Paul and Carol are family friends of mine and I’m absolutely honoured to be in this training partnership,” McDougal said. “Everyone will be jumping around at home. We did it!”
The Nelson/McDougal partnership came into Friday’s feature with strength in numbers, saddling three of the race’s 10 starters. Taika was rated an $11 chance, with recent form perhaps favouring his stablemates Suliman and The Bambino. Suliman won the Grand National Hurdles (4200m) at Riccarton last month, while The Bambino burst on to the scene with back-to-back open hurdle victories at Woodville in his last two starts on August 17 and September 7.
Mathew Gillies guided Taika home in fourth place behind The Bambino in the second of those Woodville races, and the prospect of better track conditions at Te Aroha gave the jockey a quiet confidence in the countdown to the Great New Zealand Jumps Carnival.
“He ran a pretty good race at Woodville, where the track was a bit too heavy for him but he tried hard,” Gillies said. “I thought he’d be a genuine chance in this race today if the track dried out a bit and it has. He was just a different horse today and travelled so much better.”
Gillies took up a handy position in second place, tracking the front-running Happy Star for most of the two laps of the Te Aroha circuit.
The field bunched up heading down the back straight the final time and the race’s complexion appeared to be rapidly changing as backmarkers surged into contention.
Among those was Yolo, who made up a huge amount of ground from a clear last and appeared to be travelling better than anyone coming around the home turn. However, she stumbled at the first fence in the straight and lost all of that momentum, fading back into the pack and quickly swallowed up by strong-finishing rivals.
Through it all, Taika maintained his rhythm. He moved a length in front at the second-last hurdle and then cleared the last beautifully, putting himself out of reach and going on to win by a length and a half.
The Bambino finished strongly into second in a Nelson/McDougal quinella, while defending champion Lord Spencer was a short head behind in third.
It was a special triumph for Gillies, who has been a recent returnee to the jumps jockey ranks after spending more than two seasons on the sidelines.
“It’s just a pleasure to come back after so long away and still being able to compete with everyone,” Gillies said. “It’s really good.
“I just followed Happy Star most of the way. We were jumping together and doing it so easily that it was almost like we were schooling.
“He had good gears under him when he went past Happy Star, so I knew he’d be a good chance from there.”
Taika is part-owned by Paul Nelson and his brother Mark in partnership with Ken Garnett. The 9-year-old son of Mettre En Jeu has now had 34 starts for seven wins, six placings and $256,624 in prize money. His 18 starts over hurdles have produced five wins, six placings and $239,767.
“I’m really rapt,” McDougal said. “This horse is a stable favourite, so this is just really cool. The Bambino got up for second too, so that’s a great result.
“There are not really any secrets as far as our stable’s concerned. The hill work that we do with the horses at home pays off, and it’s also just a case of happy people making happy horses.”
– LOVERACING.NZ News Desk