History-making jumps meeting

CHASERS: Hastings visitor Bally Heights (in front) out-jumped his rivals to win the resurrected Jolt Coffee House Wanganui Steeplechase on May 8.PHOTO/FILE

Yet more history will be made by the Wanganui Jockey Club on Sunday when it runs the Wanganui Steeplechase for the second time in the same calendar year.

Wanganui is already the oldest club still racing at the same venue in New Zealand and the Wanganui Steeplechase is possibly the oldest (or second oldest at least) jumps race in the country. The event, however, was resurrected on May 8 this year after an 18-year hiatus. It was won by Hastings visitor Bally Heights for trainer Paul Nelson and jockey Aaron Kuru. Bally Heights is in again on Sunday.

New Zealand's jumps racing statistician Chris McQuaid said the Wanganui Steeplechase was first run in 1875, the same year at the Grand National Steeplechase at Riccarton.

"They were both first run in 1875, but it depends on which date to determine the older of the two - that's not clear," he said.

Of course, the Grand National has been run continuously, while the Wanganui Steeplechase took a break between 1996 and May this year when it was reintroduced with Jolt Coffee House the sponsor.

Records reveal the Wanganui Steeplechase was last run in 1996 when Waverley jumper Hadfield won for trainer Craig Lupton and rider Eddie Lamb.

The race was traditionally run in June, but in 1997 insufficient entries forced the club to axe the race. However, in the spring of 1997 the club introduced another open steeplechase and named it the DB Draught Steeples which was won by another local, Our Jonty, in the hands of a young amateur jockey Raymond Connors. Connors owned the classy jumper with his father Mark and at that stage it was trained by Kevin Myers. That combination also won the Great Northern Steeplechase at Ellerslie.

The Wanganui Steeplechase has been run over various distances throughout the ages but, like the May running, Sunday's event will be staged over 4100 metres.

The event, like all jumping races, is a wonderful spectacle and talk of resurrecting the race came about after a group of fans, including former Wanganui Jockey Club committeemen, took a trip down memory lane.

Club operations manager Bret Field said talk soon turned from nostalgia to the nuts and bolts of how it could be returned to the racing calendar. "The upshot is that a local cafe in Victoria Ave, that has sponsored other jumping events, came onboard and we included the race on the May 8 programme."

"When the dates committee set the schedule of meetings for the 2014/2015 season that started on August 1, we were allocated a jumps day on August 17 (Sunday). Being our only jumps meeting for the season, the $20,000 Jolt Coffee House Wanganui Steeplechase had to feature. It will be the first time in living memory the event has been run twice in the same calendar year."

The meet features five jumps and five flat races starting at 11.35am and ending 4.30pm.