Matamata horse Old Countess makes the finishing post ahead of Our Jackson to win the 2018 Wanganui Steeplechase at the racecourse on Sunday.
Matamata horse Old Countess makes the finishing post ahead of Our Jackson to win the 2018 Wanganui Steeplechase at the racecourse on Sunday.
Sometimes you just have to stick to the gameplan, even if it seems like the situation is getting away from you.
Matamata's Old Countess under jockey Buddy Lammas had the patience and the nerve to run down local defending champion Yipson (Shaun Fannin) heading towards the final turn to winthe $20,000 Jolt Coffee House Wanganui Steeplechase yesterday.
Yipson, trained by Kevin Myers, led most of the 4100m jumps feature at the Wanganui Racecourse, despite having raced on Wednesday, only to be passed at the final turn by Old Countess, who then held off the hard charging Our Jackson (Isaac Lupton), trained by another local in Raymond Connors.
Punters picked up a cool $10.50 for the upset victory, which came after Old Countess had spent the first two runs past the finishing post in clear fourth as Lammas opted to tail Yipson, Zardetto (Elen Nicholas) and Tizza Secret (James Seivwright).
Yipson would move clear of the chasing Zardetto and Tizza Secret twice on the back stretch, extending the advantage to at least five lengths and making it seem unlikely anyone could make up all of that distance even when the 2017 winner began to tire.
But after some drama when Zardetto stumbled along the back stretch on the final time around and threw Nicholas from the saddle, Lammas had decided it was now or never and made his move, overtaking the fading Whanganui horse to kick clear by a couple of lengths heading towards the final two jumps.
Lupton and Our Jackson had the same idea, coming up strong on the inside after the final leap, but they ran out of track as Old Countess kept the lead by half a length, with the fading Yipson still finishing third and well clear of the also-rans.
Old Countess clears the final jump and heads for home.
The victory was of great relief to co-owner Mike Lissington, who along with wife Emma had brought their children down for the Sunday racing.
Emma Lissington works for trainer and fellow co-owner Peter Brosnan, often riding Old Countess herself.
"It's exciting for them," Mike Lissington said of his family.
"[Yipson] got out to a pretty big lead.
"But [Old Countess] hadn't had a race in three weeks."
Lissington praised Lammas for not getting overanxious as the Wanganui horse was becoming a fixed point in the distance.
"He seemed to think Yipson would lead out, so the idea was to keep an eye on them. Didn't think he'd get that far out.
"It was the turn in the later stages [to do it]."
The victory sets Old Countess up nicely for the Pakuranga Hunt Cup (4800m) at Te Rapa on August 25, and then perhaps the Great Northern Steeplechase (6400m) on the same track on September 9.
