Yipson made it back-to-back jumps victories by winning the $20,000 Wanganui Steeplechase this afternoon.
Yipson made it back-to-back jumps victories by winning the $20,000 Wanganui Steeplechase this afternoon.
Wanganui trainer Kevin Myers was able to bring the $20,000 Jolt Coffee House Wanganui Steeplechase trophy back in-house today after gelding Yipson powered home win the 4100m feature at the Winter Jumps race day.
Myer's charge Twentythirtyfour had finished second last year at the Wanganui Racecourse, but this time ona heavy wet track Yipson's jockey Charlie Price, who had been dislodged in a jumps race at Trentham last month, made a strong charge coming around the final turn and held off hard charging Waverley horse Venerate (Shaun Phelan) for the four length victory.
Early pace-setter The Fox (Dylan Turner) was well back in third, as the last three horses in the nine-strong field pulled up before the finish.
The Fox was sitting comfortable out in front on the first canter past the finishing post, followed by Yipson and Fair Script (Aaron Kuru) with Venerate coming up quickly to join him.
Yipson pursued The Fox, who held the advantage by a neck as they negotiated the jump leading to the back stretch, and eventually got past heading to the turn as it was Price's ability to handle the left-turning jump on both passes that proved decisive.
The field began to bunch up behind the three leaders as the pace quickened on the next finish post pass, with Yipson getting away from The Fox, while Venerate was making in-roads.
The Taranaki horse would go outside the favourite to try and make a pass, but Price again read the left turn jump perfectly to extend his advantage, with Venerate going wide on the finishing stretch as My Magician (Gary Walsh) had come up to temporarily pass The Fox in the battle for the minor placings.
With Venerate coming hard, Yipson and Price had a slight bobble coming over the second to last jump, but quickly recovered and cleared the last hurdle perfectly to keep their healthy lead despite Phelan's best efforts to get Venerate up.
