Photo: Race Images South
By Kevin Robertson, LOVERACING.NZ News Desk
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 (5600m).
The Letham Stud-bred son of Mettre En Jeu became only the second horse to win the race three times since itsfirst running in 1875, and the first to do it 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 unmistakeable 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.
“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 elevenwins 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. - LOVERACING.NZ News Desk
