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JUMPING INFORMER
Issue 2 - March/April 2003
Local News
Surprise at Nakayama Selection
Following the cancellation of Zabenz’ invitation to the Nakayama Grand Jump by its American connections, the Japan Racing Association have elected to select New Zealand’s Eric The Bee as its replacement. Eric The Bee, an 11 year old, won last year’s New Zealand Grand National Steeple, a six horse race over 5,600m at Riccarton.
It is considered that his form would be inferior to Nautilism, Australia’s second rated horse. Nautilism, winner of the 2001 Grand National Hurdle and 2002 Von Doussa Steeplechase has been training for the early races hoping for an invitation to Nakayama.
St Steven, is on target for back to back wins in the Nakayama Grand Jump, the world’s richest steeplechase run in Tokyo on Easter Saturday, 19th April. The race has attracted a very strong entry, with a prize of $A1.3m to the winner. Top international trainers have been rewarded with selection including Philip Hobbs’s nomination, Flagship Ubarelles, last year’s Queen Mother Champion Chase winner at Cheltenham. Flagship Ubarelles is a winner of 13 of his 27 starts whilst the other English representative Tiutchuv trained by Martin Pipe has won 10 from 29 starts including the Mitsubishi Shogun Ascot Steeplechase and the Arkle Challenge Trophy. The Irish representative Commanche Court is a previous winner of the Irish Grand National Steeple and the Heineken Gold Cup at Punchestown.
John Wheeler said, “St Steven looks fantastic. He is right on target … I couldn’t be more pleased with him”. He will run in the Pegasus Grand Jump on Saturday 29th March at Nakayama over 3,350m in a race valued at $A470,000.
Oakbank soon upon us
by Francis Nelson, Vice Chairman, ORC
Easter at Oakbank is nearly upon us again. To anyone involved in the organisation of the carnival this time of year involves a big commitment, and makes one wonder whether the mind and body can go through the experience yet again. That feeling of course subsides immediately on Easter Saturday when the course starts to come alive at about 7.00 am, and the resulting magic dispels any doubts that linger.
A lot of racing is heavily dependent on volunteers and perhaps Oakbank more than any other Club. The Chairman, John Glatz, is very much a hands-on Chairman. There is no other metropolitan racing club where the chairman can be seen digging a trench for an electrical connection to a generator, painting the running rail, hanging precariously from the top of the grandstand to hoist a sponsors flag, or inspecting the course on his motorbike before daybreak on the morning of the one of the race meetings. All members of the committee are pressed into service at every level, which includes the catering. The Club successfully ran its own catering operation last year and will repeat that formula again this year. Catering for 110,000 patrons together with corporate marquees, sponsors marquees, and the many staff and emergency and other services, is no mean feat.
Part of the infrastructure that allows Oakbank to happen each year is that little known body called the first Oakbank Paddock Platoon. Barry Biggs the secretary, of course has supervised more than 23 Oakbank meetings and over the years has pressed into service his brother Chris Biggs, and numerous other friends and family.
They do everything from supervising car parking to stringing the ribbons in individual members’ badges before they are issued. Everything has to be transported to Oakbank because the facilities there are extremely basic, so that all foodstuffs, electricity, water (to some extent) and even toilets are often imported in the two weeks leading up to the meeting. It is a tribute to these dedicated people, that the public perception is simply that Oakbank “happens”. Of course the actual “happening” involves a year in planning and work on the part of the committee and ground staff, but also in the months leading up to Oakbank starting with the Christmas break the Paddock Platoon does a lot of work. Over the years they have become such a cohesive community that they have even evolved their own rules of conduct. Through out the year they have meetings at Oakbank where they plant trees or otherwise carry out their own tribute to the club. Service over the years is recognised by their own system of honours. One member has an award for 20 years of service and many others are coming up to an award for fifteen years of service. They camp on site at the track in tents for the two weeks preceding the meeting, and for the week after the meeting. They can be found answering the telephone, assisting trainers to find accommodation for horses, booking accommodation for interstate visitors, digging drains, mowing car parks and manning the gates and entrances to the racecourse.
We read so much about tradition surrounding the Melbourne Cup and other prominent race meetings, but nowhere else is there the sort of camaraderie and tradition that surrounds Oakbank. Anyone setting foot on the racecourse is immediately aware of the atmosphere, which is family oriented and which immediately gives the participant feelings of pleasure and inclusion in the fun and the excitement of the day.
It is all too evident to the onlooker that jumps racing is alive, well and very popular. It is a fact that everyone watches the jumping races at Oakbank and the late Vic Rail once remarked that it was the only racecourse he had ever ridden around where the inside and outside rails are crowded 10 deep. For the jumping races you can barely put a cigarette paper between onlookers. Administrators should take note of the fact that this is a popular meeting, which introduces young people in particular to racing. A note could really be taken from Oakbank’s book and used by administrators to promote winter racing in venues where jumps racing already exists. It can hardly be the super new grandstand facilities that attract people because there are none. It is essentially a country venue with country facilities and the crowd queue from the night before to get on course – desperate to be early.
From time to time there is a suggestion that we should do something different, but it is a successful formula and there seems to be no valid reason why the Committee would want to change what obviously has enormous public and popular appeal.
Change to Hurdle Trial Arrangements
From early April, horses qualifying to run in hurdle races must satisfactorily trial twice. A substantial increase in the number of organised hurdle trials has been arranged by Racing Victoria, in consultation with the AJRA.
Hurdle trials will now be held on an increased trial schedule at the Cranbourne Training Track and a weekly trial schedule enveloping Hamilton, Warrnambool and Terang is shortly to be announced. Additional Hurdle trials are currently being negotiated with Ballarat and ultimately Mt Gambier.
Two Stewards will be present at all the trials and horses will be assessed on their jumping ability rather than their placing in trials.
The new hurdles developed by the industry were recently trialled at Cranbourne. The jumps themselves are higher and more substantial than the previous hurdles and they received a high degree of acceptance from many trainers and the riders who schooled horses over them in late February and early March.
Brett Scott said, “The horses respected the hurdles a lot more. They are more substantial”.
Eric Musgrove commented, “They are a smashing success and will be looking forward to their inclusion in the jumps programs”.
Pakenham trainer, Kim Mayberry trialled two horses and he said, “The hurdles are brilliant. They will save many horses from injury. They are a more solid obstacle”.
The hurdles will be travelled from course to course and will be available in the Melbourne and close area in late April.
Craig Durden Approaches 200 winners
With the jumping season set to commence in early March, Craig Durden is poised to ride his 200th winner.
Durden began riding in 1989 and has ridden 199 winners over jumps at an incredible strike rate of 21%. His winners include three wins in Japan in the international jockey challenges and a win at Downpatrick in Ireland.
Beginning as an amateur rider on Victoria’s picnic circuit, then an apprenticeship with Colin Hayes at Lindsay Park in Adelaide he began his jumping career in that city.
Since returning to Victoria, Durden has won the Grand National Hurdle twice, the Grand Annual Steeple twice, the Australian Hurdle three times, the Von Doussa Steeplechase twice, the Cup Hurdle twice, the Australian Steeplechase and the AV Hiskens Steeplechase. He rates his biggest thrill was his first Grand National Hurdle on Moon Chase and he quoted Marlborough and Moon Chase as the best horses he has ridden. Durden has no plans to retire and will continue to ride on from his Moriac base where he lives with his wife, Kathryn and young son, Tristan.
International Desk
Cheltenham Four-day Festival beginning to take shape.
The new extended four-day Cheltenham Festival, which is to incorporate four new contests from 2005, is beginning to take shape after officials on Wednesday revealed a short-list of six races up for consideration.
The current three-day format will extend to four days, each made up of six-race cards, with the Smurfit Champion Hurdle and Queen Mother Champion Chase continuing as the feature races on days one and two.
The Tote Cheltenham Gold Cup, run on fresh ground on the new course as before, will move to the Friday to continue in its role as the climax of the meeting, while the Bonusprint Stayer’s Hurdle would take centre-stage on day three- the Thursday.
Those six races, recently approved by the BHB National Hunt Pattern Committee, include the anticipated cross-country chase, a four-year-old handicap hurdle and- the most valuable – a tow and a half mile 75,000 pound novice chase, which, if successful, could lead to a newly-created championship race over the same trip.
The number will be reduced to four if gaining approval by the BHB’ s race-planning committee at their meeting on February 25, the following feed back from the racing industry and public.
The Cheltenham board hope to have the format for 2005’s Festival finalised before the end of this season, which, it hopes, will allow trainers enough time plan ahead for the meeting.
However, Cheltenham’s managing director Edward Gillespie stressed on Wednesday that the course was open to flexibility.
South African Jumping
While the spotlight on South Africa has been on the World Cup Cricket, a little known race took place at Arlington, one of Port Elizabeth’s two racecourses.
On Sunday 9th March a jumping race over 2800m, officially designated a point-to-point was conducted for amateur riders with a 75kg minimum weight.
A week earlier, the Cape Hunt had an Amateur Riders race over a 1000m at Durbanville. The race was so poorly thought of, that only R5,000 (rand) was offered in stakes, against a minimum of R20,000 ($4,500) for even the Maiden Plates.
It appears that there are just two jumping races run annually in South Africa.
In 1905 the South African Grand Steeplechase over 3 miles was widely advertised in Melbourne’s sporting pages.
The race was run for 1000 pounds by the South African Turf Club at Cape Town in the Cape Colony, a stake comparative with Melbourne’s big jumping races.
From The Pages of History
Dandenong Steeplechase
Sky Channel and Sport 927’s programming would be thrown into turmoil if races like those over Dandenong’s extremely tough jumps were the norm.
In 1865, at the course situated opposite where the General Motors Holden Factory now stands, was home to the most draw-out hurdle races of all time.
The hurdles were raspers, more like steeple fences, and all four contestants fell at the second fence. They all got up and continued the prolonged battle.
The Judge and Stewards however, were as tenacious as the horses, and the winner’s cheque was finally drawn, even though it took an hour for the winner, Brunette, to complete the course!!
On the same track, three years earlier at the annual meeting of the Dandenong and Western Port Races, another two unusual hurdle events were scheduled. Members of the Dandenong and Snapper Point Corps would ride the first race in uniform. The second became a fiasco when, in the two horse, three mile handicap hurdle, both horses fell, contriving to elude their jockeys and anyone else who tried to catch them. Both were disqualified.
Personality Profile
Name: Willy Harnett
Date of Birth: 10 August 1968
Town where born: Ashburton, New Zealand.
How did you get into racing? Always involved with horses, and keen to be a jockey.
First Winner/Track: Gentle Jim, Washdyke (Timaru) New Zealand.
Favourite Track (and why): Oakbank. Great atmosphere and keeps you
Best thing about being a jumps rider: Riding winners for good people.
Worst thing about being a jumps rider: Injuries.
Best jumper you’ve ridden: Ocean Guard (N.Z.) and Normal John.
Jumper you would like to have ridden: Moon Chase.
Outside of racing what are you most passionate about? Football and family.
What is the strangest (amusing or serious) experience you’ve ever had in racing? Jumping on a bike to go and saddle up our own mounts for a race in Japan
What will you do after your riding career is over? Prepare or help prepare a team of racehorses.
What, in life, are you most afraid of? Being afraid.
Would you like to tell us something about your family (partner, children, parents etc.)?
My wife, Katrina. My children are Liam and Jemma.
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JUMPING NEEDS YOU TO NOT ONLY SURVIVE, BUT THRIVE
AUSTRALIAN JUMPING RACING ASSOCIATION
Presents a
JUMPING MEMORABILIA NIGHT
Supported by the Australian racing Museum
Find out what you didn’t know about Jumping.
Thursday 15 May 2003
at
7.00 p.m.
at
ROSSTOWN HOTEL
1084 Dandenong Road
Carnegie
Bring your friends and enjoy a night with racing personalities, reliving unforgettable
races, viewing films never seen and racing and jumping memorabilia.
Tickets are $25.00
Which includes finger food and drinks at bar prices.
Hotel meals are available before the function begins.
Bookings are essential
HURRY, NUMBERS ARE LIMITED
Contact John at the AJRA on 9376 3924 or
By email jumps@ipriumus.com.au
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