Cecil
Wayne Huddleston, Wild Range Photography
Central Districts jumps jockey Shaun Fannin capped the weekend of his riding life when he combined with race favourite Cecil to take out the 110th running of the Great Western Steeplechase at Riverton on Sunday
Twenty-year-old Fannin had scored a Prestige jumping race double on Saturday when he guided Ready Eddie and Sea King to victory in the Waikato Hurdles and Steeplechase respectively at Te Rapa before trekking to the deep south for the ride on the Kelly Thompson trained Cecil.
Although only five runners greeted the starter in the Riverton feature the race provided excitement from go to whoa as the contestants battled a gusty southerly and driving rain throughout the 3900 metre event. With around 1000 metres to run it was down to a three horse war in front as firstly Confused dropped his rider at the start of the second lap and then last year's Grand National Steeplechase winner High Forty began to labour and dropped away from the leading three.
Gargamel was the next to make a mistake as he stumbled on landing at the third last jump and lost his winning chance while The Fox dropped rider Hana Bognuda at the next to leave Cecil clear in the lead. The favourite never looked in any danger as he strolled over the final fence to win by a conservative 55 lengths at the finish from Gargamel who rallied for second.
Such was the margin of his victory Cecil had crossed the finishing line before the third placed finisher, High Forty, had even jumped the last fence. The eight-year-old Istidaad gelding has now made it two wins from just the three steeplechase starts after winning twice on both the flat and over hurdles earlier in his career.
Despite the treacherous conditions Fannin was always confident of his winning chances.
"Kelly had him rock hard fit and while he probably would have appreciated the track being a little better he coped with the heavy ground fairly well," he said.
"He jumped beautifully throughout and had them covered most of the way. It got pretty competitive there for awhile but when I got left in front at the second last we were travelling better than them at that stage so I wasn't too worried.
"He's beaten some nice jumpers in his last two wins so I think Kelly may be looking at bigger targets later in the winter with him now." – NZ Racing Desk
Twenty-year-old Fannin had scored a Prestige jumping race double on Saturday when he guided Ready Eddie and Sea King to victory in the Waikato Hurdles and Steeplechase respectively at Te Rapa before trekking to the deep south for the ride on the Kelly Thompson trained Cecil.
Although only five runners greeted the starter in the Riverton feature the race provided excitement from go to whoa as the contestants battled a gusty southerly and driving rain throughout the 3900 metre event. With around 1000 metres to run it was down to a three horse war in front as firstly Confused dropped his rider at the start of the second lap and then last year's Grand National Steeplechase winner High Forty began to labour and dropped away from the leading three.
Gargamel was the next to make a mistake as he stumbled on landing at the third last jump and lost his winning chance while The Fox dropped rider Hana Bognuda at the next to leave Cecil clear in the lead. The favourite never looked in any danger as he strolled over the final fence to win by a conservative 55 lengths at the finish from Gargamel who rallied for second.
Such was the margin of his victory Cecil had crossed the finishing line before the third placed finisher, High Forty, had even jumped the last fence. The eight-year-old Istidaad gelding has now made it two wins from just the three steeplechase starts after winning twice on both the flat and over hurdles earlier in his career.
Despite the treacherous conditions Fannin was always confident of his winning chances.
"Kelly had him rock hard fit and while he probably would have appreciated the track being a little better he coped with the heavy ground fairly well," he said.
"He jumped beautifully throughout and had them covered most of the way. It got pretty competitive there for awhile but when I got left in front at the second last we were travelling better than them at that stage so I wasn't too worried.
"He's beaten some nice jumpers in his last two wins so I think Kelly may be looking at bigger targets later in the winter with him now." – NZ Racing Desk
Central Districts jumps jockey Shaun Fannin capped the weekend of his riding life when he combined with race favourite Cecil to take out the 110th running of the Great Western Steeplechase at Riverton on Sunday
Twenty-year-old Fannin had scored a Prestige jumping race double on Saturday when he guided Ready Eddie and Sea King to victory in the Waikato Hurdles and Steeplechase respectively at Te Rapa before trekking to the deep south for the ride on the Kelly Thompson trained Cecil.
Although only five runners greeted the starter in the Riverton feature the race provided excitement from go to whoa as the contestants battled a gusty southerly and driving rain throughout the 3900 metre event. With around 1000 metres to run it was down to a three horse war in front as firstly Confused dropped his rider at the start of the second lap and then last year's Grand National Steeplechase winner High Forty began to labour and dropped away from the leading three.
Gargamel was the next to make a mistake as he stumbled on landing at the third last jump and lost his winning chance while The Fox dropped rider Hana Bognuda at the next to leave Cecil clear in the lead. The favourite never looked in any danger as he strolled over the final fence to win by a conservative 55 lengths at the finish from Gargamel who rallied for second.
Such was the margin of his victory Cecil had crossed the finishing line before the third placed finisher, High Forty, had even jumped the last fence. The eight-year-old Istidaad gelding has now made it two wins from just the three steeplechase starts after winning twice on both the flat and over hurdles earlier in his career.
Despite the treacherous conditions Fannin was always confident of his winning chances.
"Kelly had him rock hard fit and while he probably would have appreciated the track being a little better he coped with the heavy ground fairly well," he said.
"He jumped beautifully throughout and had them covered most of the way. It got pretty competitive there for awhile but when I got left in front at the second last we were travelling better than them at that stage so I wasn't too worried.
"He's beaten some nice jumpers in his last two wins so I think Kelly may be looking at bigger targets later in the winter with him now." – NZ Racing Desk
Twenty-year-old Fannin had scored a Prestige jumping race double on Saturday when he guided Ready Eddie and Sea King to victory in the Waikato Hurdles and Steeplechase respectively at Te Rapa before trekking to the deep south for the ride on the Kelly Thompson trained Cecil.
Although only five runners greeted the starter in the Riverton feature the race provided excitement from go to whoa as the contestants battled a gusty southerly and driving rain throughout the 3900 metre event. With around 1000 metres to run it was down to a three horse war in front as firstly Confused dropped his rider at the start of the second lap and then last year's Grand National Steeplechase winner High Forty began to labour and dropped away from the leading three.
Gargamel was the next to make a mistake as he stumbled on landing at the third last jump and lost his winning chance while The Fox dropped rider Hana Bognuda at the next to leave Cecil clear in the lead. The favourite never looked in any danger as he strolled over the final fence to win by a conservative 55 lengths at the finish from Gargamel who rallied for second.
Such was the margin of his victory Cecil had crossed the finishing line before the third placed finisher, High Forty, had even jumped the last fence. The eight-year-old Istidaad gelding has now made it two wins from just the three steeplechase starts after winning twice on both the flat and over hurdles earlier in his career.
Despite the treacherous conditions Fannin was always confident of his winning chances.
"Kelly had him rock hard fit and while he probably would have appreciated the track being a little better he coped with the heavy ground fairly well," he said.
"He jumped beautifully throughout and had them covered most of the way. It got pretty competitive there for awhile but when I got left in front at the second last we were travelling better than them at that stage so I wasn't too worried.
"He's beaten some nice jumpers in his last two wins so I think Kelly may be looking at bigger targets later in the winter with him now." – NZ Racing Desk