Horse Racing: Great Northern Steeplechase

The jumping roadshow stops at Hastings today with the running of five jumping races including the AHD Hawke's Bay Steeplechase and the Te Whangai Romney's Hawke's Bay Hurdle. Although the Hawke's Bay Steeplechase is light on numbers, it certainly does not lack quality. The race includes top class chaser, Wise Men Say, who heads the weights, recent…

Many think it would be a great achievement to live to age 80. It would be a much, much greater thing to be 80 and look like Jim Hely. Sixty years to the day on Saturday, Jim Hely rode what was to be the first of the countless steeplechase winners, Sandy, that made him possibly the greatest jumps rider this country has seen. Appropriately that was…

No one who saw the 1967 Great Northern Steeplechase will ever forget the incredible win of Eiffel Tower over Ringlock at Ellerslie. Today's running of Ellerslie jumping feature sure to provide its own tale of drama and horsemanship. The scene is Ellerslie Racecourse, two weeks ago today, the men's toilet in the members' grandstand. It's 30 minutes…

Jumps racing looks set to provide what is a rarity these days - a grand final at Te Rapa next month. While most sports have a final or finals, New Zealand thoroughbred racing doesn't have many season-ending, champion-crowning races. The Group 1 Guineas races come too early in the season for that, the Derby and Oaks are great races but often also…

A pair of golfers have had been left red-faced after narrowly avoiding being trampled during the Great Northern Steeplechase (6400m) at Ellerslie on Saturday. Race caller George Simon didn't shy away when describing the pair as "absolute dickheads". "There's some absolute idiots playing golf out on the course proper, can you believe that?" Simon…

The 20-year-old was encouraged here by fellow jumps riders Shaun Phelan and Emily Farr, having ridden for the latter's parents in England. Gordon has posted three wins from 14 starts and he is now preparing for a watershed day at Ellerslie this weekend with confirmed mounts in two of the country's premier jumps events. He will continue his…

Lightly raced jumper Eion provided an ominous warning to his potential ARC Great Northern Steeplechase (6400m) rivals when he took out an action packed CLC Pakuranga Hunt Cup (4200m) at Te Aroha on Sunday. The Pakuranga Hunt Cup is the major lead-up race to the Great Northern and the Ken Duncan-trained Eion looked spot on for his upcoming challenge…