Shaun and Hazel Fannin have two exciting prospects for the upcoming jumps season in Jesko and Fourty Eight and the pair will go head-to-head on the flat at Woodville on Wednesday.
The country’s leading jumps jockey, Shaun Fannin, has only ridden in eight races this season and won six of them, including the Grand National Steeplechase (5600m) and Great Northern Steeplechase (6500m) aboard Mark Oulaghan’s champion jumper West Coast.
He has also had plenty of success with his own horses, most recently with Jesko (NZ) (Atlante), who won first-up under a big impost at Waverley earlier this month.
“He had to carry 72 kilos, so I didn’t think he would be a winning chance under that weight,” Fannin said. “It was a really tough effort, he’s getting ready for a jumping campaign, so these are more fitness runs than anything.
“He’s got a pretty good record, he’s not often out of the top four so it was another honest run, it was nice to see.
“He’s not very nice to ride to be honest, he’s got quite a high head carriage and doesn’t have the best mouth, he’ll get away well and put himself on speed but that’s just how he goes. He comes off the bridle a fair way out and makes me work for it a bit, but he stays pretty well so I’m looking forward to getting him up over a jumping distance for sure.”
The son of Atlante had two starts over the hurdles last year, finishing fourth on debut before defeating a tidy field in his maiden success.
“With that experience under their belt, any jumper really seems to improve into their second season,” Fannin said. “When he won his maiden, he beat Dictation and Mont Ventoux, and that form was pretty strong throughout the season.
“Heading into this year, I’m pretty sure he will measure up again.”
Initially a talent on the synthetic tracks, Fourty Eight (NZ) (Ekraar) also stepped successfully into the jumping role last May, with his only other attempt coming behind a promising hurdler in Mugshot.
The gelding has impressed his trainers in two lead-in trials but will have his resuming run slightly delayed due to a minor hoof issue.
“He seems super, he trialled up well and we were supposed to run him on the same day as Jesko won, but he just had a stone bruise,” Fannin said.
“He’s pretty forward, he won a jump-out at Levin last Tuesday quite well so I’m expecting a pretty decent run from him tomorrow.”
Although he leads the series, Fannin plans to continue only riding West Coast (NZ) (Mettre En Jeu) and his own horses this year.
“I’ll probably just ride my two and then West Coast again, that’ll be the plan this year at this stage,” he said. “We’ll go from there.”
A newer member to their flat racing team is Afternoon Siesta (Shamus Award), a mare that made a good account of herself on debut at Trentham, only being caught late by a rising three-year-old talent in Croupier.
Fannin was pleasantly surprised by the forward showing and hopes to see more of the same when she contests the Dannevirke Carriers (1600m).
“She was supposed to go to a highweight two days before that race, but there was a fair bit of rain up at Waverley and I didn’t want to get to the bottom of her first-up,” he said.
“I probably wasn’t expecting that sort of effort, Croupier just beat her and he backed that up winning a week later at Ellerslie. It looks like pretty strong form going forward.
“She’s not a very big mare and she’s got a few niggles, so she doesn’t take a lot of work. She seems to be quite competitive and jump the gates pretty well, then put herself in the race and tries hard.
“That always counts for a lot.”