Outstanding hurdler Happy Star showed he was at peak fitness to defend his Hospitality NZ Grand National Hurdles (4200m) crown next weekend when he cruised away to win the traditional lead-up event at Riccarton on Saturday, the Avon City Ford Sydenham Hurdles (3100m).
With leading jumps jockey Shaun Fannin in the saddle, the Kevin Myers-trained eight-year-old cruised along in front throughout and despite a slight glitch when he got in too close to the fence entering the back straight, he never looked like surrendering the lead.
Carrying the clear topweight of 70kgs Happy Star used his pace on the flat to kick clear in the home straight to defeat stablemate Obrigado and the late-finishing Berry The Cash by just on two lengths at the line.
Myer’s partner Angela Ilston was on hand to witness the victory and was pleased with the way the son of Fabulous was shaping up for the Grand National Hurdles on 12 August.
“He had a few lives, but he is a pretty smart horse,” Ilston said.
“If he doesn’t pull so hard next week, he will be fine and we were also very happy with the runner-up (Obrigado) as well.”
Fannin, who had brought up win number 100 as a jockey with victory on the Myers-trained Afterallthistime in the first race on the card, was pleased with the run despite the mistake the horse made during the race.
“He had a bit of a life at one down the back,” Fannin said. “He wasn’t really concentrating that much, but when the pressure went on he woke up and could have gone a whole lot faster.
“He’s a very nippy jumper and ideally next Saturday if we had something on our tail it would be a big assist.
“I don’t believe he needs to improve much, although I was mindful today as he had a big weight and is not an overly big horse, so over the last I wanted to keep something in reserve.”
The victory was Happy Star’s fifth from six starts over hurdles and along with six flat victories takes his career record to 11 wins from 37 starts and over $280,000 in prizemoney.
Myers was at it again just two races later when he produced a clean sweep of the jumping events on the day when Prince Turbo maintained his unbeaten record over the bigger fences with a clear-cut win in the Koral Steeplechase (4250m).
In the hands of Dean Parker, the nine-year-old son of Alamosa was handy throughout and made his bid for glory at the top of the long Riccarton home straight.
He joined pacemaker and eventual runner-up Des De Jeu at the last fence and used his superior speed on the flat to race away to a four-length victory, with race favourite West Coast making ground strongly in the closing stages to take third.
Parker was thrilled with the performance after his mount had travelled beautifully throughout.
“It was just marvellous,” Parker said. “I was a wee bit further forward than I wanted to be, but coming to the 600m I thought I still had a few gears to use so I gave him a squeeze and off he went.
“He slowed down a bit at the last but found a good leap and he was just so good today.
“The ground out wider seemed a bit better underfoot, so I was happy there and I thought I had the others covered out there.
“I knew the favourite would be coming so I just wanted to be in front of him when it counted.”
Parker is bursting with confidence heading into next weekend’s Grand National Steeplechase (5600m) where online bookmakers have him as the $2.30 second favourite behind West Coast ($2) in the Fixed Odds market.
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