Hastings trainers Paul Nelson and Corrina McDougal head to Woodville this Sunday with a fresh team of jumpers, looking to replicate the feats of The Cossack and Nedwin who claimed each of the prestige jumping events at Te Rapa last Saturday.
Their six runners will be spearheaded by three key chances in the Woodville Service Centre Open Steeplechase (4000m), in No Tip, Raucous and The Anarchist.
11-year-old gelding No Tip is a winner of five races over the bigger fences, including last year’s edition of the Pakuranga Hunt Cup (4800m), and after being a late scratching in the Waikato Steeplechase (3900m), he will line-up with the top weight of 71.5kg.
“No Tip’s got a lot of weight, but he’s got Jack Power to ride him with a three-kilo claim, so it comes down to a reasonable weight,” Nelson said.
“We’re hoping that’ll be a big help to him.”
A son of Nom de Jeu, Raucous has been sighted twice over hurdles this season including being runner-up to Interllectus at Wanganui, and he has produced more contained jumping efforts than previously seen from the gelding.
“Raucous is Raucous, he’s a horse that you never quite know who’s going to turn up but he’s been pretty consistent, he’s usually thereabouts,” Nelson said.
“The Anarchist is having a run, then hopefully he’ll go to the Hawkes Bay Steeples. He ran on pretty well last time out so we’re hopeful for him.”
The Anarchist is a son of prominent staying and jumping sire Raise the Flag and will be among the better chances in the Hawkes Bay Steeplechase (4800m) at Hastings on July 1st, potentially alongside No Tip.
The stable’s other runners for the day include Motivation in the Murray Contractors Open Hurdle (3000m), I’m Chuck in the Bush Ground Spreaders Maiden (2200m) and Imperial Party in the Dairy Pond Spreaders Rating 65 Highweight (1600m).
A six-year-old son of Ghibellines, Imperial Party will also partner with Irishman Jack Power, who has recently joined the Nelson/McDougal team and made a strong impression at the Te Rapa meeting when placing second on Argyll in the Waikato Steeplechase (3900m) in just his third start in the country.
“He (Power) went very well on Saturday, you couldn’t have asked for anything more really,” Nelson said.