Bean’s Bean injured: out of National

Press, 27 July 1981, Page 23

Bean’s Bean injured: out of National

By

J. J. BOYLE

A leg injury received by 7 Bean’s Beau and soreness affecting Guess Who after the Christchurch Hunt's Centenary Steeplechase on Saturday will leave its mark on the field for the $20,000 Grand National Steeplechase this week. Guess Who trailed in a

long last in a race he won last year, and his career is probably at an end.

Bean's Beau finished third, less than six lengths from the winner, Off An' On, after losing all of 15 lengths behind falling horses at Cutts’s. Unfortunately he nicked a tendon in his near foreleg and his programme for the winter, notable for victories in the Great Northern and Riddiford Steeples, might now be over.

Off An’ On won the Christchurch" Hunt’s feature race by a length and a quarter from Bright Flight to preserve his unbeaten record through three starts over country for Mr Bert Crooks, who bought him for $4OO as a yearling.

This was Off An’ On’s nineteenth win, and he has earned $45,720.

The rising 10-year-old Bellborough gelding is trained by Bill Hillis, who prepared Koral to win seven Christchurch Hunt Homebys, and also won that race with Spanish Main and John O’Groats.

A great family record in

jumping races at Riccarton was boosted earlier on Saturday when Bill Hillis’s daughter, Joanne (“she was born the year Capet won the National”) partnered Twinlaw for an all-the-way win in the Hunt Cup. Twinlaw is owned by Mrs Mary Dailey, a daughter of the late Mr Bill Hazlett, and carried the same colours as Koral.

The Wingatui-trained Bright Flight did not go under without putting up strong resistance in the Centenary Steeplechase, and emerged with many of the honours of the race.

His rider, Owen Anning, believes the mix-up behind the falling Arrest and Taitan cost them seven lengths, yet he still had visions of victory on landing over the last fence.

“I thought we were going slightly better than Off An’ On then, but his superior speed won it for him in the end,” Anning said.

Off An’ On, like the second and third horses, had been caught up in the chain of events after the falls at

Cutts’s and lost several lengths.

Bean’s Beau’s third, in itself, was a splendid Grand National trial.

“I thought we would finish up in the scraping sheds after Cutts’s,” his rider, Bryce Waters, commented after the race. “Those fences were the best I have ever ridden over, and Bean’s Beau handled them well. It had to be a great trial for the National, but with that injury there’s no chance of a start."

Guess Who was only a shadow of the horse that won the Grand National-Great Northern double last season as he struggled around the course.

The judicial committee questioned Guess Who’s rider, Michael Gillies, about the horse’s performance and agreed that it had probably been affected by the firmish track, the effects of a fall at his previous start, and an old injury.

A veterinary surgeon examined Guess Who immediately after the race, and found nothing wrong with the horse, but there was soreness in a foreleg after he cooled out.