Gun for Fun, Proud Leigh for hurdles quinella

Press, 7 August 1985, Page 40

Gun for Fun, Proud Leigh for hurdles quinella

By

J. J. BOYLE

Give them approximately five minutes and Gun for Fun and Proud Leigh will resolve still unanswered questions in the Couplands-sponsored 96th Grand National Hurdles at Riccarton today.

Gun for Fun will be out to show that his first experience over brush hurdles at Riccarton last Saturday, when third in Proud Leigh’s Sydenham Hurdles, will give him the ascendancy at the end of another 1000 m. He goes into the race as the veteran of the field and will close a long gap in the records for one of the elders if he wins. He is eleven, and the last horse of that age to win was Hunting Mac in 1949. But the tough Taranaki stayer has certainly been acting young this year and the ease with which he won the Wellington Hurdles under 59.5 and his brave rally following a bad check for his third in the Great Northern Hurdles have established him as one of the brightest jumping stars of the year and have buttressed confidence in his ability to bring off a top weight’s victory today. Gun for Fun has 62kg. Proud Leigh is three years his junior and will carry 61.5 kg, a weight he has well earned with his almost flawless record over jumps. For a time early in the Sydenham Hurdles, Proud Leigh looked anything but a jumping star, and a flawed leap early could have put paid to his chance. But unlike some of his rivals Proud Leigh seemed to get better as the race progressed, and the turning point for him might have come out of his ability to capitalise on a mistake by Gun for Fun at the second last. Records of past Grand National Hurdles are studded with failures of horses whose jumping deteriorated under the pressure of a strong pace over a long trip. Gun for Fun’s mistake close to home in the Spreydon Hurdles did not appear to be the mistake of a tiring horse but Stephen Jenkins, who is seeking his third Grand National Hurdles triumph today, will be hoping all systems are working smoothly at that vital stage of today’s race. Hutch, the eight-year-old giving the Myers family, of Taranaki, a second lively interest in today’s race,

showed high courage to rally for his second in the Sydenham Hurdles. Proud Leigh outstayed him by four lengths, but on better footing he could have proved elusive. Good credentials Lord Venture carries good credentials into a race won for Otago by his stablemate, Bymai, four years ago. He has mixed hurdling and ’chasing in search of one of the major North Island prizes, finishing second in the Great Northern Hurdles in June and third in the Wellington Steeplechase five weeks later. Recent records of the race are fairly generously studded with names of horses that distinguished themselves beforehand against lesser lights, then got into the big one down in the weights. Crown Star, Dark Purple, Jack Dugan, and Detroit achieved such feats. Silver Bayou gets his chance to continue the pattern today and if he has no badly restricted stamina limitations he might give the best of the others plenty to do from his place on the minimum. Curdu, a runner for Ken Browne’s powerful jumping stable, never struck a blow against Silver Bayou in last Saturday’s Trial Hurdles, but if he relaxes more to today’s race he should find the relief of 9.5 kg in the weights enough to make him a real contender. The Awapuni-trained Ellen’s Soldier has some improvement to find on his Sydenham Hurdles fifth, but he earned a start in today’s race after minor placings at Trentham. Therapeutic, the youngest in the field, and a second runner for the Central Districts, beat nine others including Hutch at Levin in his final race of the old season. He was a distant fourth in the Sydenham Hurdles, but like some of the other northerners he should improve with that experience of jumping brushes. Evan Rayner, who trains Therapeutic at Marton, has El. Valiente as a form runner for the Heathcote Handicap, first leg of today’s T.A.B. double. El Valiente started the new season promisingly with a third behind Nalu over 2000 m last Saturday, and, with weights and a drying track considered, would not have to improve out of sight to test the Awapuni mare today. Strategy is a third talented North Islander in the

field. There was much to like about his fifth on the first day, when he was inclined to run too keenly early. Panther, a five-year-old from the Garth Ivil stable at Levin, was given the day off when the rains came last

Saturday, but he might meet the demands of the occasion when he attempts the Selwyn Handicap today. He is David Walsh’s mount in the second leg of the T.A.B. double and the T.A.B. trifecta event, and could capitalise on improv-

ing footing by reaching one of the places. Panther is 4.5 kg below the top weight Reingard, whose performance fresh up will come in for much attention in the light of a projected spring campaign in Australia.