Pair prepping eight for jumps

CLAYTON YAXLEY TRUST

JUMP AT THE CHANCE: Hurdlers in action at Riverton's seaside racecourse.

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Ashburton trainer Pam Gerard and jockey Tom Hazlett are together preparing eight horses for the jumping season.

The first two meetings of the season are at Te Aroha on April 21 and Riverton two days later. A steeplechase and a hurdle race are programmed for Riverton.

Hazlett said he and Gerard were considering Vinopolis for the Great Western Hurdles at Riverton on May 9. The same day another member of their stable, The Matrix, could line up in the Great Western Steeplechase.
Vinopolis fell at the last brush when looking like finishing third in the Grand National Hurdles at Riccarton in August.

Most of Hazlett and Gerards' jumpers have been in work since December.
''They've done a fair bit of work,'' Hazlett said yesterday.

South Australian rider Emily Taylor will rejoin Gerard's Ashburton stable after competing at the Oakbank jumping carnival on April 3 and 5.

Buddy Budweiser is likely to be the only jumper at Riverton for Wingatui trainers Brian and Shane Anderton.
 The Seasoned Star gelding won a maiden hurdle race at Riverton last April and returned there three weeks later to finish third to Kidunot in the Great Western Hurdles.

Tendon injuries have sidelined the Anderton-trained Nicholman and Telem. Nicholman ran second in last year's Grand National Steeplechase at Riccarton. Telem closed his last campaign with wins over hurdles at Timaru and Oamaru on September 13 and August 28, respectively.

Kidunot's eighth in a rating 65 2000m at Omakau on Friday was his first start since winning the Great Northern Hurdles at Ellerslie in September. Wrights Bush part-owner Bill Hazlett said Kidunot could start in the Great Western Hurdles.

''He went very good at Omakau,'' Hazlett said of the gelding, who is trained at Knapdale by Ellis Winsloe.
Ascot Park trainer Kelly Thompson has four jumpers for the autumn and winter _  Lautenschlager, Militia, One More Thyme and Jacob's River.

A short term goal for Lautenschlager is the $75,000 Riverton Cup on April 3. He finished second in it last year.

- © Fairfax NZ News

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