Hypnotize Again Has Them Spellbound

Sunday, 05 September 2010 07:30

Grand jumper Hypnotize has written himself into racing folklore by winning his third Great Northern Steeplechase at Ellerslie.

He became just the second horse in the 126-year history of the race to win New Zealand's toughest race three times with Hunterville completing the hat-trick in 1985.

Hypnotize carried 70.5kg to victory on Saturday, the biggest winning weight for more than 50 years.

Making the 70.5kg he had to deal with all the more remarkable was that it was on a very heavy track in the gruelling event which is run over 6400 metres with 25 fences over three circuits of the hill course at the back of the Ellerslie track.

"I don't know how he does it. He's just a little horse but he's carried those weights better than any horse I've ever ridden before," jockey Isaac Lupton said.

"He's just a super little horse, a great stayer and he loves the Ellerslie hill," Lupton said.

"He's got so much stamina and because he's such a good stayer the course really suits him. You need a real stayer when you have to go up that hill three times. It really sorts them out."

At his previous start Hypnotize had carried 70kg to victory in the third of his Pakuranga Hunt Cup wins, a record since metrics were introduced to New Zealand racing in 1974.

Lupton bided his time as he settled Hypnotize back in the 11-horse field and although he got a little closer as the field climbed the hill for the third time, he looked to be in trouble as the leader Fair King, last year's winner, surged clear coming down the hill.

Fair King was a clear leader at the last fence at the top of the straight but, just as Hypnotize had done in the Pakuranga Hunt Cup last month, he pulled out all the stops to score by 3-3/4 lengths.

Hypnotize is trained at Wanganui by former jumps jockey Raymond Connors who shares in the ownership with his father Mark.