WITH Steven Pateman taking the ride on Will John for the injured Willie McCarthy in the Thackery Steeplechase at Warrnambool on Sunday, the eight-year-old Reset gelding has confirmed the change to the larger fences has been in his favour.

A maiden chase winner at the end of May, he claimed last Sunday’s A$100,000 feature at this, his next start having been sent out a A$1.70 favourite.

The 2021 Grand National Hurdle winner who was off the scene for 18 months until April 2023 due to injury, made all the running over the 3,450 metres that took in most of the Grand Annual Steeplechase course.

Pressing home his advantage with 1,000 metre remaining, Will John was a comfortable winner putting up a three-length margin to Tom Foolery with Leaderboard in third.

“How good will he look going around in May? That’s where he’s going,” said managing owner Colin McKenna referencing the Grand Annual. “He’s back. He’s back in a big way; that was a good win.”

TE Akau Racing continue to spread their wins from their Cranbourne base in Melbourne’s south-east.

On Sunday, the ‘orange and blue’ team took out the feature Kevin Lafferty Hurdle at Warrnambool with Prismatic.

“It was a big step up in class, but (jockey) Aaron (Kuru) has plenty of confidence in the horse and he certainly didn’t let the top-weight (second-placed Fabalot) get too far out of his sights,” said trainer Mark Walker.

“His jumping was really good throughout and it’s great for the owners to win a A$100,000 race with him.”

With Fabalot out to a 15-length lead inside the last lap, Kuro crept Prismatic closer before picking him up after a lazy jump at the third last. Into his stride, he closed quickly over the final two obstacles before leading into the final bend and stretching his margin to seven lengths at the line.

Fabalot was second ahead of The Good Fight. It was a second win in four hurdle starts for the five-year-old Savabeel gelding and completed a double for Aaron Kuru who had won a maiden hurdle for Symon Wilde with Hit The Road Jack.

Pateman back in the winner’s stall

VICTORIA’S premier jumps jockey over the past decade, Steven Pateman returned to the saddle for the first time in 11 months following the disqualification he and his partner Jess sustained at the conclusion of a contested cobalt inquiry dating from 2017. Having taken one ride on June 23rd, Pateman saluted in his second ride back early on the card at Warrnambool last Sunday, guiding the Irish-bred Alakahan, seventh in last year’s Group 1 Sydney Cup to his maiden hurdle win for trainer Ciaron Maher.

“He’s a clever jumper and should be able to snag a feature race,” said 41-year-old Pateman of Alakahan who began his racing with Michael Halford.

Asked about his time out Pateman added: “We just love doing what we do. It was hard at the start but then it got easier toward the end. What did I do? I worked in a movie, emptied rubbish bins for ‘Bin Boy’, and did a bit of show jumping which was fun. But it’s great to be back.”

THE former Andrew Balding-trained Berkshire Breeze is on the path to Melbourne Cup qualification following three consecutive wins in five starts for Ciaron Maher. The Irish-bred grey Mastercraftsman gelding stepped out as a $1.30 favourite at Flemington in the 2,600 metre Banjo Paterson Series Final to win as he pleased by five lengths.

“I shouldn’t have got paid for that one, it was like a track gallop,” said jockey Ethan Brown.

“He’s an exciting horse,” said Maher. “The plan so far is on track; the plan is to get him to the Archer and get him to qualify (for the Cup). We did it with Future History, and he’s on a similar path.

Target races

“We’ve done it a few times before, the idea is to have them fit, we space their runs and target those races. But he had to win a couple to get his rating up and even get in a race like that, so he’s on track now.”

Berkshire Breeze’s programme will be slightly different though, as in a change to 155 years of tradition, the final qualifying race for the Melbourne Cup, the Group 3 Archer Stakes over 2,500 metres, more commonly known recently as the Lexus Stakes, has been moved from Victoria Derby day to Makybe Diva Stakes day on September 14th by the Victoria Racing Club.

Shocking is the last horse to complete the Archer-Melbourne Cup double in 2009.