Champion jumps jockey Steven Pateman hopes the decision to continue his association with Awakening Dream will see him triumph in the Grand Annual Steeplechase this afternoon for the third consecutive year.
Photo by Racing and Sports
In what he described as a "flip of a coin" choice between both Awakening Dream and Man Of Class, Pateman now chases back to back victories aboard Awakening Dream after he proved far too good in the event last year when spacing his rivals by 15 lengths.
A true test of stamina, the Grand Annual was first run in 1872 and is the longest horse race run in Australia. Comprising of 33 obstacles, competitors are asked to jump more fences than that in the Grand National at Aintree, the most prominent steeplechase race in the world.
Following a very similar preparation to which provided last year's success saw Awakening Dream resume at Healesville earlier last month producing a solid performance to finish third over 2600m.
Working home well from the back on that occasion, Awakening Dream would go on to prove a shade disappointing at Hamilton last start when finishing towards the tail of the field in the Eulong Steeplechase behind Berlioz.
Although he may have been unsuited over that shorter journey it did raise some concerns as the son of Aristotle had proven successful in the same race last year in the lead up to taking out the feature race.
However the fact that Pateman has elected to stick aboard the nine-year-old following that performance gives all indications that he is well on track to defend his title.
While he was unable to take any scalps on the first day of the carnival, Pateman's class prevailed on the second day of the carnival taking out the Galleywood aboard the Robert Smerdon trained Brungle Cry.
Not since 2009 has Pateman gone without winning at least one of the big three (Brierley, Galleywood, Grand Annual) jumps features at the May Carnival and is now in line to repeat his effort last year having taken out both the Galleywood and Grand Annual.
Pateman's dominance of the jumps scene is unparalleled having ridden 36 winners in 2012 at a strike-rate of 36% following a stellar 2011 where he rode 38 winners at an incredible strike-rate of 43%.
His uncanny ability to choose the correct mounts gives punters a big leg-up for this afternoon's event as Pateman elected to bypass the ride on second favourite Man Of Class having ridden the son of With Class to victory in last month's Great Eastern Steeplechase at Oakbank.
Having struggled to excel on the flat, Awakening Dream has since proven a revelation over the obstacles having collected eights wins and one minor placing from 12 starts.
Of note Awakening Dream defeated champion hurdler Black And Bent by 20 lengths in his jumps debut at Yarra Valley back in April 2009.
With the track rated slow on Wednesday and likely to deteriorate further it appears set to play well into the hands of Awakening Dream having saluted in seven of his eight attempts over the obstacles in the wet with his only defeat coming two years back when finishing second to Al Garhood in this very race.
While it is appears set to favour Awakening Dream the likelihood of a wet track sets to lessen the chances of the Ciaron Maher trained Man Of Class.
Coming strongly into calculations following his impressive performance to salute in last month's Great Eastern Steeplechase, Man Of Class is the obvious danger in the race although his form in the wet does post some concern.
In nine attempts in the wet over the obstacles Man Of Class has only saluted twice with both victories coming almost two years ago at Morphettville.
More notably the main reason why Pateman elected to jump off the nine-year-old was because he felt Awakening Dream would prove stronger in the wet.
Of the rest the Aaron Purcell trained Dhaafer appears the next in line when he steps out over the obstacles for the first time this preparation.
Given plenty of time to build his stamina, Dhaafer a former European trained galloper is expected to be closing in on his peak now and will have no problems with the sharp step up in trip.
Whilst this is a clear step up from his second placing in the Grand National Steeplechase at Sandown last July, apart from the top two leading chances there isn't much depth to this race and he appears well placed to take out third place.
Often quoted as regarding the Warrnambool Carnival as the most important jumps meeting in the world, Pateman appears well on track to notch up his third consecutive Grand Annual and continue his stranglehold over the Australian jumps scene.
Good luck and happy punting.
