Promising hurdler Second Innings made it back-to-back victories in the space of three days when he scored a gritty win in the opening event at Riccarton on Saturday.
The win was mission accomplished for trainer Paul Nelson who has put the polish on the eight-year-old gelding’s current campaign after taking over the reins from part-owner Ben Foote earlier in the year.
“He was quite promising as a stayer on the flat but he took a while to mature and has had a few niggles along the way including a scare with his tendon at one stage.
“That all seems to be behind him now and he has come up well this time in.”Nelson was thrilled with the gelding’s condition when he received him after his autumn break and set about readying him for his jumping debut.
“He had done plenty of work before he got to me so it was really just a matter of putting the final polish on and getting him ready for the jumps,” he said.“He won nicely at big odds on the flat at the start of last month and then went a beauty in the Taumarunui Gold Cup however the target has always been jumping at the Riccarton carnival with the money that’s on offer.”
Second Innings lived up to his private reputation with an effortless win in maiden hurdle company on Wednesday however was made to work a lot harder to score in 0-1 win company on the weekend.“He hasn’t been backed up that quickly before so I guess that may have played a part in Saturday’s victory,” said Nelson.
“The track was also heavier and the opposition much better but I thought he showed plenty of grit to come away from them in the straight despite not putting in his best jumps at either of the last two fences.”Nelson will now assess his options over the next six weeks however has ruled out an attempt at the Great Northern Hurdles next month in favour of setting the gelding for that sort of assignment in 12 months time.
