Squire vying for maiden prestige crown at Te Rapa
Emerging top hurdler Squire (NZ) (Savile Row) will bid for his first prestige jumping crown at Te Rapa on Saturday as the gelding takes on the Fairview Motors Waikato Hurdle (3200m).
The Peter and Jessica Brosnan-trained gelding won the maiden hurdle at the same meeting 12 months ago and went on to finish that season with a second in the Pakuranga Hunt Hurdle (3100m) and fourth in the Great New Zealand Hurdle (4200m).
Picking up where he left off in 2025, the five-year-old won over 2400m on the flat before defeating the promising Roc Up Ralph over fences at Te Rapa last start, the pair now set to face off again in a quality field for Saturday’s $60,000 feature.
His Matamata-based trainers were pleased to tick off their first target early in the new season at the Waikato course, where the gelding has won four of his five starts.
“We were pretty rapt with him, these are the two races we were targeting, that race and the Waikato Hurdles,” Brosnan said.
“It has been business as usual for him over the past three weeks, a similar build-up to his last race.”
Australian hoop Jordan Hart will be back in New Zealand to ride Squire and stablemate Jakama Krystal, the latter lining up in the Signature Homes Waikato Steeplechase (3900m).
“It’s pretty good to have Jordan over to ride him, he knows this horse well now and has had a ride around Te Rapa,” Brosnan said. “The rider is in form, as is the horse, so it’s a big plus.”
A course and distance winner at Te Rapa, Brosnan expects to see a fitter version of Jakama Krystal in the Waikato Steeplechase following a tidy effort to finish third in the Waikato Hunt Cup (3900m), won by West Coast.
“She’s improved a lot off the run the other day, she probably needed it,” he said.
“She could probably do with a bit more rain, which we aren’t going to get, but she’s definitely improved.”
Completing their trio of jumpers will be Rocem, an El Roca mare who lines up in the Ken and Roger Browne Memorial (3900m) for the maiden steeplechasers. Set to carry 63kg with Brandon Holliday’s claim, Brosnan plans to implement a change of tactics to her last start when fifth at Te Aroha.
“She’ll be pretty competitive, we’ll ride her a bit more positively at Te Rapa and put her in the race,” he said. “Her last start wasn’t a bad run, she just got a little bit out of her ground.”
Their team has been bolstered this season with the return of Auld Jock, who finished just a length off West Coast in the Grand National Steeplechase (5500m) in 2024, and was third in the Great Northern Steeplechase (6500m), also won by the champion jumper.
Building fitness on the flat, Auld Jock will run in the Platinum Homes Taranaki (2000m) at New Plymouth today before setting his sights on a return to Christchurch.
“He’s coming up well, hopefully we can get through tomorrow (Friday) and head to a jumping race in a few weeks,” Brosnan said. “His main target is the Hawke’s Bay Steeples and the Grand National.”
