West trains first winner

Sarah West has had plenty of success in the showjumping arena, and now she can add a training win to her CV following Juwala’s victory in the Subtract Contractors Maiden Hurdle (3000m) at Woodville on Sunday.

A decorated equestrian, West has spent her entire life on the back of the horse and has been recognised for her talent on both a national and international level.

“I have always been into horses and I have competed in show jumping and show hunting,” West said. “I was second in the Young Rider Series for ESNZ, and I jumped all the way up to Horse Grand Prix and did everything bar a World Cup start. Showjumping is a big thing for me.”

Like many in her sport, West began to work in a racing stable while riding, and upon returning to New Zealand after competing in show jumping overseas, she decided to take out her own trainer’s licence.

“I started working at Te Akau Racing seven years ago and I have been on-and-off full-time and part-time there,” West said.

“I went overseas for show jumping and when I came back I thought ‘what else can I do?’, and I remember saying to Mum one day on the way to a hunt, ‘what if we had a racehorse that I could hunt and jump and doing everything with?’

“We found him (Juwala) on Gavelhouse and that was it. He is a pretty cool horse.”

The son of Reliable Man was formerly trained by Pam Gerard, for whom he had 11 starts before he was offered for sale on gavelhouse.com last August where he was purchased by West for $2,600.

He was subsequently entrusted to the care of Peter and Jessica Brosnan until West was able to attain her trainer’s licence, and he had three unplaced starts for the Matamata couple last year.

He had his first start for West in May, and his first two outings for the Te Aroha horsewoman were on the flat before he made his jumping debut on his home track last month, where he finished fifth in a maiden hurdle.

He was subsequently pulled up in his next hurdle start before he returned to the flat at Te Rapa a fortnight ago where he beat just one runner home.

With his recent run of form, Juwala jumped an 18-1 outsider on Sunday, but he belied his odds with a bold front-running display under jockey Bella Oliver, and the pair led throughout to post a 3-1/2 victory under a heavy cloud of fog.

West admitted to being a bundle of nerves throughout the running, but she was overjoyed to see her charge run out a convincing winner.

“Especially after his last start over the jumps we thought ‘what is going to happen here?’, but he proved us all wrong and he did everything he was supposed to do,” West said.

“You couldn’t really see him (through the fog), so you just hoped that he was still okay from the TV, and then I couldn’t watch the last two fences, but he was really good, I am really happy.”

While West has a love for racing, she holds a particular passion for jumps racing, which comes as no surprise given her background.

“Naturally with the showjumping I have always loved jumping the horses and it is amazing watching them progress,” she said.

West still competes in show jumping and she said the two disciplines fit in well with each other, and having a racehorse in her barn has even helped her improve as a rider in the show jumping arena.

“I have got the one racehorse and two show jumpers,” West said. “He even came to a few show jumping shows with us at the start because he had to get worked, so he tagged along with the team and fitted right in.

“I hadn’t actually ridden a racehorse until we got this horse and it has been good for me to learn to go a bit faster because that is what has been letting me down with the show jumpers, I have been going too slow.”

While still in the infancy of her training career, West said she is loving it and she is enjoying working Juwala and her show jumpers around her studies.

“I am at uni doing a degree in criminology, it is a different path and a bit exciting,” she said.

With a win under her belt, West is now looking forward to heading towards some home targets, including the Great New Zealand Jumps Carnival.

“I would like to aim for some of the Te Aroha meetings because it is right on our backdoor step, particularly with the carnival coming up,” she said. “But we will wait and see how he pulls up (before making any plans), it was a long drive home last night.”