The Great Northern Hurdle (4200m) has always been the major target for Fourty Eight this preparation, and the hopes of reaching the iconic race took a massive step forward at Woodville on Sunday when he took out the Cody Singer Memorial (4000m) in convincing fashion.
Raced by a large contingent of owners, including breeder Sheena Martin and the Frac Club, Fourty Eight had been suffering from feet issues over the last couple of months and trainers Shaun and Hazel Fannin thought their hopes of getting to the Great Northern were dashed.
However, he revived those hopes with a front-running display when scoring his maiden hurdle victory by 4-3/4 lengths over Mr Fabulous, with a further 30-3/4 lengths back to Muse in third.
“It was a good result,” said Shaun Fannin, who also rode the six-year-old gelding. “He does have a fair bit of ability, he just can be a bit temperamental sometimes.
“He doesn’t have great feet and we have had a couple of setbacks in the last couple of runs with those feet. We have got a good farrier and we have managed to keep on top of them and get him back on track, and it was just nice to see him back on track yesterday.
“He can jump a little bit high sometimes over the brush fences, so I thought he might jump those first two quite high and get into his rhythm after that, but he jumped pretty well from the outset yesterday and finished it off strongly.”
Another hurdle assignment is looming for Fourty Eight, with Fannin not ruling out their initial target of the Great Northern in September.
“The long-term plan was the Great Northern Hurdles, but it all just went up in the air after he won at Hawera on the flat and then his next two runs we had foot issues there and that put us on the back foot again,” he said.
“Yesterday was more about getting back on track, and he showed that, so we will just see what he does in the next week and make a plan from there.”
The stable also picked up two placings on the nine-race card, including Sweet Ada in the MacDougalls (2100m) and Flying Celebration in the Farmlands Pahiatua & Mitchpine (1600m).
“Sweet Ada has had four runs for us now and she has run a couple of fourths, a third and a second. It seems improving form, so hopefully next start is a win for her,” Fannin said.
“Flying Celebration went as good as she could go on that track. It was a good day for the stable.”
Meanwhile, it was a bittersweet moment for Fannin when riding champion jumper West Coast to a courageous runner-up result behind Smug in the Glenanthony Simmentals Stud Hawke’s Bay Steeplechase (4800m).
“He was unreal, he is just a champion,” Fannin said. “He has carried 73 kilos start after start.
“I thought I was almost beaten at the 600m and then we got over the third-to-last (fence) and he found another gear, like he always does. It’s only in the last couple of strides that Smug came back and beat me.
“He is such a good jumper and a remarkable stayer.”
Fannin will have to hop off West Coast in next month’s Racecourse Hotel & Motor Lodge Grand National Steeplechase (5600m) to ride his own stable runner Jesko in the Riccarton feature.
The pair have won the last three editions of the race and Fannin said he isn’t looking forward to facing off against West Coast for the first time.
“I have always been on his back, and he gives you so much confidence when you hop on his back, so it will be a very different feeling going out against him,” he said. “It is not something I am looking forward to.”