{"id":55570,"date":"2025-08-09T19:18:10","date_gmt":"2025-08-09T19:18:10","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/55570\/"},"modified":"2025-08-09T19:18:10","modified_gmt":"2025-08-09T19:18:10","slug":"perennial-placegetter-captains-run-picks-grand-day-to-finally-come-out-on-top","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/55570\/","title":{"rendered":"Perennial placegetter Captains Run picks Grand day to finally come out on top"},"content":{"rendered":"<p class=\"zZbQRyor\" style=\"display:none\">Jesko shook off Hey Hey Hey at the second-last and went for gold, however, Captains Run stalked him along the inner and put his head in front turning for home. Safely over the last fence, he strode away to win by an increasing seven-length margin from a gallant Jesko, with Nedwin further back in third. <\/p>\n<p class=\"zZbQRyor\" style=\"display:none\">Trainer Dan O\u2019Leary was beaming with pride after he greeted his charge back at the Riccarton birdcage. <\/p>\n<p class=\"zZbQRyor\" style=\"display:none\">\u201cThat was a huge thrill as this is such a time-honoured race,\u201d O\u2019Leary said. <\/p>\n<p>Advertisement<a class=\"ad__link\" data-test-ui=\"ad__link\" href=\"https:\/\/advertising.nzme.co.nz\/\" data-ad-env=\"both\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\" target=\"_blank\">Advertise with NZME.<\/a><\/p>\n<p class=\"zZbQRyor\" style=\"display:none\">\u201cIt is the 150th year and there are not a lot of sporting occasions in New Zealand that have that history, so to win it now is just so special. <\/p>\n<p class=\"zZbQRyor\" style=\"display:none\">\u201cJosh rode a beautiful race and it all worked out well as he [Captains Run] jumped good and travelled well. <\/p>\n<p class=\"zZbQRyor\" style=\"display:none\">\u201cThe horse improved from last week and I thought he would be better today.\u201d <\/p>\n<p class=\"zZbQRyor\" style=\"display:none\">O\u2019Leary is no stranger to big-race success, having co-owned Group 1 Auckland Cup (3200m) and Group 1 Sydney Cup (3200m) winner Who Shot Thebarman, who also was placed in a Group 1 Melbourne Cup (3200m), alongside his three brothers. <\/p>\n<p>Discover more<\/p>\n<p class=\"zZbQRyor\" style=\"display:none\">\u201cI thought when Who Shot Thebarman won the Auckland Cup, our whole family was there and we had a wonderful day,\u201d he said. <\/p>\n<p class=\"zZbQRyor\" style=\"display:none\">\u201cWhen he ran third in the Melbourne Cup it was even bigger but this one also rates as a pretty special day.\u201d <\/p>\n<p class=\"zZbQRyor\" style=\"display:none\">A mud-spattered Parker was finding it difficult to put into words what the victory meant to him. <\/p>\n<p class=\"zZbQRyor\" style=\"display:none\">\u201cI\u2019m finding it hard to describe how I feel, but it is the best feeling in the world,\u201d he said. <\/p>\n<p class=\"zZbQRyor\" style=\"display:none\">\u201cHe just jumped superbly and has gone an amazing race as he just ran his heart out. <\/p>\n<p class=\"zZbQRyor\" style=\"display:none\">\u201cDan said \u2018just don\u2019t let go of him until the end\u2019 and this time I didn\u2019t. <\/p>\n<p>Advertisement<a class=\"ad__link\" data-test-ui=\"ad__link\" href=\"https:\/\/advertising.nzme.co.nz\/\" data-ad-env=\"both\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\" target=\"_blank\">Advertise with NZME.<\/a><\/p>\n<p class=\"zZbQRyor\" style=\"display:none\">\u201cWhat a horse as he looks a picture and the team at home have done a wonderful job. <\/p>\n<p class=\"zZbQRyor\" style=\"display:none\">\u201cHis jumping ability is so good as his jumps are so sleek. <\/p>\n<p class=\"zZbQRyor\" style=\"display:none\">\u201cI was told to be on the inside rail and that\u2019s what I did and it just worked out for us. <\/p>\n<p class=\"zZbQRyor\" style=\"display:none\">\u201cYou can\u2019t beat this feeling; there\u2019s nothing like it.\u201d <\/p>\n<p class=\"zZbQRyor\" style=\"display:none\">Bred and raced by O\u2019Leary and his wife Jane, Captains Run was adding just the second victory to his career record, which also includes 14 placings and now over $234,000 in prizemoney. <\/p>\n<p class=\"zZbQRyor\" style=\"display:none\">\u2013 LOVERACING.NZ News Desk <\/p>\n<p>Advertisement<a class=\"ad__link\" data-test-ui=\"ad__link\" href=\"https:\/\/advertising.nzme.co.nz\/\" data-ad-env=\"both\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\" target=\"_blank\">Advertise with NZME.<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Jesko shook off Hey Hey Hey at the second-last and went for gold, however, Captains Run stalked him&hellip;\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":55571,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[40],"tags":[28257,30376,30377,30372,30374,6905,30373,28249,978,7106,6903,1773,30370,14844,30371,28256,3004,22970,5774,10695,16931,30375,101,28258,1850,2373,56,54,55],"class_list":["post-55570","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-racing","tag-150th","tag-bigrace","tag-bridesmaid","tag-captains","tag-come","tag-day","tag-finally","tag-grand","tag-hotel","tag-national","tag-on","tag-out","tag-perennial","tag-picks","tag-placegetter","tag-racecourse","tag-racing","tag-riccarton","tag-run","tag-running","tag-saturday","tag-shed","tag-sports","tag-steeplechase","tag-to","tag-top","tag-uk","tag-united-kingdom","tag-unitedkingdom"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/55570","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=55570"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/55570\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/55571"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=55570"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=55570"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=55570"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}