Awapuni holds strong hand in inaugural Te Aroha carnival
Richard Edmunds - Raceform • September 18th, 2025 2:00 PM • 4 min read
The Awapuni training centre is set to play a major role across both days of the inaugural Great New Zealand Jumps Carnival at Te Aroha this week.
Master jumps trainer Mark Oulaghan heads into Friday’s $150,000 J Swap Great New Zealand Hurdle with the top-rated Berry The Cash, while emerging trainers Shaun and Hazel Fannin will saddle Jesko and Fourty Eight as leading chances in the $200,000 Ben & Ryan Foote Great New Zealand Steeplechase.
Berry The Cash has had 14 starts over hurdles for seven wins, four placings and $295,825 in stakes. He scored back-to-back victories in the Grand National Hurdle at Riccarton in 2023 and 2024 and has also won the Waikato, Hawke’s Bay, Awapuni and Sydenham Hurdles.
Berry The Cash warmed up for his Te Aroha assignment with a run on the flat over 2100 metres at Otaki on September 6. He ran on from the back of the field to finish second behind Yolo, who has won again since.
“We were happy with that,” Oulaghan said. “I think his build-up has gone the way we’d hoped. He’s trained on okay since that run at Otaki and he’s where I’d want him to be condition-wise.”
This will be Berry The Cash’s first look at Te Aroha and his first start right-handed in his 42-race career, but Oulaghan has no concerns.
“I think he’ll handle that alright,” he said. “He’s a versatile horse. He’s been around a few different tracks in his career, done a lot of travelling, and he seems to take everything in his stride.”
Oulaghan acknowledges that Berry The Cash’s accomplishments are superior to his rivals, but he expects his 73-kilogram topweight to level the playing field.
“You’d have to call him the class horse of the field, but he’ll be carrying enough weight,” Oulaghan said. “I might have expected some of the others to start getting a bit closer to him in the weights, but that hasn’t been the case. It’ll be an interesting race to watch.”
Two days later in the 6200-metre Great New Zealand Steeplechase, fellow Awapuni trainers Shaun and Hazel Fannin will be right in the spotlight with Jesko and Fourty Eight.
Fannin will himself take the mount on Jesko with Mathew Gillies on Fourty Eight – both wearing the old gold colours of micro-share syndicators the Frac Club.
Jesko has made a huge impression in a five-race steeplechase career, winning four of them including the Wellington, Manawatu and Koral Steeplechases. His last start over fences produced a second placing in the Grand National Steeplechase behind Captains Run, who is a rival again on Sunday.
Fourty Eight was a five-length maiden steeplechase winner earlier in the season and went on to run third behind Nedwin in the Pakuranga Hunt Cup on August 31.
The Fannins gave the pair a preparatory run on the flat in the 3210-metre Road to Jericho at New Plymouth last Saturday.
“Jesko needed that hitout and we were very happy with his performance (finishing seventh),” Shaun Fannin said. “He stuck on well and seems to have bounced through it really well, so he’s right where we want him.
“Fourty Eight didn’t really take any part in that race at all. He can be a bit like that sometimes. He might have decided to have a day off in those very testing conditions. We’ve had him checked over and he seems bright as, and he’s licked his bowl clean. We gave him a little jump this (Tuesday) morning and he went well, so I think we can put a line through that run.
“I think Jesko will handle the Te Aroha steeplechase course okay. If the weather’s alright leading into it and we take the jumps down the back, it’s a nice jumping course that should suit a good jumper like him.
“Fourty Eight was brave in the Pakuranga Hunt Cup there last start. The riderless horse just fired him up and made him do a bit too much in the running. If that hadn’t happened, I think he might have gone even closer.”
