Mont Ventoux hunting maiden jumps success

[Wandering Eyes]

Mont Ventoux (NZ) (Nom Du Jeu) may have won seven races and more than $170,000 on the flat, but the eight-year-old gelding is finding it a bit harder to break maiden ranks over fences.

The son of Nom du Jeu has had nine hurdle starts for seven placings and he will be looking to secure his maiden jumps victory when he heads to Te Aroha’s rescheduled meeting on Thursday where he will tackle the Majestic Horse Floats Hurdles (3100m).

“It has been a little disappointing that he hasn’t managed to win. For a seven-win flat horse he is taking a while to crack maidens,” trainer Rudy Liefting said.

“I think that he just has trouble seeing out the trip a little bit. He did win a Kiwifruit Cup (2100m), but a lot of his wins were 1400m to a mile. Even though he is bred to stay, he hasn’t quite got that dourness and toughness that a lot of the seasoned jumpers have got to grind out a distance.

“Last start he wasn’t beaten far. Watching the replay, he chipped in a short one in the last two or three jumps and I think that just cost him half a length.

“He has made $200,000 in prizemoney and he keeps ticking over the till. He should be a chance and if he runs in the first three, we will be happy.”

Stablemate Renegade Fighter (NZ) (Zed) will also be out to score his maiden jumps victory in the TAJC Hospitality Function Centre Hurdles (3100m), however, Liefting would have preferred to have started the gelding in the Agrisea NZ Steeplechase (3500m).

“I have had trouble getting riders for him,” he said. “I would rather have him in a steeplechase, because I think he will make a steeplechaser, but I can’t get a rider in the steeplechase.

“Call Me Jack looks like a home run (in the hurdle), but we are a second or third place chance with the field having fallen away with a few scratchings.

“He wants a really heavy track so hopefully we get that, and I think he will be some sort of chance.”

Mont Ventoux is a $1.65 favourite for the opening race on the card with TAB bookmakers, while Renegade Fighter is a $17 outsider in his contest.

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