A pair of rising 12-year-olds fought out the finish of Thursday’s Dr John Moore Memorial Open Steeplechase (3800m) at Wanganui, with the Ken Duncan-trained Izymydaad coming out on top.

The evergreen son of Istidaad commenced his racing career in 2019 and the gelding’s second appearance came over the fences, with every season under his belt bringing new heights, including a narrow second to champion jumper West Coast in the Wellington Steeplechase (5500m) in July last year.

Hunterville-based Duncan kicked off Izymydaad’s campaign last year at the Wanganui meeting and he was successful in the same race by nearly five lengths, a result he replicated by a much smaller margin on Thursday.

Izymydaad took up his customary front-running position early in the 3800m event, with $1.45 favourite Hey Happy settling in behind the speed on the back up from a spectacular display at Te Rapa last Saturday.

Another veteran in Des De Jeu was the first to challenge Izymydaad nearing the 1000m, but the gelding pulled away again turning for home and was set to fight it out with fellow 11-year-old Donardo, eventually holding him off by a slim ½ head at the post.

Duncan was swift in applauding the performance of Izymydaad’s pilot Stephan Karnicnik following the race, explaining he had just returned from a lengthy injury lay-off to take his 24th ride aboard the gelding.

“It was a lovely run, the horse tried hard and when the contenders took him on around the track, he fought them off. He fought really hard to the end,” Duncan said.

“I give full credit to Stephan, he’s been out with an injury and hadn’t been on a horse for six months until he stayed with me three days ago.

“He’s ridden quite a few since he’s been at home, and I think he was hurting more than the horse at the finish.”

With the cancellation of the Waverley Point-To-Point last month, Duncan opted to take Izymydaad for a final hit-out over the fences at Levin on Tuesday, where he was an overwhelming winner of his heat.

“He’s been up and down the hills at home to get fit, unfortunately Waverley was cancelled so we ran him at Levin on Tuesday as these jumping trials are very important to the industry,” Duncan said.

“He ran an impressive trial there, which I thought may have taken the edge off him, but it made him a bit harder for today.”

Duncan, who also co-owns Izymydaad, was pleased to see his charge was still as keen a jumper as ever despite his age leading into the race.

“He’s come in as good as ever, he was actually sillier in the paddock this morning than I’ve seen him in a while, he was like a three-year-old. I actually thought he might jump the gate,” Duncan said.

“The two 11-year-olds were going to the line together, I spoke to Lucy (de Lautour, trainer of Donardo) today and every year we think ‘do they want to have a go again’, but after giving this horse a run on the flat, he put his hand up and said he still wants to be out there and competing.

“They’re funny old horses, but you put the jumps in front of them, and away they go. He won by a jump at the trials he was so far in front, and he came home as happy as a lark, right on the bounce for today.”

With five victories and just shy of $144,000 in stakes to his name, Izymydaad will be heading for the Manawatu Steeplechase (4000m), scheduled to run at Trentham on May 25.

“We love going to Wellington, so the Manawatu Steeplechase is next on his agenda and hopefully it is run there,” Duncan said.