A year after winning a maiden steeplechase on the biggest jumping day on the Hawke’s Bay calendar, Torque Time will head back to Hastings on Saturday in search of a bigger prize.

The Jo Rathbone-trained gelding will take on New Zealand’s reigning champion jumper West Coast and a talented supporting cast in the 2024 edition of the Animal Health Direct Hawke’s Bay Steeplechase (4800m).

Torque Time has had nine steeplechase starts for a win and six placings. He was a last-start third placegetter behind another of New Zealand’s standout steeplechasers, The Cossack, in the Waikato Steeplechase (3900m) at Te Rapa on June 15. The runner-up in that race was Hey Happy, who won an open steeplechase at Te Aroha on Thursday.

Rathbone has been pleased with Torque Time’s progress and is looking forward to getting him back to Hastings, where he was an impressive winner of the I See Red Syndicate Maiden Steeplechase (4000m) at last year’s edition of this meeting. However, the Heavy10 track conditions are a significant concern.

“I thought he ran well in the Waikato Steeplechase, and especially considering he’s not really a true wet-tracker,” Rathbone said. “It was a pretty tough performance in the circumstances and I was happy enough with the result.

“The wet track is going to be the issue for him again this weekend. It’s definitely not going to make the job easy for him.

“One thing that he does have going for him as far as Hastings goes is that he jumps well and is a careful jumper. He was a very good winner at this meeting last year. I think Hastings suits some horses a lot better than others, and he has shown that he jumps the fences there particularly well.”

Torque Time will be ridden by the premiership-leading jumps jockey Portia Matthews, and the TAB rated him a $27 chance on Thursday afternoon. That market is unsurprisingly dominated by West Coast at $1.60.

Meanwhile, Rathbone celebrated a win in Thursday’s amateur riders’ race at Te Aroha as Billy Boy scored a convincing front-running win in the hands of Amber Riddell.

The 22-year-old Riddell, daughter of leading jockey Jonathan, has now won four races including three for the Rathbone stable. She rode her first winner aboard the Rathbone-trained Quota in August of 2022, followed by a pair of wins with Billy Boy at Woodville last June and at Te Aroha on Thursday.

Riddell’s three rides on Billy Boy have produced two wins and a second placing.

“It was a good win by the horse today, and Amber rode him well,” Rathbone said. “She’s ridden three winners for me now and she’s got a great record on that horse. It’s probably safe to say he’s a favourite of hers.”

Rathbone also celebrated success at Otaki on Friday with Slippery, who was victorious on debut in the Riverstone Café Maiden (1400m).