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Preusker hoping Christmas comes early at Te Aroha
Joshua Smith, LOVERACING.NZ News Desk • September 15th, 2026 3:54 pm
Christmas will contest the Ben & Ryan Foote Racing Great New Zealand Steeplechase (6200m) at Te Aroha on Sunday | Photo: Brett Holburt (Racing Photos)
Australian trainer Paul Preusker will add some international flavour to Sunday’s Ben & Ryan Foote Racing Great New Zealand Steeplechase (6200m) at Te Aroha, with the Horsham horseman crossing the Tasman to contest the jumping feature with his French-bred gelding Christmas.
While a 10-year-old, the son of Palace Episode has only recently transitioned to jumps racing, having won three races on the flat, and he has shown an instant affinity for jumping, particularly over the bigger fences.
He has had just five jumping starts to date, three of those steeplechasing, in which he was runner-up at Hamilton in July before winning the Casterton Chase (3800m) last month, and a week later he finished fourth in the Grand National Steeplechase (4500m) at Ballarat.
“He has been in the background jumping for quite some time, but it is his first season racing (over fences),” Preusker said. “In the Grand National we lost a bit of traction and coming back to the 14 fences they were just a bit too slick for him.”
Preusker was pleased with the way Christmas came through the run, and he was keen to press on with his charge, setting his sights to New Zealand where he identified the Great New Zealand Steeplechase as the perfect target.
“He is a good, healthy and sound horse after the Grand National, so it is just keep playing on,” Preusker said. “He certainly wants the ground and a few more fences than the Grand National.”
Preusker has arrived in New Zealand with Christmas and said he has settled in well at Peter and Jessica Brosnan’s Matamata stable.
“I am over here now and everything is going smoothly so far,” he said. “He is super, he has fitted in and is ticking along lovely.”
Christmas has been ridden by Darryl Horner (Jnr) in all three of his steeplechases to date, and the 33-year-old hoop will fly to New Zealand this week to continue their partnership.
Christmas will be met by a staunch local line-up on Sunday, which includes Grand National Steeplechase (5600m) hero Lord Spencer, who has won four of his five steeplechases, and Smug, who was victorious at the track in the Pakuranga Hunt Cup (4300m) earlier this month.
