He came to Bong Bong with a less than impressive record, having had 31 starts for only two wins and two third placings, with a total prizemoney of $15,290.

In fact, it was the lowest prizemoney total of any of the Cup starters.

His most recent win was in a trophy race at the Young Picnics, although he had run well at Kembla Grange not long prior to the Bong Bong meeting, finishing third in a field of 15 over 1600m.

So he had some supporters at Bong Bong, and battled away into second placing behind Delta Eagle in the Cup, adding another $2,380 to his modest prizemoney total.

Subsequently, Ginolad’s career on the flat having failed to flourish, he found himself in the sale ring.

For the meagre sum of $900, he joined the jumping stable of Aaron Purcell at Warrnambool in Victoria.

Ginolad immediately took to the jumping game, winning his first start over the hurdles at Ballarat on May 23, 2007.

At only his fourth start over hurdles, he was a brave second among much more experienced horses in the Grand National Hurdle over 4250m.

A week later, at his first attempt over the bigger steeple fences, a similar effort earned him third place in the Grand National Steeple over 4530m.

Big things were expected of him the following season [2008] and he fulfilled that promise, winning the Grand Annual Steeple at Warrnambool, the longest race in Australia, and finishing the season with a win in the Grand National Steeple.

By this time he had amassed more than a quarter-of-a-million dollars in jumping races, which made his flat race total look paltry.

Ginolad’s win in the Grand National gained him an invitation to contest the world’s richest steeplechase, the $2million Grand Jumps at Nakayama in Japan.

The race was held in April, the off-season for Australian jumpers.

Over the tricky course, Ginolad finished just out of the placings, but went well enough to attract the attention of a leading English jumps trainer who successfully made a substantial offer for him.

Ginolad is now in England preparing to take on the best in the home of steeplechasing itself.

What a reversal of fortune and what an argument for the retention of jumps races in Australia, when such a horse with not much of a future ahead of him can find a new career under different conditions and difference distances.