Paul Nelson is one of the most respected identities in New Zealand jumps racing, and it wasn’t all that long ago that he was a polo player who simply decided he might like to have a racehorse.

The Hawke’s Bay horseman grew up in a family of five children, all of whom learned to ride and compete from an early age. In his teenage years, Nelson was often seen in the show jumping arena or on the hunt field, but after high school, polo came to the forefront.

“We rode horses from a very early age, doing the local sports and shows, and hunted through the school holidays,” he said. “It developed on more to a bit of show jumping and when I left school, I decided polo was my go.

“I played polo for 20 years, and when Carol and I were married, she would do the shows and I would do the polo. After a while, we thought it was time we had a racehorse.”

And so they did. The couple sourced their first racehorse, Arceen, and followed a similar regime as Nelson used with his polo ponies, working around their farm in Maraekakaho, west of Hastings. It was a far cry from the unique, professional set-up they have developed over the years, which was inspired by National Hunt properties in England.

“I was one of four boys, and we were all lucky enough to get a farm each,” Nelson said. “Two of my brothers bought farms in the King Country, and Sam and I split the original farm that my parents lived on.

“When we started training here, we worked them a bit like polo ponies, we had a paddock that we could work around and get them reasonably fit. We used to open a gate on the way out and gallop up a ridge, so we worked with what we had, and we didn’t do a lot to change it.

“Then, in 2000, we went to England and saw a lot of the National Hunt places over there and thought that with a bit of work we could put in our own track and gallop at home. After that, we set up the grass gallop and the work track, which we still have.

“We were lucky enough to find a seam of pumice sand on my brother’s place, and we laid that on the work track. It’s probably lasted us 15 years, but when the heavy rain comes in, the hillside tends to get stripped. Recently, we’ve resanded the track with river sand and it makes a hell of a difference. The horses seem to be able to work on it through the wet, and with another coat of sand, I think it’ll be very good.

“We’ve had fences at home for quite some time, which we’ve improved over the years. We have a live brush which is really helpful. You can go and school them without looking around the countryside. The others are made-up fences with manuka and hurdles as well.”

Nelson recalled an interesting opening to his training career with Arceen, who was named after his owner, a member of Royal Canadian Navy.

“In his first start for us, the commentator went through the whole field, and then he looked back and saw one was still coming,” Nelson said. “Unfortunately, that still wasn’t him, he was still jumping the second-last fence.

“That was our flying start into steeplechasing.”

Despite that result, Nelson gained valuable experience with Arceen, and not long after, Storm arrived - the horse that put his name up in lights for the first time.

“When we got Storm, that really sowed the bug,” he said.

“We got Storm through Kenny and Ann Browne. Ann and Carol are cousins and they were looking out for a horse for us. They suggested that he may be a good one to start with, he’d had several races for Jack Timms in Matamata, but he didn’t want to carry on racing him, so he came down to us.

“For the first two seasons we could run places with him, he was always a real stayer, but we couldn’t quite get him up to win.

“The third winter we had him, he won the Mariri, a lower grade jumping race at the Wellington Winter Carnival. By that time, Sue Thompson had started riding for us, and the following year at the same carnival, they won the Riddiford and the Wellington Steeplechase.

“That day Sue became the first female rider to win a major jumping race. We’d always been great mates with Sue’s family and we knew her well through shows, so it was great.”

As the years rolled on, Nelson kept producing quality jumpers, many of which were also effective on the flat. The first of them was Chibuku, a 20-time winner across flat, hurdle and steeplechase events, who was virtually gifted to Nelson in the mid-eighties.

“Chibuku came in near the end of Storm’s time, they raced together for a couple of seasons,” he said.

“We used to take them to the track together, but Storm, the steeplechaser, would gallop, and Chibuku would go schooling, just for something a bit different.

“He came from a mate, Ian McKelvie, and I think we paid a dollar for him, because he had been quite difficult. He continued to be, we always used to drive stock with the horses, but if you tried to do that with him it wouldn’t work out well. You’d have to get off and lead him, and thinking about it now, that probably made me a better stockman anyway.

“Through one winter, Chibuku won six races for one jockey, and when he didn’t win, he’d run second last. One day, the jockey was disappointed with his run and thought the horse would’ve won, and I had to tell him I’d accidentally left the horse tied up all night.

“Fortunately, that jockey had a great sense of humour - his response was ‘don’t do that again Paul, if you don’t want me to win, just tell me and I’ll pull him up myself’.”

In the early 2000’s, Nelson would have his first foray into Australian racing with Chibuli, and with Jonathan Riddell in the saddle, the pair came away with a dream result in the time-honoured Crisp Steeplechase.

“Chibuli was a good horse, he had five wins in a row on the flat, ending with the Mitchelson Cup, with was a Listed race in Auckland,” he said. “He won two or three hurdle races here, including a (Great) Northern, then we took him to Australia, and he won the Crisp Steeplechase,” he said.

“We were fortunate to have Sue (Thomspon) come with us, we had good contacts in Melbourne and the horse stayed with Keith Flynn, who used to train out of Hastings and had shifted over there. It was a good experience.”

After finding success with horses they’d sourced fairly inexpensively, the Nelsons decided to chance their luck in breeding, and it wasn’t long before a serious talent emerged from the paddock. They called the eye-catching grey No Hero, and while that may have suited him on the flat, once a steeplechase was put in front of him, he was near-on unbeatable.

“We borrowed a mare (Fair And Square) from some friends and bred from her, she had about five foals and No Hero was the best of them,” Nelson said.

“He was too slow to win a flat race, but he did place, and when he got jumping, he won his first steeplechase at Hastings. After that, he won another seven steeplechases in a row, but he strained a tendon after the third win, so he had a year off.

“He came back and won the Manawatu Steeplechase straight away, and that streak continued on to the 100th running of the Great Western Steeplechase at Riverton. He went on to race in Japan, but he didn’t go as well as we would’ve liked, he was probably a bit of a home boy and didn’t do overly well there. In saying that, we learnt a lot from the experience.

“After racing, he went to Jo Harrison and was the clerk of the course’s horse, and did the mounted interviews for a number of years. He lived the rest of his life there with her.”

No Hero won two editions of the Hawke’s Bay Steeplechase, a Koral Steeplechase, and he will always be treasured as Nelson’s first Grand National Steeplechase winner. In the Grand National Hurdles, that title belongs to Just A Swagger, one of the first horses owned by the I See Red Syndicate.

Named after Nelson’s well-recognised red and black silks, the syndicate was introduced in 2002, with a mix of racing enthusiasts and close friends.

“We’d always had friends asking whether they could have a share in a horse, and we were getting more horses and needed some staff,” Nelson said. “Having the syndicate helped us do so, and it’s been going for 21 years.

“We originally had 30 shareholders, which equated to around 55-60 people, and of that original group, 26 are still involved, whether it be that person or their family.

“We bought two horses and leased another to start with. The lease horse was unsound and one was the only horse we (the syndicate) haven’t won stake money with, although one day he was going to win some stake money, but he ran fifth, and they only paid down to fourth that day.

“Fortunately, the third horse was Just A Swagger.”

The son of Just A Dancer had won one hurdle race prior to travelling to Christchurch in 2004, and in the space of four days, he won both the Sydenham Hurdles and the National, ridden on those occasions by Michelle Hopkins (Strawbridge).

“Tom and Jenny Hobson (breeders) used to live close to us, and when they shifted up to Cambridge, this horse had run some good races and they thought a farm training environment would suit him,” Nelson said. “We purchased him for the syndicate and away he went.

“In his first year of hurdling, he won at his second start, so we went down to Riccarton and he won the Sydenham on the first day, and the National Hurdles on the middle day. It was a very happy hunting ground for him, he went on to win the National again in the following year, then ran second in his third attempt.

“He’s the best performed horse in the history of the National Hurdles, and when he came back as a chaser, he won the National Steeplechase in 2008. He had an incredible record there.

“We took him there and he went well, so we kept going back. We went down there with Storm after he won the Wellington Steeples in ‘87, you get a real bug of going down there. From that time, there have been years we haven’t gone down, but not many.”

In the days of No Hero, Just A Swagger, and dual-Great Northern and National winner Just Not Cricket, the Nelson stable became synonymous with Jonathan Riddell, who was primarily riding over fences. They combined to win a total of 44 races, including a number of feature events across New Zealand and Australia.

“The jockeys are very important, we’ve been fortunate in getting some pretty good jockeys over the years,” Nelson said. “In the early days, we struggled to find a good rider, but once you make a bit of a name for yourself, the jockeys are looking at your horses more as an option.

“We knew Jonathan’s family pretty well and it was a great relationship, we had a lot of success.”

Later, Aaron Kuru would play a major role of his own, with 56 victories, and Shaun Phelan, who recorded 21 with the stable in a shorter period of time.

“Aaron and Shaun were the other two that were our regular riders, and both very good jockeys,” Nelson said. 

Nelson continued to figure among the country’s leading jumps trainers through the next decade, and behind the scenes, a consistent presence was Corrina McDougal, a talented horsewoman in her own right, who eventually joined him in partnership in the 2018/2019 season.

“Corrina has worked for us on and off for 24 years, and for the last 10 years, on a permanent basis,” he said. “She’s part of the family.

“Carol and I did it for years together and Carol rode all of the work, and as we went on, she rode less and less but did so right up until about 15 years ago.

“Corrina rides very well and stable staff can be quite transient, so knowing we could trust Corrina with anything, we felt it was time for her to be recognised for that in a partnership. We are very much a team of three.”

Having known McDougal for such a long time, Nelson had watched, with admiration, as she endured Haemolytic Uraemic Syndrome (HUS), a blood condition that leads to renal failure.

“It’s incredible to know what she’s been through,” he said. “She was on dialysis and had a kidney transplant, and she had to have a second transplant for both a kidney and a liver after the first was rejected.

“One day we’d been to the races and she got a call to say that they had a kidney for her and she’d have to get home and fly to Auckland. She was in Dannevirke and wouldn’t have been able to make the flight on time and they’d told her that she might’ve missed out on a big chance.

“She said, ‘I can’t sit around and just wait for it, I’ve got work and a job’. They saw her point and accepted it, and not long after that, she got another call to be in Auckland, so she dropped everything and had the transplant, which was successful.

“The doctors said she was going to be out for 15 weeks, but she was back here in six. They couldn’t believe how quickly she recovered, but she was very fit from continuing to work.

“Every now and again, she may be sitting on a bucket needing a quick break, but that never lasts and hasn’t happened in a long time. She manages it very well and works hard.”

Prior to their partnership, McDougal had trained horses for Hawke’s Bay local Peter Grieve, who would go on to become a big part of the Nelson-McDougal story as co-owner of The Cossack, alongside Nelson, Doug Grieve and John Frizzell.

Bred and owned by Grieve’s brother Ivan Grieve, The Cossack had commenced his career in the care of John Bary, who prepared him to finish fourth in a Gr.3 Manawatu Classic (2000m) before transferring to the jumping role.

After two tidy performances over hurdles, The Cossack caught the attention of international buyers, but he ended up heading just down the road to the Nelsons.

“We bought him on the recommendation of Aaron (Kuru), who was riding a lot for us at the time,’ Nelson said. “He had ridden him in two hurdle starts and suggested we buy him.

“We’d spoken with Peter Grieve, he was owned by Pete’s brother Ivan, and we thought we’d like to have a go with him. They did have quite a big price on him initially and thought he was sold to Australia, but that didn’t eventuate, so we managed to slip in and purchase him for $30,000.

“I wasn’t very used to buying horses, so that was quite a bit, but it’s worked out pretty well.”

That is quite the understatement, with The Cossack earning the lion’s share of his $692,291 in stakes earnings in the past five seasons, with 19 overall wins, and 15 of those doing what he does best, jumping.

“It’s just been a wonderful journey with him, he’s an amazing horse, very good-winded and has an incredible will to win,” Nelson said.

While The Cossack has been their leading light for a number of years, the stable has never been a one-trick pony, and Nelson revealed a couple of his most proficient stablemates came from some humble beginnings.

The first of them was No Tip, a diminutive half-brother to Ho Down, No Cash and No Change. What he lacked in size, he made up with serious heart, winning eight races including a Wellington Hurdle and the Pakuranga Hunt Cup.

“He was a funny little horse, we actually gave him to a friend to be a sporthorse, but he didn’t suit it, so he came back and I decided to put him back in work and have a go,” Nelson said. “He used to frighten himself a bit, he wasn’t good with a flappy raincoat and that sort of thing, so that might’ve possibly been the issue.

“He was small, but that certainly doesn’t stop them, and we’ve seen some great little horses. I remember Kevin Myers spoke to me about a horse he had, Doctor Sam, that wasn’t much bigger than a pony. He won the Trans-Tasman Hurdle in Sydney over two miles and did so in a quicker time than they ran in the New Zealand Cup, which was on the flat.”

Nelson also recognised the brilliance of Nedwin, who has won 14 races and over $420,000.

“Mick (Gardner, owner) won a race with the horse, but he became unwell, so he asked whether we would take him, and we agreed, as long as we could have a share as well,” he said. “It’s been great for us, because Mick and Suz are a great couple and we’ve had a lot of fun.

“When he’s won a big race, Mick gets pretty emotional, I remember when he won the first time at Wellington (Hurdle), his eyes were just streaming. They love the horse.”

Winning feature jumping races has become a welcome familiarity for Nelson, but he was entering more of an unknown at the Hawke’s Bay Spring Carnival in 2019 when lining up another homebred in Peso in the Gr.1 Livamol Classic (2040m).

Nelson admitted to a few doubts in the lead-up, but the Colombia gelding gave a sight on his home track, finishing a game second to Melody Belle, the standard in Kiwi racing at the time.

“He was going well, but I don’t know how we came about nominating him for the Livamol,” he said. “A couple of years before, Wait A Sec had won it for Guy Lowry and Grant Cullen, so we thought we could go for it with Peso as well.

“It was a different feeling (to the jumps), I was more worried about a failure than winning or running second. We did wonder if we were good enough to be there, but I think we were like that before paying up, and people were encouraging and saying, ‘you might as well, he’s in good form’.

“Kate Hercock had quite a bit to do with him, we used to go down and gallop at Waipukurau, which was a bit of a different routine than we were used to.”

While being grateful for the success he’s had, there is one race that got away from Nelson, and with the absence of the Ellerslie hill, it always will.

“Probably not winning a Northern (Steeplechase) and knowing we haven’t got the chance to do it now,” he said. “That would just about complete it for us, we must have got most other races.

“When Aaron got pinned and lost his iron in the Northern, that was tough. That was on Amanood Lad, who was another great horse.

“We had an extremely tough day at Wellington one year, when we lost a horse and Jonathan was also very badly injured. He had badly broken ribs, punctured a lung and was in hospital for a long time.

“It’s a very empty feeling going home with one less horse, but when you’ve injured the jockey, that is as bad a day as you could get. He was never going to ride again, but due to his tenacity, he came back and has ridden on the flat very successfully.

“These things happen in racing, it’s been a long time since then and we’ve had a lot of good times as well.”

Decades on from Arceen and Storm, Nelson’s passion for racing has never dwindled, but he has taken more of a back seat when it comes to the farm, passing that on to he and Carol’s son, Angus.

“Gus wasn’t really involved in the horses, he could ride well, but he was more interested in chasing a cricket ball or a football around,” Nelson said. “I remember one summer, he worked a horse quite often called Drakaroo, who came out not long after and won one of the last Waverley Steeplechases.

“When we decided to do the horses more seriously, we got help with the farm, and when Gus took over, it gave him a chance to run the farm without me being there and telling him what to do.

“These days, the horses are done straight away, and I don’t get the call up to do much farm work. I’ve got one dog and I can go and shift a mob of cattle or chase some sheep away from the yards, but I leave the rest to Gus.

“He does have a share in the syndicate, and also in Empire State.”