Full circle victory for Hijack at Winton

By Jonny Turner 

After three years of frustration and thousands of kilometres of travel, Hijack is finally heading in the right direction.

The pacer completed a journey into the winner's circle few have completed when striding to a front-running victory at Winton on Thursday for trainer Chelsea Faithful and driver Nathan Williamson.

While he is certainly not the first horse to be educated and prepared at Central Southland before going on to win their first race there, few have done it with a trip to Canberra in between.

Hijack was a smart workout performer for Faithful before his sale to prominent Australian owner Mick Boots in late 2023.

But racing on the other side of the Tasman clearly didn't agree with the pacer.

But after returning to his homeland and to the Faithful stable, Hijack was finally able to show his true worth on Thursday, delivering his trainer a big thrill. 

"It is a bit of a relief to be honest."

"He showed plenty of promise early on but so many things have gone wrong."

Hijack last raced in December of 2024 and not long after Faithful made enquiries about the possibility of resurrecting his racing career in New Zealand.

"I was at the yearling sales in 2025 and I ran into Stu Valentine who sold the horse."

"I asked what the horse was up to and said if Mick was at a loose end with what to do with the horse he could send him home and I would do a deal."

"That was all I heard of it, then a couple of weeks later I got an email saying he's booked on the plane and he will be home in a week."

It hasn't been a case of Hijack jumping off the plane and into the winner's circle.

A breathing issue discovered when he was a two-year-old is among the challenges Faithful has had to work around.

"He is probably a day-to-day proposition with the amount of things that have gone wrong with him."

"But hopefully for his sake and everyone that has been involved with him, he can pick up another couple of wins."

Hijack completed a winning double for the Faithful barn following the win of Ramblin Rover for driver Wilson House.

As well as scoring with Hijack, Boots was again rewarded for his patience when Utah Jazz returned in style in Thursday's finale.

The four-year-old ran to a good win in slick time in her first start in almost 14 months.

Utah Jazz was one of two winners for the Nathan Williamson stable, with Hijack's win giving the reinsman a driving treble.