The Leader Newspaper
By Andrew Atkinson Exclusive
Cheltenham Triumph Hurdle 1995 winner Kissair and 2000 Arkle winner Tiutchev, bred by Mrs D M Rothschild, continue to spend happy lives in retirement with Nikki Atkinson.
“Rabbit (Kissair) was 30 on March 7, having been gifted to me in 1999, a couple of months after my sister died of cancer,” Nikki told me, ahead of the 2021 Cheltenham Festival.
“I was extremely sad, depressed and felt like my world had imploded,” said Teacher/Equestrian manager Nikki.
Kissair, trained by Martin Pipe, won the Triumph Hurdle in 1999, when beating Silver Wedge. He last raced in 2000 at Garthorpe, aged 9, when under trainer Nicky Henderson.
Opening it to the sea allows that water to drain out. Monitoring for the spring/summer period for 2020/21 is expected to be completed in March but with the lagoon open for second year, the results are not expected to be positive for ruppia growth. The Association, under its resource consent, decides when the lagoon can be opened up to the sea. It can open the lagoon up in spring if water levels reach 2.2m or 2m at other times during the year. Association chairman Ewen Pirie said it had opened the lagoon in spring 2019 when the water reached 2.3 metres, and it was fortunate that they did because the biggest flood since 1984 was coming down the Waituna channel a fortnight after opening it.