Author: NZHarnessNews

By Michael Guerin Got The Chocolates joined the rarest of racing clubs at Alexandra Park on Saturday night: horses who won a race they were scratched from. And he beat the budding superstar of New Zealand pacing in Marketplace to do it. The three-year-old pacer was enormous in the Woodlands Stud Northern Derby Prelude at Alexandra Park on Saturday night, sitting parked before holding out the red hot favourite in Marketplace, courtesy of a blazing 26 second last 400m. The irony for punters is Got The Chocolates, who was originally…

By Mike Love  South Canterbury trainer Noel Taylor is cautious about the chances of Swift Dream ($5.00FF) in Race 11, the Sheree Tomlinson and Matt Cross Trot at Monday’s Banks Peninsula meeting at Addington Raceway.  Although the nine-year-old Superfast Stuart gelding has been trotting in a fine vein of form lately winning two of his last three starts, three of four of Swift Dream’s wins have come on grass. The 12-race programme starts at 11.15am at Addington after being transferred from Motukarara because of bad weather over the past few…

Following a track inspection this morning it’s been decided that Easter Monday’s meeting at Motukarara will now go ahead at Addington. “We had no option but to make the call, there has been a decent amount of rain in Canterbury already with a lot more forecast,” says Harness Racing New Zealand’s Head of Racing and Wagering, Matthew Peden. Today representatives from HRNZ, the Banks Peninsula Trotting Club and a stipendiary steward all inspected the grass track at Motukarara. “The track is in reasonable order considering how much rain we’ve had…

By Michael Guerin Our best driver is lamenting not being able to be in two places at once today. Blair Orange has had to forgo his drives at Alexandra Park tonight after that meeting was postponed on Thursday because of the Auckland weather, with Orange having flown to Auckland by the time the announcement was made.  He will instead drive at the Addington day meeting today. “There isn’t much you can do about Mother Nature so I went up to Auckland and came back and will drive at Addington on…

By Michael Guerin The two-day delay to tonight’s Alexandra Park meeting has only brought about only minor changes to the major races. Namely: Arafura out of the Northern Oaks Prelude while Got The Chocolates comes back into the Northern Derby Prelude. The meeting was to have been staged on Thursday night but was postponed because of high winds and constant rain in Auckland, both of which were gone by early Friday. So the meeting moves to tonight, overlapping with the Addington day fixture, with leading driver Blair Orange driving at…

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