Vale Maurice Kerr and Peter Marshall Two stalwarts of southern harness racing, Maurice Kerr and Peter Marshall, are being remembered for their long and valued contributions to the sport. A breeder, owner and committee member for many years, Maurice Kerr died in Gore last week. According to southernharness.co.nz he also drove 206 winners – the first being Belle Vue in 1962 and his last Hayden Supreme in September 2011 – and trained 175 winners over a span of 40 years from 1977. Among his good winners were Glen Moria and…
Author: NZHarnessNews
Temporale retires “a star on and off the track”
By Dave Di Somma, Harness News Desk Just days after the retirement of Sundees Son, the sport has lost another trotting champion from the race track. It’s been announced that northern warhorse Temporale will also be retired, after a recent leg injury. The multiple Group 1-winning son of Monarchy finishes with 27 wins from 94 starts and $832,777 in stakes. Eleven of the wins were at Group level. “He was a star on and off the track,” says trainers Michelle Wallis and Bernie Hackett, “and an absolute gentleman to do…
Copy That and Akuta to front up in Friday’s Founders Cup
By Michael Guerin Two of the returning stars of New Zealand pacing are going to need new drivers when they start their road to The $1million Race by Grins at Alexandra Park on Friday night. And that won’t be the only game of musicals chairs in pacing’s elite ranks as the battle for spots and horses for New Zealand’s only $1million harness race intensifies this week. Two-time New Zealand Cup winner Copy That and dual Derby winner Akuta return in the $27,500 Lincoln Farms The Founders Cup on Friday as…
Williamson heads north with two good chances at Oamaru
By Jonny Turner Nathan Williamson heads to his hometown with two quality pacers in Hurricane Hendrix and Ultimate Challenge. The trainer-driver heads to Oamaru with Hurricane Hendrix after the horse absolutely bolted in at Winton last week. Known as a talented type, Williamson feels the pacer is in the zone and can show his true worth at the moment. But just when things are going great, Hurricane Hendrix has been handed barrier 1 on the second row in race 9. “He has really turned the corner this horse, the last…
Star Aussie trotter heading to NZ
By Adam Hamilton Top trainer Brent Lilley is planning some time back home. The former Kiwi horseman, who has built a stellar career in Victoria, will chase some of NZ’s biggest trotting races with one of his stable stars, Aldebaran Zeus, in coming months. The five-year-old returned to his best form with a dominant win over Australia’s top trotter, Just Believe, in last Saturday night’s Group 1 Hammerhead at Menangle. “He’ll head to NZ soon,” Lilley said. “There is a mile race at Cambridge on April 14, the same night…
RIB release report into Rangiora races
The Racing Integrity Board has released its report into why the races at Rangiora were abandoned yesterday. It’s being made public following a lot of comment, especially on-line, about why the meeting was cancelled and the procedures leading up to it. Harness Racing New Zealand considered a replacement meeting but decided that owing to the nature and make-up of this and the following week’s meetings that this was not the appropriate course of action. To read the report click here
Team Teal gears up for big final push
With just over a week to go, the Teal Pants campaign is proving a major success. So far there have been 58 wins by Team Teal drivers, five more than for 2022, with the total raised approaching $22,000. Money is raised for the Teal Pants campaign every time a female driver, wearing teal pants, wins a race, with Harness Racing New Zealand ($100), clubs ($100), individual sponsors and others all contributing to the cause. All money goes towards ovarian cancer research. This is the sixth time it’s been held in…
Industry Update from John Coulam, HRNZ Chair
The HRNZ mission is “To Champion the sport, celebrate the participants and have the horse at the heart of everything we do”. At this time of the year each region is holding events that recognise and celebrate achievement and participation in our sport through the respective awards events. Congratulations to all that are recognized by their peers and to the owners and connections of the horses we acknowledge at these awards. Recipients of awards at each event will be published on the HRNZ website. As a sport, we continue to…
Could Bondi Lockdown be heading to Cambridge?
By Adam Hamilton A trip across the ditch for The Race By Grins is a possibility for rejuvenated Aussie pacing star Bondi Lockdown. Owner Aaron Dunn and Team McCarthy will decide this week where to go with the five-year-old, who gunned-down Kiwi raider and leader B D Joe to win last night’s $100,000 Light Horse free-for-all (2400m), which was effectively a Miracle Mile consolation. Bondi Lockdown worked to the front then took a sit on B D Joe soon after before getting an inside run late and winning by two…
Andy Gath realises Miracle Mile dream
By Adam Hamilton When Andy Gath watched and cheered home Our Maestro in the 1988 Miracle Mile it became a race he desperately wanted to win. Remarkably, 35 years later and with just his second runner in the race, he won Australasia’s premier speed test with the best pacer he’s trained, Catch A Wave. It came just two weeks after Catch A Wave shocked just about everyone by upstaging Captain Ravishing in the Group 1 Chariots Of Fire at Menangle. Last night Catch A Wave became the first horse since…