By Adam Hamilton Emerging superstar Captain Ravishing and champion mare Ladies In Red headlined another record-breaking night for the rampaging Emma Stewart and Clayton Tonkin stable at the Breeders Crown at Melton, Victoria last night. The power couple of Aussie harness won a staggering six of the 10 finals – five pacing and one trotting – something which has never been done before. But it was firstly Ladies In Red and then Captain Ravishing who left everyone gasping. Ladies In Red reaffirmed her greatness in the most stunning fashion when…
Author: NZHarnessNews
Banks Peninsula meeting moves to Addington
The meeting scheduled for Motukarara today will now be held at Addington tomorrow (Monday). There will be 11 races, with the first going at 3.21pm and the last at 7.42pm. The decision to re-locate was made after Sunday’s meeting on the grass at Motukarara was abandoned because of surface water on the track. The area under water was six metres wide and was right in the middle of the track close to the winning post. “It has been deemed as dangerous and we can’t go ahead today,” Harness Racing New…
No races today at Motukarara
Today’s meeting at Motukarara has been abandoned because of surface water on the track. Harness Racing New Zealand’s track and venue inspector John Denton has been on-site and says the surface water is about six metres wide and is right in the middle of the track close to the winning post. “It has been deemed as dangerous and we can’t go ahead today,” he says. The abandonment follows an inclement few days in and around Christchurch including a deluge overnight on Friday and continuing into Saturday. A total of eleven…
McDermott trio primed for Motukarara
By Joshua Smith, Harness News Desk Prebbleton trainer John McDermott is looking forward to heading to Motukarara Raceway on Sunday where he will line-up three runners on the grass surface. Ruby’s Delight will back-up in the Neville McNee Memorial Mobile Pace (2000m) after her win over 2600m at Rangiora on Wednesday. It was a deserved victory for the daughter of Bettor’s Delight, having posted four successive placings prior to the winning result. McDermott has been pleased with the way she has come through the run and is expecting a similar…
Franco Marek faces big task fresh up
By Jonny Turner Franco Marek has a big reputation that could increase tenfold with victory in the Timaru Summer Cup on Saturday. The towering pacer returns to racing for the first time since May when stepping out on a big day of racing at Phar Lap Raceway for trainer Greg Manson and driver John Morrison. Whether he is good enough to win is probably not the biggest question punters must ask themselves if they are going to side with Franco Marek. Highly impressive in his short career, fitness is the…
Hotpot Hot And Treacherous too good
By Michael Guerin Hot And Treacherous made it back into the winner’s circle for the first time this campaign at Alexandra Park on Friday but that pathway is about to get a lot steeper. Because in a surprise move, and bonus for the Alexandra Park Christmas carnival, dual New Zealand Cup winner Copy That will return to Alexandra Park next Friday. Trainer Ray Green has confirmed the last-start Cup winner is set to race next week and then twice more at Alexandra Park on December 16 and New Year’s Eve…
Dunns head new Seddon trainers’ championship
Robert and Jenna Dunn have taken the early lead in the new Seddon District Harness Racing Group Trainers’ Championship. The championship, with a prize pool of $10,000, is designed to encourage trainers to bring their horses to the top half of the South Island over the next few months. In all there will be eleven days of racing, with trainers needing to have starters at six of the 11 days to be eligible for the prizemoney. After the opening meeting of the championship, at Kaikoura, the Dunns lead the way…
Vale Alan Jones
A key figure in the New Zealand standardbred breeding industry Alan Jones has died, just months shy of his 100th birthday. Set on 500 acres (200 hectares) in Balfour in Southland, Kina Craig Stud was set up by Alan Jones and son Ross in 1980 and carried on through to 2016. “For a while we would have been the second biggest stud in the country behind Nevele R,” says Ross Jones, “for the last 10 years we would have had around 200 foals a year. It was a big operation.”…
Abby May breaks three-year drought
By Jonny Turner The little mare that could finally did, with Abby May breaking through for her first victory in three years at Winton yesterday. The evergreen and ever-consistent trotter was finally rewarded for the grit and determination she has shown since her last win at Wyndham in November of 2019 when she scored a front-running victory for trainer Lyndon Durham and driver Mark Hurrell. With only 29 starts to her name, Abby May looks to have plenty of opportunities in front of her despite being firmly placed in the…
Hot And Treacherous looks the goods in Auckland tonight
By Michael Guerin Rarely does a pacer who has been unplaced in two of his last three starts look as good a thing as Hot And Treacherous does at Alexandra Park tonight. Because while driver Maurice McKendry is his conservative self when assessing his chances in tonight’s main pace, the reality is the four-year-old should be way too good for his opponents. Hot And Treacherous has two seconds and two well beaten runs in four starts this campaign but a closer look at his form reveals the huge class edge…