Author: NZHarnessNews

Here’s Greg O’Connor and Darrin Williams with the Addington News – March 30 .   

By Michael Guerin Champion trainer Mark Purdon says he will have to settle for a unofficial workout in place of a race after what was to have been the final lead-up to The Race was canned at Alexandra Park this Friday. Purdon and training partner Hayden Cullen were hoping to start Self Assured, Spankem and Mach Dan in the proposed open class pace but when the only other entry was Hot And Treacherous the race was scrapped. Purdon was disappointed by the decision, believing a one-off exception should have been…

by Dave Di Somma, Harness News Desk It was the Michael House- Sarah O’Reilly – Bob Butt show at Manawatu Raceway yesterday. With Sarah O’Reilly driving a treble on the day, including two at double figure odds, House’s team won four races. The Red Army landed the trifecta twice, and the quinella in the remaining two. O’Reilly’s wins were in the last three races with Tasman Tempest ($6.30), Glitz And Glam ($15.20) and Piiki Whara ($14.20). In race 2 the recently-acquired and well-travelled Taliesin made it win number one at…

New Zealand can now boast the world’s first dedicated national horse ambulance service, following the commissioning of the country’s ninth and final horse ambulance. The ambulance is being unveiled by the NZ Horse Ambulance Trust today in Karaka, where sponsors and supporters of the Trust are celebrating the achievement. “We’ve been on a mission to deliver a national fleet of horse ambulances and today we are proud to say we’ve done it!” says Martin Burns, Chair of the NZ Horse Ambulance Trust and General Manager of Welfare & Sustainability for…

By Dave Di Somma, Harness News Desk  One of trotting’s high achievers is back. Enghien, a 15 race winner from just 29 starts, is heading to the trials at Rangiora on Wednesday afternoon, nearly two and a half years since he last raced. The Love You eight-year-old’s last race day appearance was at Addington in October 2019. He’s been sidelined with a leg injury ever since, and to all intents and purposes was retired in 2020. “He had a lesion in a suspensory,” says co-owner and trainer Greg Hope, “so…

by Adam Hamilton  Star mare Stylish Memphis is primed to cap her return “home” for the $900,000 The Race at Cambridge with a big showing at Menangle on Saturday night. It will be her first race in a month and her only lead-up run. “I was going to run her last week (at Menangle) but just felt she could do with another strong training run before racing, so waited an extra week,” caretaker trainer-driver Jack Trainor said. “She seems really well. It’s a good race this week and she’s drawn…

Bob Butt reckons it’s been a decade since he last drove at Palmerston North, and today he has three drives at Manawatu Raceway, including A Taste of Honey in the day’s feature, the Hawera Cup. “I used to come here when the old man (David Butt) had a team going around but haven’t been back, it’s been ages – ten years I’d say.” “But there are some good stakes and suitable races.” Based at Woodend beach in North Canterbury Butt has been travelling a bit in recent times, including a…

With the $100,000 Country Cups Championship final at Addington fast approaching competition to make the field is hotting up, with today’s Hawera Cup at Manawatu (5.11pm) being just one of four qualifying races left.  After that there’s just the City of Palmerston North Festival Cup on Thursday before the Winton Cup on April 9 and then the Mt Hutt Cup at Methven on April 10. The Cups final on Easter Saturday will have a maximum field of 16 horses. Of the horses lining up in today’s Manawatu Cup,  Last Tango…