By Michael Guerin It will be select but sweet at Alexandra Park on Friday night as one of the first major meetings of the revised season goes ahead but with not much meat on the bones as far as field sizes go. But even with all three major races having just six starters each they host some cracking clashes. Big boy pacers South Coast Arden and Self Assured meet again in the City Of Auckland Free-For-All and most crucially South Coast Arden has drawn barrier 3 versus Self Assured at…
Author: NZHarnessNews
Krug camp takes Aussie Lads slot in The Race
Kentuckiana Lodge has confirmed that Krug’s secured a start in New Zealand’s first-ever slot race. Currently racing in Australia, Krug is the third horse to secure a place in April’s “The Race”, along with Self Assured (SENZ) and Pembrook Playboy (Dunstan Horse Feeds). With Krug a champion two and three-year-old and now having established himself as an open class star, the opportunity by slot holders Aussie Lads to start in The Race is one trainers Cran and Chrissie Dalgety simply had to take. “When we were approached we only had…
Sires’ Stakes push in yearling sales
Jean Feiss may have started something. Last year the highly successful Melbourne owner purchased the top lot at Australia’s inaugural Nutrien Yearling Sale. She splurged $180,000 on a Bettors Delight colt out of former star Kiwi filly Our Golden Goddess. The colt, called Beckham, is now two and heads to the trials today (Tuesday) at Ashburton. The fact he was eligible for lucrative age-group racing on this side of the Tasman was a critical factor in Feiss’ decision. “I really liked this colt and the clincher was the fact he’d…
King draws one in quest for Miracle Mile history
By Adam Hamilton It is all falling into place for King Of Swing. The Kiwi-bred champion was already the best horse in Saturday night’s $1 million Miracle Mile and now he’s got the best barrier to go with it. King Of Swing will start from pole position in his quest to become the first pacer to win three Miracle Miles. The seven-year-old is one of eight two-time Mile winners and the closest any have come to winning it three times was Smoken Up. He ran second, beaten only a neck…
Shennan back after more than 20 years
by Dave Di Somma, Harness News Desk It’s been more than two decades – but Peter Shennan is back training, officially. The 70-year-old has decided to once again take out a trainer’s licence – 22 years since he last held one. “I thought I’d give it a nudge,” says Shennan, who is a regular at the Lavros Lodge training establishment on the outskirts of Christchurch. Set up by businessman and harness racing identity Kypros Kotzikas (of Iraklis fame), it’s the same facility trainers including Regan Todd and Shennan’s old mate…
Hawera Cup heading to Palmerston North
Originally scheduled for Waitangi Day, the Hawera Cup will now be held at the Manawatu Raceway on Tuesday, March 29. The race was to be held at Hawera on Sunday, February 6 but bad weather forced the meeting to be abandoned. Now Harness Racing New Zealand has re-scheduled it to the end of the month. The Hawera Cup will be held two days before the Manawatu Festival Cup (Thursday, March 31). Both are qualification races for the $100,000 Country Cups championship that will be held at Addington on Easter Saturday…
Christen Me hits half ton in USA
by Dave Di Somma, Harness News Desk Christen Me’s heroics in North America have us got thinking. The former New Zealand Horse of the Year, owned by Dexter Dunn, chalked up win career number 50 over the weekend at Miami Valley Raceway in Ohio. Now based in the USA, the champion driver claimed Christen Me for $US30,000 in September last year saying at the time – “I feel like I’m his family. He’s from back home and I’m from back there. He was Horse of the Year one year and…
Wendy Devenport and her winning “rogue”
by Dave Di Somma, Harness News Desk Training a horse like Uncle Drew isn’t always easy – and can sometimes be very painful – but it has its rewards. The Sir Lincoln seven-year-old has compiled a tidy record of six wins from 63 starts. He won both days at the recent Hawera meetings, including the Taranaki Cup last Wednesday for driver Andre Poutama. “He’s a grinder who’s suited to the grass,” says trainer Wendy Devenport, who’s based at Otaki on the Kapiti Coast, “I was very very pleased to win…
Simpson and team thriving in Oamaru
By Jonny Turner Darryn Simpson’s horses are thriving in Oamaru and the trainer’s winning double at his new home track on Waikouaiti Cup Day showed just that. A twenty-five-year association between Darryn Simpson and his former employer Murray Edmonds paid more dividends when Bacardi Pride and Emma Louise ran to trotting victories yesterday. Home track trotting doubles from Oamaru trainers are nearly exclusively achieved by the Williamson family. But with Simpson’s move north after the closure of his former base at Forbury Park the North Otago square-gaiting ranks have become…
Aussie News : Feb 27
By Adam Hamilton It was the campaign where the boy became a man. Brilliant trotter Majestuoso capped a huge few weeks with a narrow but outstanding win in last night’s $100,000 Group 1 Australian Trotting Grand Prix (2240m). It also earned him the inaugural Aurora Australis crown and a $50,000 bonus for being the top points scorer through a string of Victoria’s biggest trotting features. Majestuoso has always possessed blinding speed and talent, but this is the campaign where he’s come the complete package. He’s won races sit-sprinting, leading and…