Category: Harness

By Michael Guerin Ben Hope says the plan is simple with Muscle Mountain in the $60,000 Lone Star Lyell Creek Trot at Alexandra Park tonight.The rest is up to the big trotter. Muscle Mountain is racing like a horse in the twilight of his career, still a wonderful trotter but a few percentage points down on his previous top speed and with his ambition levels not always suggesting a full tank. He was fourth in the TAB Trot last Friday, no small deal, but his new co-trainer and driver Hope…

By Michael Guerin Exceptional pacer Merlin may find himself in the unusual position of a $1million race last Friday improving him for a $100,000 race at Alexandra Park tonight. That is the belief of co-trainer Scott Phelan as his stable star attempts to overcome another bad draw in the Dawson Harford Taylor Mile, the Group 1 which is traditionally one of the fastest miles in New Zealand every season.  Merlin comes into tonight’s race off the back of his third in Leap To Fame’s crushing Race By Betcha at Cambridge…

By Jonny Turner ‘Watch out for the Hill brothers’ could prove an important message for punters at Winton on Thursday. Max Hill links up with a handy book of four drives in his adopted home province, while younger brother Seth is on a southern raid, linking up with three solid chances.  Big brother has landed the drive behind one of the best placed horses at the Wairio Trotting Club meeting. A new association with trainer Brad Williamson has put Max Hill in the hot seat behind Tabasco, who drops sharply…

By Brigette Solomon  Junior driver Kristina Denifostova scored her first winning driving double during a “hectic” day at Manawatu yesterday. Both her wins with Lewey Maguire and La Miki were trained by her employers Steve and Amanda Telfer. “I am so happy, it was a huge opportunity for me to come down to Palmerston North and look after the horses over the past 10 days and to drive the team at the races,” said Denifostova. “The two horses that won are some of my favourites in the stable and it…

By Jonny Turner  Captains Mistress can set the direction for her new campaign when she returns in a Magness Benrow Sires Stakes Semi Final (6.35pm)  at Addington on Friday night. Last season’s New Zealand Two-Year-Old Pacing Filly Of The Year is fit and ready to make her 2025 debut at the scene of her Group 1 triumph in the Sires Stakes’ Fillies Championship. The star three-year-old has clearly returned in excellent shape judging by her excellent recent trials in the south. If – or rather when – she confirms that…

By Dave Di Somma, Harness News Desk Could Sam Snead be the omen bet at Addington’s midweek meeting on Wednesday? The Joseph Gray-trained five-year-old lines up in race 7, the Book Now for Anzac Day Racing and League Mobile Pace (7.15pm) just days before the world’s best golfers compete in the first major of the year, the Masters at Augusta Georgia, a tournament the great Sam Snead won three times between 1949 and 1954. The closest Gray’s horse has come to winning has been two thirds at Addington on March…

By Michael Guerin Merlin’s horror run of draws continued in the $100,000 Dawson Harford Taylor Mile at Alexandra Park on Friday night. The Race by betcha third placegetter is the biggest name backing up from the $1million slot race in this Friday’s mile but has copped the outside of the front line. That comes after he drew wide in the big race last Friday and the second line in the Flying Mile at Cambridge the week before. He even drew wide in the free-for-all he was entered for, but didn’t…

By Brigette Solomon  Benjamin Butcher is looking forward to today’s Manawatu meeting where his two runners back up after a successful day on Sunday. I Can Too scored his maiden victory, in the Wendy Devenport Stables Mobile Pace, with father David Butcher driving while Benjamin was third with and Hearts N Aces just a length behind. “They both went good on Sunday, it was their first time away and they handled it well and did everything right in the race,” said Butcher, “I thought Hearts N Aces might have finished…