By Michael Guerin Jason Teaz is aiming to end the harness racing season way better than he started it. Actually, the start wasn’t the problem for the Waikato trainer. It was the couple of months after the start that flattened him. Teaz is best known as a commentator but is making quite the name for himself as a trainer, with 15 horses in work and well on the way to his best season ever with Stone Cold bringing up win 13 for the term at Alexandra Park on Friday night.…
Category: Meeting Previews
Williamson trains winning double with very different trotters at Addington
By Michael Guerin Winning stablemates rarely come from backgrounds as different as the double Phil Williamson trained at Addington early on Friday night. Because juvenile winner Becky’s Girl has been with Williamson since the day she was born while the Oamaru trainer still laughs about the fact he now trains former Aussie pacer He Aint Fakin, who also won as a trotter on Friday night. Williamson and wife Bev, who owns Becky’s Girl, started the meeting on a high as the two-year-old filly led throughout to win the $45,000 Macca…
Aquila wins four in a row at Cambridge
By Jordyn Bublitz Promising mare Aquila is on a roll, extending her winning streak to four at Cambridge Raceway last night and continuing a memorable run for young Pukekohe trainer Zev Meredith. Owned by Kenny Baynes, Aquila has become a flagbearer for Meredith’s small but growing team. She has now won six from 28. Last night’s victory came in the World Drivers Champs Thanks Breckon Farms Mob Pace, after Kate Coppins produced a stellar drive. From a wide draw, Coppins launched the mare early to cross and take up the…
All go for Ascot Park this Sunday
It’s business – just not quite as usual – for Ascot Park in Invercargill this weekend. The Tuapeka Harness Racing Club meeting there on Sunday will go ahead as planned, despite dozens of stalls being destroyed in this week’s high winds in Southland and around the rest of the country. The carnage started on Monday as gale force winds whipped through the raceway and then there was a second wave of damage yesterday. “We’ve lost 60 or 70 stalls in total,” says Southern Harness General Manager Jason Broad. “We now…
Seth Hill gets first drive on The Lazarus Effect
By Michael Guerin Young driver Seth Hill will get a golden opportunity to impress his new boss at Addington tonight. Not that Bob Butt isn’t already impressed. Butt trains The Lazarus Effect, one of the more promising pacers in Canterbury and a $2.50 favourite for the IRT Thanks Bettors Delight Pace at Addington even though he faces a second line draw in the big field. Hill will do the driving for the first time tonight. If The Lazarus Effect wins with the talented junior driver in the cart he only…
Mediator the one to beat in Metro Heats at Alexandra Park tonight
By Michael Guerin Trainer Matty White thinks Mediator is edging closer to being the finished product. And that should be good enough to win at Alexandra Park tonight at a meeting where White has a strong hand. The South Auckland trainer has five of his 23-strong stable racing tonight, with smart horses in Mhai Surfer Girl (R1) and Lord Popinjay (R10) taking on good fields at either end of the programme. But it is Mediator (R7, No.4) who gives White his best chance in the TAB – Northern Metro Pacers…
Ellis with twin hopes in Cambridge trot tonight
By Jordyn Bublitz Taranaki horseman Brodie Ellis may not have a barn full of Group 1 stars, but he represents the beating heart of New Zealand harness racing – the grassroots participants who keep the industry alive. Tonight at Cambridge Raceway, the dedicated trainer lines up two of his stable favourites, Cool Phelan and Ordained, both stepping out fresh from a spell in the Join Us For Xmas At Cambridge Raceway Trot (6.28pm). Racing has always been in Ellis’s blood. He was introduced to the sport by a stalwart of…
The Kaikoura Cup through the years – Part 4
The Kaikoura Cup will celebrate its 100th running this year. To mark the occasion Kaikoura Trotting Club historian Phil Gourdie is looking back at the history of the great race. This is the fourth installment – “they just keep getting faster” By Phil Gourdie With the exception of the meeting held under Covid restrictions, the last 16 Kaikoura Cups, over the 2400m from a stand, have been run in under 3.00 minutes. In 2021 the race (2600m) was held at Addington with Classie Brigade winning the third of his…
Ashburton Flying Stakes – 70 years ago
By Dave Di Somma, Harness News Desk Monday will mark 70 years since the first running of the Ashburton Flying Stakes. In that time only 11 horses have won the race and then gone on to win the New Zealand Cup in the same year. Only two horses have done it twice – Lazarus in 2016 and 2017 and Terror To Love in 2012 and 2013. The first horse to do the Stakes- Cup double was Our Roger. He won the very first Ashburton Flying Stakes on Oct 1, 1955…
$2500 for trainers in WDC
Trainers who line up their horses in the up-coming World Driving Championship will be in the running for a “cash” bonus. Five Garrards vouchers, each worth $500, will be won by trainers, with each starter entered automatically into the draw for the following meetings : Kaikoura (November 2 and 3)Cambridge (November 5)Winton (November 9)Addington (November 7)Addington November 11 There’ll be one winner at each of the above, with all five drawn on Wednesday, November 12. The results will be announced on hrnz.co.nz “We want the best horses possible to…