By Adam Hamilton The odds are firmly stacked against reigning Inter Dominion champion The Locomotive “doing a Pride Of Petite” in Monday morning’s Elitlopp in Stockholm. The former champion Kiwi mare Pride Of Petite is the only “Down Under” trotter to finish top four in an Elitlopp heat and qualify for the final when she ran sixth in the 1997 final. Most recently, the great Just Believe tried but struck trouble at a crucial stage on the final bend, galloped and lost all chance. The Locomotive will have to overcome…
Category: Meeting Previews
Vale Jamie Searle
Jamie Searle, a proud Southlander and respected racing journalist, has died in Invercargill after a battle with cancer. Inducted into the NZ Trotting Hall of Fame for his contribution to the history of harness racing, Searle worked for the Southland Times between 1986 and 2022. Of those 34 years he was a racing reporter for 28 of them. He was still writing stories as his health deteriorated in recent weeks and was philosophical about his fate. “Everyone has got to fall off their perch at some time and I’ve really…
Lazarus joins stallion roster at Wai Eyre Farm
By Dave Di Somma, Harness News Desk Dual New Zealand Cup winner and $4m earner Lazarus is on the move. One of the all-time greats, the now 12-year-old superstar turned stallion has been bought by a group of owners including Wai Eyre Farm principal Darryl Brown and will now stand at the stud’s East Eyreton property in North Canterbury. “He’s on farm at the moment,” says Brown, “and he is now totally New Zealand owned,” Previously Lazarus had an international ownership group and stood at Alabar and Nevele R in…
Who wins and why at Addington tonight?
Presenter-driver-trainer Brittany Graham knows a thing or two about racing on both sides of the Tasman and now that the Queenslander is working for Trackside in this country she’s (reluctantly) agreed to write a weekly column. Who wins and why at Addington tonight? By Brittany Graham The final Group 1 for the first half of 2025 will take place at Addington tonight (Friday) in the Welcome Stakes, alongside a pair of competitive open company features as part of a 10-race card, starting at 5.02pm. Race 6 7.34pm – Avon City Ford…
Wilkins to make NZ debut at Alexandra Park tonight
By Jordyn Bublitz After having nine driving wins across the Tasman, Brooke Wilkins will make her Kiwi debut at Alexandra Park tonight. The 27-year-old will drive Treacherous Baby in Race 1, the Alex Bar and Eatery Mobile Pace for her employers Mark and Nathan Purdon. Born in Sydney into a racing family Wilkins was always going to get involved in the sport but her racing career stalled in 2019. “I actually had a bad fall, and it put me out for quite a while,” she said, “afterwards I moved to…
Ferguson looking for another big Friday night at Addington
By Michael Guerin Craig Ferguson knows he might need another miracle at Addington tonight. But the difference between the miracle the Southland driver pulled off with Marketplace last Friday and the one he needs with Wag Star tonight is this time it could be the difference between winning and losing. Ferguson has had a wonderful year in the sulky with his flagship horse being superstar three-year-old Marketplace, trained by his close friend Regan Todd. Ferguson found a pathway paved in gold in the Group 1 Sires’ Stakes Final at Addington…
Coppins take three to Cambridge tonight
By Jordyn Bublitz Team Coppins will again be out in force at Cambridge tonight as junior driver Kate Coppins looks to continue her good form in the sulky. She has three drives, all for her grandmother, Morrinsville trainer Jill Coppins. In Race 4, the Wednesday Quiz Night at The Clubhouse Handicap Trot she takes the reins behind Bonny Parker, who ran third her last start at Cambridge on May 6. It was her first placing in five starts. “It was a huge improvement for her, we’ve had a lot of…
The Lazarus Effect going for three in a row at Winton today
By Jonny Turner Carter Dalgety is opting for quality rather than quantity this harness racing weekend. Dalgety heads to Winton on Thursday to team up with a select book of drives including The Lazarus Effect. The talented pacer will put his unbeaten record for trainer Bob Butt on the line in search of a penalty-free junior driver’s win. “I was thrilled to get the call-up from Bob,” Dalgety said. “I know he has always been a lovely horse, even before he raced Nathan Purdon had a good opinion of him.”…
More meetings and more races proposed for 2025-26
Harness racing will have an extra 146 races and 15 additional meetings, under the just-released draft calendar for the 2025-26 season. The extra dates will see a total of 304 meetings and 2817 races in the 12 months from August 1, 2025 – July 31, 2026. The 15 additional dates will be : NZ Metropolitan Trotting Club (6)Auckland Trotting Club (4)Waikato – Bay of Plenty (4)Oamaru (3)Banks Peninsula, Invercargill and Methven (1) The clubs losing dates are : Kapiti Coast (2)Forbury, Manawatu and Rangiora (1) Of the ATC’s four meetings…
Chase A Dream scratched from Aussie trip
By Michael Guerin Chase A Dream’s Queensland campaign and any hope of a stud career are both over before they began. The exceptional but erratic four-year-old was pulled out of the Rising Sun at Albion Park in July 5 on Wednesday morning by co-owner and trainer Mark Purdon following a so-so second to stablemate Rubira at the Pukekohe trials on Tuesday. That means he won’t board a plane to Sydney on Sunday with Rubira and Oscar Bonavena, instead staying home and heading to the spelling paddock. But before then he…