Category: Meeting Previews

By Dave Di Somma, Harness News Desk  Kimberly Butt can scarcely believe what happened at this week’s NZB Standardbred National Yearling Sale in Christchurch. In a bit over two hours she signed off on three yearlings for a combined price tag of $350,000. “It was something you only dream of, it was incredible, a real pinch yourself moment,” says Butt And it all revolves around big spending Australian Joshua Davine and his N40 Racing. He was in direct contact from Sydney at the time.   “Kim was getting a bit…

Team Teal goes past $5000, Orange and House lead the premierships, and a job vacancy at Addington all feature in this week’s News Briefs. Team Teal’s big fund-raiser Harness Racing New Zealand’s annual Team Teal fund-raiser has just topped $5000, with the promise of a lot more to come. The campaign started on February 1 and will go through to March 16 with money raised every time a female driver in this country wins a race. That money comes from HRNZ, individual clubs and the drivers’ individual sponsors. So far…

By Michael Guerin Harness racing lost not only a popular owner but one of its oldest ever recently. Northern owner John McIntosh passed away just days after turning 100, reports friend and long-time trainer Derek Balle. McIntosh was a constant in the Alexandra Park stabling clock for decades, racing horses firstly with another old friend the late Roy Purdon when he was training and ending up with Balle as his main trainer over the last 15 years. McIntosh went to the yearling sales and spent up big in 2016 when…

There was a bit of history repeating itself for Ken Ford at Motukarara on Sunday. The veteran trainer brought up his 200th training success when Misty Blue, driven by grand-daughter Sheree Tomlinson, rushed home to win the Happy 21st Toddy McDermott Mobile Pace.  The milestone came after his daughter Amanda, Sheree’s mother, drove his 100th training success with Zachary Binx in the Banks Peninsula Trotting Cup on the same track 10 years ago. “We were excited as hell,” he says when describing Misty Blue’s win. Now 76, Ken Ford has had…

By Dave Di Somma, Harness News Desk   Carter Dalgety’s excited, and upbeat, about what he calls his “biggest” challenge to  date. The 21-year-old heads to Brisbane this week to take on some of the world’s best in the first ever Ultimate Driver Championship at Albion Park.    Ten drivers will take part in the 20-race series on Friday and Saturday with the top points-scorer at the end taking home the $100,000 first prize.  At the recent Harness Racing New Zealand Awards at Addington Dalgety, the country’s top junior driver in…