Category: Meeting Previews

By Michael Guerin If Alexandra Park races true to recent form for tonight’s $200,000 Magness Benrow Sires’ Stakes there may be less winning chances in the Group 1 than it appears as first glance. Because while the race is the strongest of the three-year-old pacing fillies season so far the girls covering the least ground should hold a huge advantage. Tonight’s meeting is take 2 after last night’s attempt was postponed after just one race because of bad weather.   In the past few weeks in northern harness racing the…

By Michael Guerin For the second time in just three weeks Alexandra Park has had a meeting postponed because of wet weather. Only one race was run tonight before the remainder of the meeting was postponed because of track conditions caused by the very heavy rain in Auckland. A large pool of water had developed on the inside on the track and crept into the passing lane while rutting was starting to develop on the home bend from water flowing down the track because of the steep camber. The rain…

By Adam Hamilton  The challenges keep coming for unbeaten young Aussie trotting mare Keayang Zahara. Having finished last year with those three feature wins at Addington, Keayang Zahara just did enough to stretch her unbeaten record to 15 races when she returned to racing at Melton last Saturday night. The Marg and Paddy Lee-trained star is on the road this week to chase a 16th win and an eighth at Group 1 level in the $100,000 Group 1 Macarthur Mile at Menangle on Saturday night (11.09pm NZT).  While Keayang Zahara…

A total of 35 Silk Road races, with stakes totalling around $700,000, will start later this month. It is the second year of the series. The Silk Road’s objective is to create pathways for everyday, emerging and elite Fillies and Mares. It is a key pillar of “The Future Starts Now” strategy launched in 2024. This year’s “Winter Series” heats will be divided among Northern, Canterbury and Southern with heats and finals for both gaits. They will start on May 23 at Alexandra Park with the last Final at Cambridge…

By Michael Guerin Pinseeker may have started in the biggest race of the year but his grand final fortnight actually starts tonight. The five-year-old has been one of our major pacing improvers this season, developing from promising intermediate grade pacer to a big-race player. That was most clearly emphasised in the $1m Race by Betcha last month when he finished fifth, a week after sitting parked to finish third in the Flying Mile also at Cambridge. He drops back in grade for what is still a very strong Continental Event…

By Michael Guerin If Alexandra Park races true to recent form for tonight’s $200,000 Magness Benrow Sires’ Stakes there may be less winning chances in the Group 1 than it appears at first glance. Because while the race is the strongest of the three-year-old pacing fillies season so far the girls covering the least ground should hold a huge advantage. Tonight’s meeting caps a golden six weeks for northern harness racing but the most obvious trend has been the biggest race winners almost always coming from on the marker pegs.…

Greg Sugars’ funeral will be live streamed at Addington Raceway on Monday afternoon (May 12). The funeral will be held at Melton just outside Melbourne, starting at 2pm NZT. The service will be live streamed via thetrots.com.au and on the big screen at Spectators Bar and Bistro at Addington Raceway. It will be open from noon on Monday so that his friends and many in the wider harness racing community on this side of the Tasman can pay their last respects. A very popular figure, both here and in Australia,…