By Dave Di Somma, Harness News Desk
Australian representative Gary Hall Junior will take a 15 point lead into the second day of the World Driving Championship at Kaikoura on Monday.
On Sunday the multiple Group 1 winning driver from Perth had almost the perfect start to WDC 2025 with two wins and a second from the opening three heats.
He has 44 points, with Italian Giampaolo Minnucci second on 29, and former world champion Pierre Vercruysse third on 21. New Zealand’s representative Blair Orange is sixth equal on 17 points. His best performance was a third with Ohoka Cobra in the day’s third heat.
Hall was installed the outright favourite for the WDC after the fields were released for the opening day at Kaikoura and he didn’t disappoint.
“Everyone told me if you are not leading after the first day they’ll be something wrong with you – so I’m pretty happy,” Hall said post race.
He won the first heat comfortably when the in-form Tom Bagrie-trained Hoof It Hagrid held on from a game Rachmaninov and Granny Rose while hotpot Midnight Diamond was drawn one the second row in Heat 2 but found space early on and cruised by her rivals to win easily. It was the Ross Houghton-trained mare’s fourth win in a row.
In the day’s third and final heat Hall was leading with Spirit Downunder only to be run down by Scrunch (Giampaolo Minnucci), trained by Robert and Jenna Dunn.
The two wins and a second capped off a big few days for Hall after he couldn’t find his passport and was in danger of missing his flight, only to get a replacement at the very last minute.
“It was the most stressful day of my life I reckon,” he says.
Monday will see two more heats, Race 3, the Donegal House Heat 4 (1.20pm) and the Kaikoura ITM-sponsored Race 5 at 2.16pm
The day will also feature the 100th running of the Alabar NZ Kaikoura Cup at 4.40pm.
After Kaikoura’s two day meeting the WDC heads to Cambridge on Wednesday where there will be another five heats.
Then it’s on to Addington on Friday (Nov 7) and Winton (Nov 9) before the grand finale on IRT New Zealand Trotting Cup day at Addington on Tuesday, November 11.
Points (after 3 heats at Kaikoura) :
Gary Hall Junior (Australia) 44
Giampaolo Minnucci (Italy) 29
Pierre Vercruysse ( France) 21
Santtu Raitala (Finland) 18
Brett Beckwith (USA) 18
James MacDonald (Canada) 17
Blair Orange (New Zealand) 17
Mats Djuse (Sweden) 9
Michael Nimczyk (Germany) 7
Jaap van Rijn (Netherlands) 5
Both Vercruysse (2013) and MacDonald (2017) are both previous winners of the WDC.
