Akuta will emulate two all-time greats if he wins Sunday’s Group 3 Hannon Memorial at Oamaru.
The Mark and Nathan Purdon-trained star is a $2.10 favourite to take out the Group 3 feature for a second time. His previous win was in 2022.
If Akuta wins this weekend he’ll do what the likes of Blossom Lady and Johnny Globe have done before – and that is win two Hannon Memorials three years apart.
Blossom Lady won in 1990 and 1993 (as well as winning the New Zealand Cup in 1992) while Johnny Globe won his Hannon Memorials in 1951 and 1954. He also won the New Zealand Cup the same year (1954).
Akuta is having his fourth race this campaign after being sidelined with a serious tendon injury. He won two starts ago in Auckland and was then fifth in last Friday’s Avon City Ford New Brighton Cup at Addington, taken out by Alta Meteor.
The Hannon has been raced since 1938. It is named in memory of Michael Joseph Hannon, a dentist in Oamaru who went on to become the president of the Oamaru Trotting Club from 1921 to 1938.
Since then only four horses have ever won back to back Hannon Memorials – they are Palestine (1976-77), Idolmite (1980-81), Iraklis (1997-98), and Franco Ledger (2012-13).
The fastest time (since it went to 2600m in 1976) is shared. The record of 3:13.4 was set by Cullen’s Creek in 2010 and then equalled by Spankem in 2019.
On Sunday only two horses are backing up from last year’s race. They are Macandrew Aviator, who was third last year, and Da Vinci (7th in 2024).
The two horses to win since Akuta’s last success have been Aardie’s Express (2023) and Republican Party (2024).
To see the odds in the Hannon Memorial click here
