By Michael Guerin
One of New Zealand’s proudest harness racing regions turned back the clock to the glory days by dominating Addington on Friday night.
Southland-based trainers won three of the six Group races on the stacked programme and two Southland mates in Regan Todd and Craig Ferguson combined with our best young pacer Marketplace to win the night’s Group 1, the $200,000 Garrards Sires’ Stakes Final.
Todd may not live in the deep south any more but it only takes about 10 words to come out of his mouth to realise he is a proud southern man who he will be glad to be lumped in as part a stunning night for the South.
Marketplace’s win in the historic race was hardly a surprise but the way he did it was with Ferguson finding a magical path through the field early to be in front after 400m.
Then the question was how much would he win by and who would run second.
The answers: three quarters of a length and Got The Chocolates, the latter one of our bravest young pacers just cursed to be born at the same time as Marketplace.
The latter is a magnificent animal and there is no doubt he will go on to be an open class force but before then he has a stack of major races at the back end of the season with no emerging rivals on the horizon.
His connections should buy their slot for The Velocity now, although finding nine rivals brave enough to take him on might be the issue.
There was little surprise in Southland filly Duchess Maria winning the Sport Nation Trotting Stakes even if the fact she has now won her first three starts in three different provinces is the rarest of feats for a juvenile trotter.
Like Marketplace she will go for a spell with the back end of the season promising so much.
Kennington horseman Greg Hunter got in on waving the Southland flag (is there a Southland flag? There should be) when his tough mare Beach Day won the Rico Lodge Uncut Gems for the girls, with Mark Hurrell pulling all the right reins to out passing lane Seaside Rose.
Perhaps the surprise of this wonderful southern domination with not the fact that Miki’s Deal won the $70,000 Ricoh Bionic Chance Bracelet but that she started $2.70 after opening at $6.50.
She won like a $1.50 chance as she led, trailed and was then parked and when the chasers came at her she went again to remain unbeaten in two starts, both very strong through the line.
She is trained by Brett Gray, who not only wasn’t at Addington after a family holiday but only just made it back to Auckland in time to watch the win in the hands of a confident Matty Williamson.
“She is a good filly but I think she will get better as she is a touch immature,” says Gray.
“She has always had speed but she has developed stamina to go with it now and she can go for a spell, which will do her the world of good.
“She is eligible for the Sires’ Stakes when she comes back and while we tried to get flights back to Christchurch in time and couldn’t her owner Marty Fairburn was there to see it.
“I have already spoken to him and they might struggle to get him out of the place.”
As heartwarming as it was to see Southland so dominant the locals did hold their own with Eurostyle a stunning winner of the Uncut Gem Trot while Sideshow Bruce suggested he will be in open class by Christmas with a comprehensive victory in the Uncut Gems for the older male pacers.
Add in Fugitive making it four from five starts in the two-year-old boys race and you had one of Addington’s best nights of the year.
And Southland’s brightest night of harness racing glory in at least a decade.
