Month: July 2020

Harness racing’s annual awards will be held this year, and be open to everyone in the industry, but it will not be like previous events. With COVID-19 forcing the 2019-20 season to be drastically different it’s been decided the Harness Racing New Zealand Premiership  Awards, brought to you by New Zealand Bloodstock Standardbred,  will reflect that. Five awards will be announced at Spectators Bar and Bistro at Addington Raceway from 7-9 pm on August 10.  They will go to the leading driver, trainer, and junior as well as leading UDR junior…

By Josh Smith – Harness News Desk Burnham trainer Mark Jones is taking a couple of last start winners to Addington Raceway on Friday, but it’s a talented trotter he believes is his stable’s best chance of the night. Majestic Lavros has done nothing but please his connections since returning from a near two year layoff in February, winning two of his four starts and finishing runner-up in his other two appearances. “He suffered an injury as a late three-year-old,” Jones said. “We have just given him plenty of time…

Michael Guerin, Matt Cross and Jason Teaz provide us with their selections ahead of today’s meeting at Addington today Selections can be found here Head to www.tab.co.nz to make a bet!

Big Fish, Little Fish is the brand new Whale Watch brought to you by Michael Guerin and Craig Thompson. Today they look over the Addington meeting.

By Michael Guerin The most feared stable in New Zealand racing gets a little more serious about their comeback at Addington tonight but champion trainer Mark Purdon warns some of his runners come with a warning. After a deliberately patient return from lockdown, the All Stars produce 10 starters over four races tonight and will have the favourite in all four races. But Purdon says their softly-softly approach to the comeback means punters should be careful. “The ones racing are fit enough to race but we have bad weather here…

By Adam Hamilton  Victoria’s second wave of COVID is likely to see the $300,000 Group 1 Victoria Cup pushed back. HRV’s GM of Racing Stephen Bell described Victoria’s upcoming feature race dates as “a moving feast, which could change by the day” after the state reported a record-high 317 new COVID cases today (Thursday).  “We had our big mares’ races coming up soon, but they will all be pushed back and we’ll confirm some new dates soon,” he said.  “I’d compare our feature race dates for the back half of…

Right now social media is being inundated with information about all things harness racing. There are countless snippets from stables, raceday previews, betting tips, raceday interviews – you name it. Harness Racing New Zealand has three main vehicles to get information out there, the website hrnz.co.nz, its main facebook page, and its own punting Facebook page called “Be In to Win”. There are many regular betting features including selection boxes on the day of every meeting,  the Craig Thompson – Mick Guerin videos (Big Fish, Little Fish) as well as a…

After meetings with the various interest groups and racing clubs in Southland and following approval for the re-scheduling of the races by the HRNZ Board, three features that were lost to Southland during the Covid-19 break have been greenlit for October 2020. The Southern Supremacy Stakes and Southlands Oaks will be run as Group 3 races for $30,000, along with the Diamond Creek Farm Classic at Ascot Park on 29 October. Owing to the change in season both the Supremacy and Oaks will be run for four-year-olds, while the Diamond…

Jason Teaz, Jason Broad and Justin Evans provide us with their selections ahead of Invercargill’s meeting today.  Selections can be found here Head to www.tab.co.nz to make a bet!