Month: July 2021

Daily Mail: McKenna favourite in family feud

Editor BOAY

Middle distance superstar Christo Bale’s bid for back-to-back victories in the $40,000 to-the-winner G2 McKenna Memorial (595m) headlines a sensational night’s racing at Sandown Park on Thursday. In what could develop into a family feud, six-time G1 finalist Christo Bale (27 from 64 – 33.86sec PB) will clash with his half-brother, kennelmate and fastest heat winner Jarick Bale (3 from 3 Trk/Dst – 33.81sec PB). Adding huge interest to the card is the city debut of G2 Ballarat and Shepparton Cup winner Ferdinand Boy (23 from 41 – Sheppparton 385m…

Watershed moment for Auckland Racing

NZRacingDesk

Members of the Auckland Racing Club (ARC) overwhelmingly threw their support behind a merger with the Counties Racing Club at a Special General Meeting at Ellerslie on Thursday night. The key premise behind the amalgamation is that there are significant benefits to be had from a single operating structure and through the realisation of land assets on a coordinated basis to ensure that proceeds are maximised. Members of the Counties Racing Club (CRC) backed the merger on Tuesday and now the green light has been given by their inner-city counterparts.…

Fitzsimmons hoping better barrier is worth its weight of Gold

NZRacingDesk

Tim Fitzsimmons is hoping that honest mare Gold City (NZ) (Sufficient) can bounce back to her winning ways in Singapore this Saturday. The Sufficient seven-year-old may have had only two runs for Fitzsimmons, but he would still have a fair idea how to get the best out of her. He was around as the assistant-trainer when she was prepared by his former boss Cliff Brown. After Brown returned to Australia to continue his training career earlier in the year, Gold City was among a dozen of horses who were transferred…

Turnovers – May & June 2021

NZHarnessNews

Turnovers push $30m Betting on harness racing in this country was just short of $30m for May and June.  Figures just released by the TAB show that total turnover was $13,431,339 in June, and $16,519,650 in May – a total of $29,950,989.   The June figures were highlighted by the Harness Jewels at Cambridge ($2.656m) while the meeting with the highest turnover in May was Addington on May 14 ($1.550m). That meeting included the Group One Nevele R Fillies Final won by Bettor Twist. Click here to view the Turnovers…

Selections | Forbury Park July 8

NZHarnessNews

Craig Rail makes his selection for Forbury Park tonight   Head to www.tab.co.nz to place your bet! RaceTime Craig Rail Race 15.21pm 6 Millie’s Gift11 Majestic Whisper8 Tease My Tartan9 Eilish Hall Race 25.46pm 6 Owes Me Dough4 Midnitetraintogeorga8 Livy Desma7 Sister Act Race 36.11pm 1 Cody Banner6 Palisade7 La Reina Del Sur7 Svelt Race 46.36pm 4 Seventh Heaven7 Leconte10 Rin Tin Tin6 Change At The Top Race 57.01pm 6 Beauty Barry2 Shards Fury3 Celebrating5 Uncle Chan Race 67.26pm 4 Majestic Rollon5 Tom Brady2 Dem Bones Dem Bones8 Mr Olympus Race 77.51pm 3…

Jonny Turner: Special Forbury Park memories

NZHarnessNews

By Jonny Turner There is no place quite like Forbury Park and there will never be another. Generations of harness racing supporters will leave behind special memories at the Dunedin track when its 111-year run as a harness venue comes to an end tonight. Few tracks in the modern era have been the subject of as much debate as Forbury Park. It is easy to understand why given the Forbury Park club has effectively been in a fight for its survival for the past four decades. The reality for the…

Negus out to farewell Forbury in style

NZHarnessNews

By Jonny Turner Leading Forbury Park trainer Bruce Negus will remember the Dunedin track as a venue that created opportunities that were not possible elsewhere as its 110-year run comes to an end tonight. Negus will bring five horses south from his Canterbury stable to be a part of the last ever meeting at the Forbury Park Trotting Club’s venue. The trainer goes into the goodbye meeting having trained 140 winners at the track, second only in modern day records to Graeme Anderson and Cran Dalgety. Much of Forbury Park’s…

Dave Cannan’s Forbury Park memories : “The moment I was hooked”

NZHarnessNews

Former harness racing journalist and author Dave Cannan, who will be among the crowds attending Forbury Park’s final meeting tonight, takes a stroll down memory lane. When a racetrack with a history stretching back 112 years is about to close, it’s not hard to get a little sentimental about its demise. And that’s how I feel about Forbury Park Raceway in Dunedin, which holds its last meeting tonight, the latest casualty of the much-debated Messara report. I’ll be there tonight to say goodbye to the place that will always hold…

Drivers give their take on Forbury Park’s final night

NZHarnessNews

Here is how some of the stars of Forbury Park’s last ever meeting tonight rate their best chance of a farewell win, and how some of them will remember the Dunedin track. Ricky May: “I think Forbury actually has the best racing surface to drive on and I have won a lot of races there. I think my best chance of a winner on the final night will be Cody Banner (R3, No.1). Blair Orange: “It has been a very good track to me but somehow I managed to get…