A $5000 bonus will be on offer in the deep south next month. The money will go to any horse that can win on all three race days – at the Gore Harness Racing Club meeting at Gore on February 19 and at the Wyndham Harness Racing Club’s two day meeting at Cromwell on February 24 and 26. In the event of more than one horse winning three races the prize will be shared. The $5000 incentive is a joint initiative agreed to by the Gore and Wyndham clubs. “We…
Author: NZHarnessNews
Could Copy That start in $1m Miracle Mile?
By Michael Guerin New Zealand pacing star Copy That’s Victorian campaign is already enormously more successful than his past attempts and that could create pressure for him to extend his stay in Australia to include a Miracle Mile. The South Auckland pacer was an easy all-the-way winner of the A$150,000 Ballarat Cup on Saturday night in the hands of Blair Orange and is now the warm favourite for the A$500,000 Hunter Cup at Melton on Saturday week. That is a vast change of fortune from this time last season when…
Big crowds and turnover in Marlborough
By Dave Di Somma, Harness News Desk New Marlborough Harness Racing Club president Shirley Morrison couldn’t be much happier with the way the last few days have gone. She’s just overseen her club’s only two race meetings of the year at Waterlea Raceway in Blenheim, declaring them both a big success. “We had heaps of people on course, everybody had a great time, the weather played its part and there were great fields and good racing – that’s a pretty good combo.” Turnovers over the two days were also up…
Musso and Dunns lead Seddon trainers’ championship
Local trainer Kevin Musso has extended his lead to 14 in the “Licence to Train” category in the new Seddon Trainers’ championship. Musso, who trains at Richmond Park at Nelson, has 35 points, helped by two fourth placings by Buddy Reign at Waterlea Raceway in Blenheim on Friday and Sunday. He is well clear of Blenheim trainers Kendra and Mark Gill who won with Amarla on Friday. They have 21 points. It was Kendra Gill’s first success in what is her second season training in partnership with her grandfather.…
Harness Racing nominates four for rural sports awards
Nominations for the annual Norwood Rural Sports Awards close today, and harness racing will be represented by four of its best. The awards, which celebrate the best of rural sport – from shearing and woolhandling to timbersports and dog trials – will be held at the Awapuni racecourse on Friday, March 10 during the New Zealand Rural Games weekend in Palmerston North. This year the quartet whose names have been put forward are Dexter Dunn (Sportsman of the Year), Nicky Chilcott (Sportswoman of the Year), Luk Chin (Lifetime Legacy) and…
Aussie News – January 22
By Adam Hamilton Brilliant four-year-old Catch A Wave could be a surprise Hunter Cup runner. The plan was always to target the Group 1 Chariots Of Fire in Sydney on February 18, but trainer Andy Gath is warming to Victoria’s biggest race on February 4. Gath’s change of heart came after Catch A Wave brilliantly won a heat of the quirky Mercury80 series over just 1200m at Melton last night. “We’ve got some thinking to do and lots of options,” Gath said. “His next run will be on February 4,…
Copy That’s Ballarat Cup win “pretty comprehensive”
By Adam Hamilton Trainer Ray Green insists Copy That is the horse to beat in Saturday week’s $500,000 Hunter Cup. Off the back of last night’s easy Ballarat Cup win, Green believes his stable star is in the best form of his career. “I think he’s the best he’s ever been,” he said. “He’s always had the speed, but he’s kept maturing over the past couple of years and getting stronger. “He’s the horse to beat in the Hunter Cup on what we saw last night. It was a pretty…
Tomlinson back at Blenheim after four-win Friday
By Dave Di Somma, Harness News Desk Sheree Tomlinson knows Sunday’s meeting at Blenheim is going to be a tough act to follow. On Friday on the grass at Waterlea, Tomlinson produced a personal best four winners, bookending the programme with Brian Beatt, paying $31.70 in the first, and favourite Whats Wanted in the last. Her other victories were with Fourth Amendment for trainer Brad Mowbray, and Zsa Zoe in Race 5. “It was amazing.” For Tomlinson, who famously drove Amaretto Sun to an upset win in the 2017 Dominion,…
Whale Watch – Blenheim – Today
Craig “The Whale” Thompson shares his thoughts on Blenheim today.
Home track heroics for Gill
By Joshua Smith, Harness News Desk Kendra Gill was on cloud nine after recording her first training win at Waterlea Raceway on Friday with Amarla in the Carters Blenheim Mobile Pace (1850m). Gill is in her second season training in partnership with her grandfather, Mark, who has been instrumental in her involvement with harness racing. “My Grandad, Mark, has been training since before I could walk,” Gill said. “I did the equestrian side for many years and then I had a couple of knee reconstructions, so riding became a bit…