Supreme start to year for broodmare gem

By Dave Di Somma, Harness News Desk What a 2023 it’s been already for the progeny of Christian Cullen mare Supreme Gem. Between 2011 and 2015 she won eight races with a best mile rate of 1:53.7. Now three of her daughters have won races this year at three different venues. “As a breeder it’s very satisfying,” says Prebbleton-based John McDermott. Trained by McDermott, six-year-old mare Ruby’s A Delight (Bettor’s Delight – Supreme Gem) got the ball rolling at Rangiora on New Year’s Day. It was her sixth success and…

Top three-year-old to miss key Auckland races

By Michael Guerin Last season’s leading juvenile Don’t Stop Dreaming is out of the first two major three-year-old races of the year. Nathan Purdon, who has just entered a training partnership with his father Mark, confirmed the last-start Ace Of Spades winner will miss both the Harness Million and Northern Derby at Alexandra Park later in the summer. “There is nothing majorly wrong with him just a few little niggles from immaturity,” says Purdon. “So he is having a longer spell and won’t be back in the stable until February…

Mixed news for Kiwi stars – Muscle Mountain’s Aussie trip is off

By Michael Guerin The Kiwi invasion on Australia’s harness racing riches has gained two exceptional pacers but lost a trotting star. Dual New Zealand Cup winner Copy That and the country’s newest open class pacing force Old Town Road leave for Melbourne tomorrow (Wednesday), with the Ballarat Cup and Hunter Cup their targets. But while that adds some serious Kiwi interest to the Victorian summer the bad luck for New Zealand’s best trotters chasing Group 1s over there continues with Muscle Mountain’s much-anticipated campaign over before it began. Muscle Mountain…

Junior Driver Series Information

There have been some slight changes this year to the guidelines of the 2023 NZ Junior Driver Championship and the Revell Douglas Memorial Series. Our website is now updated with all of the current conditions. NZ Junior Driver Championship 2023 Please see here for the 2023 NZ Junior Driver Championship Guidelines – the points table can be found here. These guidelines explain how the drivers will be selected for the 2023 Championship and also state the qualifying dates. Key Information Qualifying is 1st January 2023 to 17th September 2023. The…

RIB to undergo 100 harness racing stable audits this year

The Racing Integrity Board (RIB) is going to commence stable audits this year. Last year the RIB audited every Greyhound kennel in NZ, this year they are taking a tri-code approach and have committed to doing 100 harness stable audits around the country. These audits are to measure the facilities’ compliance with the HRNZ horse care regulations and will be along the lines of a robust stable inspection. RIB Audit release: On October 1 2022 Harness Racing New Zealand (HRNZ) introduced their Horse care regulations which set out the minimum…

May and Hill double up at Motukarara

by Dave Di Somma, Harness News Desk On a day when he reined home two winners and also had three placings, Ricky May was especially impressed with the performance of Sargent Best at Motukarara yesterday. The Art Major five-year-old charged from from being well back to nudge Radioactive Jaffa on the line in Race 8 the Creedwood Equine Agistment Pace. Paying $11.50 and $2.80 it was Sargent Best’s maiden win at start number 15. “It was a good effort,” says May, “any horse that’s come from last at Motukarara has…

Meddles have been on parallel careers – until now

By Frank Marrion – courtesy of the HarnessXpress Bryce’s Meddle and Hayley’s Meddle have been on an amazing parallel career which culminated in them both winning their second starts from bad draws in consecutive races at Rangiora on New Year’s Day. The Dunn stablemates and close relations started their present campaigns at the Rangiora workouts in late November, where Hayley’s Meddle won the heat with Bryce’s Meddle third. The following week they qualified in the same heat with Hayley’s Meddle and Riley Harrison beating Bryce’s Meddle and John Dunn by…

Williamsons nab top prize in Central Circuit Trainers’ Bonus

The Central Otago Trotting Club, Roxburgh Trotting Club and the Wyndham Harness Racing Club are delighted to announce the winners of the Central Circuit Trainers’ Bonus. A total of $4,500 was up for grabs from the three clubs with points allocated over two bonus schemes, one for public trainers and one for licence to train trainers. Public Trainers had a pool of $4,000 with $2,500 for the winner, $1,000 for second and $500 for third. Licence to Train Trainers had a pool of $500 with $300 for the winner, $200 for…

Aussie News : January 9

By Adam Hamilton  The big brute is back. As polarizing as Expensive Ego is, it’s a delight to see him in full flight. And that’s just what we saw at Menangle when he returned from a freshen-up after a slightly disappointing Inter Dominion campaign. While the six-year-old is good at other tracks, he is monstrous at Menangle as last night showed. Driven with extreme aggressive and daring by Luke McCarthy, Expensive Ego just kept bowling along once he found the lead in splits of 26.3, 27.5, 27.2 and 28.2sec. He clocked…

Anthony Butt lands drive on Rock N Roll Doo

By Adam Hamilton Champion former Kiwi driver Anthony Butt has snared the pick-up drive on superstar Aussie pacer Rock N Roll Doo. Butt will partner the Victoria Cup hero in Saturday week’s Group 1 Ballarat Cup and almost certainly the Group 1 Hunter Cup on February 4. It comes after Rock N Roll Doo’s trainer-driver Mick Stanley suffered two broken vertebrae in a freakish mishap at Bendigo on Saturday night. Stanley remains in hospital and early medical advice says he will be sidelined for up to six weeks. Everything went…