Check out this week’s Box Seat with hosts Greg O’Connor and Michael Guerin.
Author: NZHarnessNews
Hilarious Guest – “a spirited filly”
With the running of the “Hilarious Guest” three-year-old Fillies Classic at Addington this Friday it seems only right to recall the record-breaking feats of the star filly 40 years ago . In her day Hilarious Guest was a real presence on the track. In 1982 she was New Zealand 3YO Pacer of the Year, after winning 10 races and setting four New Zealand records. She also became the first filly for 19 years to win the NZ Derby and joined an elite group of fillies to qualify for the New…
Addington Weekly : Nov 23
Here’s Greg O’Connor and Darrin Williams with the latest Addington News.
News Briefs : Nov 23
All Stars chasing hard Team Telfer’s lead at the top of the trainers’ premiership has been cut to five. The brother-sister combo of Steve and Amanda Telfer have 85 wins for the year while closest rivals, the All Stars partnership of Mark Purdon and Hayden Cullen are now at 80 after having eight wins in November including Group 1 doubles on Cup and Show Day. The Telfers in comparison have had a quieter November with four wins so far. Date and venue for awards A date and venue have been…
Geraldine – “the lure of grass track racing is real”
Geraldine is gearing up for one of its biggest days of the year, with 12 races scheduled for its annual pre-Christmas meeting on Saturday. After getting 259 nominations big wide open fields will be the order of the day. “The lure of grass track racing is real,” says Geraldine Trotting Club President Mark Weaver, “we have had tremendous support from owners, trainers, the public, and sponsors and on a good day we could have 2-3000 people on course.” Saturday’s meeting marks 75 years since the first harness racing meeting was…
Kite’s trio well placed at Ascot Park
By Jonny Turner A quality line up of drives awaits Oliver Kite at Ascot Park on Wednesday. The junior reinsman won’t lack horsepower when he combines with the talented Rakamurph in race 5. The two-year-old steps back in grade after starting in the Group One Sires Stakes Final on New Zealand Cup Day. The pacer looks thrown in on Wednesday, taking on maidens and first starters as a two-win horse. “He had a couple of days off after he came home from Christchurch,” Kite said. “He probably wasn’t at his…
Bolt draws well for opening ID heat
By Adam Hamilton All eyes will be on star Kiwi trotter Bolt For Brilliance on Inter Dominion night at Ballarat on Saturday. The barrier gods were kind with gate two over the 2200m, but he’s got top-class local and probably leader Majestuoso draw right inside him. Trainer-driver Tony Herlihy’s anxious times with Bolt For Brilliance his Addington flop and illness have been well documented, so it’s as much about running well and getting through night one in good order as it is winning. This Inter Dominion needs Bolt For Brilliance…
Ray Green “feeling okay” and out of ICU
By Michael Guerin Just two weeks after Copy That gave him the greatest victory of his training career Ray Green is in an Auckland hospital after being kicked by a horse, with his wife Deb saying “he is not out of the woods yet.” But the remarkable 77-year-old has been moved out of Middlemore Hospital’s intensive care unit and was soon asking for his phone so he can keep tabs on his Pukekohe stable. The enormously popular trainer was on top of the harness racing world at Addington on November…
The countdown is on to Harness Racing’s new Grand Prix
By Michael Guerin If the appetiser is anything to go by we are in for a stunning first Grand Prix meeting at Addington on December 4. The new multi-Group 1 meeting on Sunday week was always going to be spectacular but being a new meeting it is still very much a journey into the unknown. But the road map there is Addington’s prelude meeting on Friday night and it will whet the appetite for what comes nine days later. Many of the big names who will head to the Grand…
James Stephens : “stoked” to be raising money for mental health
James Stephens has already got his sights set on a second half marathon after raising more than $4000 for the Mental Health Foundation at Queenstown over the weekend. The 24-year-old, who’s well known as the strapper for pacing star Self Assured, completed his first half marathon in two hours 17 minutes and six seconds. “I knew it was going to be a long way and I got a little bit tired but it was a lot of fun and I met a lot of really nice people,” Stephens says. But…