By Jonny Turner Franco Marek has a big reputation that could increase tenfold with victory in the Timaru Summer Cup on Saturday. The towering pacer returns to racing for the first time since May when stepping out on a big day of racing at Phar Lap Raceway for trainer Greg Manson and driver John Morrison. Whether he is good enough to win is probably not the biggest question punters must ask themselves if they are going to side with Franco Marek. Highly impressive in his short career, fitness is the…
Author: NZHarnessNews
Hotpot Hot And Treacherous too good
By Michael Guerin Hot And Treacherous made it back into the winner’s circle for the first time this campaign at Alexandra Park on Friday but that pathway is about to get a lot steeper. Because in a surprise move, and bonus for the Alexandra Park Christmas carnival, dual New Zealand Cup winner Copy That will return to Alexandra Park next Friday. Trainer Ray Green has confirmed the last-start Cup winner is set to race next week and then twice more at Alexandra Park on December 16 and New Year’s Eve…
Dunns head new Seddon trainers’ championship
Robert and Jenna Dunn have taken the early lead in the new Seddon District Harness Racing Group Trainers’ Championship. The championship, with a prize pool of $10,000, is designed to encourage trainers to bring their horses to the top half of the South Island over the next few months. In all there will be eleven days of racing, with trainers needing to have starters at six of the 11 days to be eligible for the prizemoney. After the opening meeting of the championship, at Kaikoura, the Dunns lead the way…
Vale Alan Jones
A key figure in the New Zealand standardbred breeding industry Alan Jones has died, just months shy of his 100th birthday. Set on 500 acres (200 hectares) in Balfour in Southland, Kina Craig Stud was set up by Alan Jones and son Ross in 1980 and carried on through to 2016. “For a while we would have been the second biggest stud in the country behind Nevele R,” says Ross Jones, “for the last 10 years we would have had around 200 foals a year. It was a big operation.”…
Abby May breaks three-year drought
By Jonny Turner The little mare that could finally did, with Abby May breaking through for her first victory in three years at Winton yesterday. The evergreen and ever-consistent trotter was finally rewarded for the grit and determination she has shown since her last win at Wyndham in November of 2019 when she scored a front-running victory for trainer Lyndon Durham and driver Mark Hurrell. With only 29 starts to her name, Abby May looks to have plenty of opportunities in front of her despite being firmly placed in the…
Hot And Treacherous looks the goods in Auckland tonight
By Michael Guerin Rarely does a pacer who has been unplaced in two of his last three starts look as good a thing as Hot And Treacherous does at Alexandra Park tonight. Because while driver Maurice McKendry is his conservative self when assessing his chances in tonight’s main pace, the reality is the four-year-old should be way too good for his opponents. Hot And Treacherous has two seconds and two well beaten runs in four starts this campaign but a closer look at his form reveals the huge class edge…
House bookends Manawatu card
By Joshua Smith, Harness News Desk Michael House continued his dominance at Manawatu Raceway on Thursday when posting another five-win haul, while his son Wilson House wasn’t to be outdone, bookending the seven-race meeting for the stable. The Canterbury junior reinsman kicked off the night in winning style for his father when making light work of Break Free’s 40m handicap in the Cartown Handicap Trot (2500m) to record a three-quarter of a length victory. “He did trot really well but went a bit rough coming into the straight, but that…
Timaru hopeful nothing will rain on their parade
There are a lot of fingers being crossed in South Canterbury this week, as the Timaru Harness Racing Club prepares for one of its biggest meetings of the year on Saturday. Of the 10 races on the all-weather track at the Phar Lap Raceway the feature is the $20,000 Tyre General Timaru Summer Cup. “Some overnight rain and a shower in the morning will set the track up nicely for the twilight race meeting” says Club past president Liz Shand, “the rain tends to go around us here …. we…
Whale Watch – Manawatu – today
Craig “The Whale” Thompson looks at Manawatu today.
Campbell’s Cup week Comments – “amazing”
By Dave Di Somma, Harness News Desk He’d heard plenty about it beforehand but visiting harness racing personality Paul Campbell says New Zealand Cup and Show Week far exceeded his own high expectations. “This is how and why you fall in love with harness racing,” he says. The Victorian-based Australian, who has thousands of Facebook and Twitter followers on his harness racing platform Campbell’s Comments, was brought here by Harness Racing New Zealand and NZ Bloodstock to see New Zealand Cup and Show week for himself. During his 10 days…