By Michael Guerin If Friday night’s Avon City Ford New Brighton Cup is anything to go by we are in for a great spring of build-ups to the New Zealand Cup. The open class pace on a stacked Addington card has drawn a field of 16 headlined by the return of B D Joe and Republican Party against in-form recent winners Anything Goes, Mossdale Ben, Macandrew Aviator and American Me. That is a huge field for this stage of spring and when you consider the southern open class ranks are…
Author: NZHarnessNews
Big opening weekend for Blue September
Harness Racing New Zealand’s Blue September campaign has got off to a fast start, with over $7000 raised over the opening weekend. This is the third year that HRNZ has been involved, with 12 ambassadors, each wearing their distinctive blue pants, raising money for the Prostate Cancer Foundation every time they win a race during the month. HRNZ and clubs donate $100 per win and each driver has their own sponsors and supporters as well. Six of the 12 drivers managed to get wins between Friday and Sunday with Jonny…
One-on-one with Nicky Chilcott
Greg O’Connor goes One-On-One with Nicky Chilcott – the only NZ female to have trained & driven 500+ winners.
Kaikoura gearing up for its biggest days of the year
One of harness racing’s most iconic meetings is about to get bigger, busier and faster. The two-day Kaikoura meeting will be held at the picturesque South Bay racecourse on October 29 and 30. Normally the Sunday meeting is a lower key six-race affair that leads into Monday’s big Cup meeting, which is also Marlborough Anniversary day. But this year things are going to be different, with an eight race Fast 10 meeting confirmed for the opening day. The concept, devised and owned by Glenn Hames and Tony Russell (Quick Horse…
Encipher upsets in the Eureka
By Adam Hamilton The lone mare in the race, from a harness racing backwater and bred by a hobbyist won the world’s richest harness race at Menangle last night. Encipher was bred at Kadina, a South Australian town just over 5000 people, and only got into the field for the $2.1mil TAB Eureka a few weeks back when another SA-owned pacer, Cobber, succumbed to injury. She’s trained in Victoria, but very proudly the flew the SA flag last night. Along with Linke’s role, Encipher raced in the strongly SA-based slot…
Talented field of juvenile trotters to clash at Ashburton
By Jonny Turner If trial form is anything to go by, Sunday’s two-year-old trot at Ashburton will be a form race of the future. After burning up the trials track recently, several talented debutantes will go head-to-head in a 1700m dash. Among them is the Brad Williamson trained first starter, Kracka Looka. The two-year-old will be out to complete a treble for Williamson and his owners, the All Things Harness Racing group. The combination produced two wins at Winton on Friday with Krackaling and Classic Mission both running to victories.…
The Falcon and Laver give Dunns strong hand at Addington
By Michael Guerin Spring may finally be here but harness trainer Geoff Dunn says it comes with some unwelcome issues. Like the one that saw his talented pacer The Falcon flop so dramatically at Addington last week. Dunn and his son James train two of the rugged open class performers in Canterbury pacing, the other being Laver, and thought they were set to win The Falcon’s comeback race last week until he stopped like he had hit quicksand. “We got him home and found he was all full gunk and…
Biggest test so far for South Coast Arden
By Adam Hamilton Former star Kiwi pacer South Coast Arden gets his first crack at a serious Aussie race in Saturday night’s $150,000 Group 1 Len Smith Mile at Menangle. And what a support race it will be to the $2.1mil TAB Eureka. Despite South Coast Arden’s impressive start to his Aussie career with Paul Fitzpatrick, he is a $12 shot from gate three in a very strong Len Smith field. He has firmed from $15 since markets first opened on Tuesday. South Coast Arden has won six of eight…
Alta Wiseguy faces tough handicap at Alexandra Park tonight
By Michael Guerin Trainer Steve Telfer takes two of his best pacers to Alexandra Park tonight but expects one of his other stable reps to beat them. The reigning premiership-winning trainer brings open class star Alta Wiseguy back to start his New Zealand Cup campaign in Race 7 tonight in which he also lines up Kahlua Flybye and Fernleigh Cash. While Alta Wiseguy and Kahlua Flybye are both Group 1 performers Telfer says logic and fitness suggest Fernleigh Cash is the better bet. “Alta Wiseguy is a class horse and…
The draw’s out for the $2.1m Eureka
By Adam Hamilton The big guns will start side-by-side in the world’s richest harness race in Sydney on Saturday night. In a lovely twist in today’s barrier draw, Leap To Fame (gate 13), Catch A Wave (12) and Captain Ravishing (11) drew out wide together. Importantly, all four emergencies are drawn inside them meaning they will start from nine, eight and seven respectively. All 10 runners start from the front row in the $2.1mil TAB Eureka over 2400m at Menangle on Saturday night. The preferential barrier draw conditions meant the…