By Michael Guerin Champion trainer Barry Purdon may not have had the Queensland Derby night experience he was planning on a few months ago but his Saturday night at Albion Park came with a bonus. Purdon was planning to take Northern Derby winner Merlin to the Queensland carnival but those plans changed with the outstanding young pacer was sidelined in the autumn. That meant he missed not only the Queensland Derby won so brilliantly by The Lost Storm on Saturday night but the Rising Sun won dramatically by Leap To…
Author: NZHarnessNews
The big “moments” that helped Katie Cox
by Rob Courtney Katie Cox is forever grateful to Paul Corkran when the longtime owner-breeder-trainer decided to get out of the horses and sell his Leeston property. That was about six years ago. Those decisions led to Cox acquiring, among others, Stay A Moment (Armbro Invasion – Nakura), Love A Moment (Love You – Stay A Moment) and recent Addington winner Spy Da Moment. Stay A Moment was in foal to Majestic Son, Love A Moment was broken in as a 4yo but was untried and Spy Da Moment, who’s…
Aussie News – July 24
By Adam Hamilton Brilliant three-year-old The Lost Storm’s TAB Eureka chances have soared on all levels. Not only did he win the Group 1 Queensland Derby by half the straight, but the two biggest guns (outside of him) in the TAB Eureka – Leap To Fame and Catch A Wave – suffered shock defeats. Defeat was never likely for The Lost Storm who worked to the front and won without being extended by 16.5m in a slick 1min55.2sec mile rate for 2680m. He ripped home in 54.2 and 27.1sec. And…
Ruby a Delight for McDermott at Addington
By Jonny Turner John McDermott would love a stable full of Ruby’s A Delights. The veteran mare made it career win number eight in her 101st start at Addington on Sunday. McDermott describes his six-year-old as a great trying pacer who gives it her all every time she steps out on to the track. That was evident in her win on Sunday as Ruby’s A Delight kept winding up in the home straight to fight off a wave of attackers for driver Ricky May. “She is just one of those…
Swayzee NZ Cup bound after huge Queensland win
By Adam Hamilton Next (big) stop New Zealand. That’s Jason Grimson’s plan with his latest pacing star Swayzee after upstaging Queensland sensation Leap To Fame in last night’s $400,000 Group 1 Blacks A Fake (2680m) at Albion Park. “The New Zealand Cup is the target … that’s the next big one,” Grimson said. “It actually was before tonight because he’s such a great stayer this horse. He’s actually not that fast, but he can just keep rolling along. “I’m not sure what we’ll do before then or even if we’ll…
Faithful with two chances to register first Addington win
By Jonny Turner Chelsea Faithful is hoping to go one better than last year with her two starters at Addington on Sunday. The Southland trainer trekked north for the corresponding meeting in 2022 and she was only just denied her first Addington win when Vin Scully went down by the barest of margins. With no racing in Southland until later next month, it made sense to target Sunday’s meeting with Tartan Raider, who has only had a handful of starts back from a spell. “He had only had three or…
American Me topples hotpot in impressive win
By Michael Guerin There is no point asking Brent White how he and son Tim rejuvenate horses like Friday night’s surprise Addington winner American Me. Because the Ashburton trainer says there is no special training regime or techniques that have made them one of those stables punters always look twice at these days. “We just pat them and work them, that’s about it,” jokes Brent. The father and son team prepared American Me for his second win in his last three starts courtesy of a lovely Sarah O’Reilly drive in…
Paul the patient painter gets reward at Cambridge
By Michael Guerin Trainer Paul Green liked his maiden pacer Margherita so much he refused to work her for a year. That patience paid off when the five-year-old got her first win at just her second start at Cambridge on Thursday, although that win came 21 months after her first start. “I am a persistent bugger,” laughed Green after only his second winner in the last eight years of training. Green wasn’t even the original trainer of Margherita as she went to the races way back in October 2021 from…
O’Reilly going for three peat in Darren DeFilippi Memorial Trot
by Dave Di Somma, Harness News Desk The Darren DeFilippi Memorial Trot is the race every junior driver wants to win more than any other. And tonight Sarah O’Reilly is gunning for a hat-trick of victories with southern trotter Gift Card, following on from her successes in the past two years with Fighting Fire and The Bloss. “I’ve been very lucky and very honoured to win it.” A highly promising young horseman, Darren DeFilippi died in a car crash in 1995, at just 19 years old. Tonight will be the…
Aardie’s Addington return – “she is ready to race”
By Michael Guerin A handicap race in the middle of winter may seem a strange assignment for one of the forgotten excitement machines of New Zealand racing to resume her career in but Aardie’s Express has simply run out of trials rivals to keep her ticking over. The winner of eight of her nine career starts has been sidelined since last September but returns off a 30m handicap in tonight’s $15,000 main pace at Addington. “We detected a small fracture in her cannon bone last year but we were lucky…