By Jonny Turner Brookies Player gets the perfect chance to break back into the winner’s circle at Ascot Park on Wednesday. The six-year-old plummets down in grade into a very winnable race for trainers Ross and Chris Wilson in Race 3, Selling Call Craig At Harcourts Mobile Pace (4.37pm). To take advantage of it, Brookies Player must turn around a run of being out of the money since September of last year. The nine race winner and $1.60 favourite looks a big chance of doing just that given the pacer…
Category: Harness
New export fee from June 1, 2025
An export fee is being introduced for New Zealand horses heading to China. Harness Racing New Zealand advises a fee of $300 plus GST per horse will be effective from June 1, 2025. From January 1, 2026 the full export fee will apply. “The fee has largely been introduced to offset the administration costs involved in processing these transactions, ” says HRNZ’s Head of Racing and Wagering Matthew Peden. In recent years around 80 New Zealand horses have been exported to China annually. The fees will be collected by the…
Stars to shine under Friday Night Lights
By Michael Guerin Alexandra Park awakens from its summer slumber this Friday as some of the biggest names come to town for the first major northern meeting of 2025. As the countdown to the Harness Million meeting, the $1m Race by Betcha and even further afield the Rowe Cup begins, a mixture of young and old stars will make their way to The Park. Auckland Cup winner Republican Party returns in the Lincoln Farms Founders Cup, facing the outside draw as well as Mo’unga, Chase A Dream, big summer mover…
Mike Ross one to watch fresh up at Manawatu
A nine race card at Manawatu today kicks off another busy harness racing week, with eight meetings between today and Sunday. Auckland on Friday will see Heat 2 of the $16,000 Metro Trotters and Pacers Series ahead of the $35,000 final at Alexandra Park on March 21 as well as the Group 3 $40,000 Greenland Cup Handicap Trot, the Group 2 $70,000 Caduceus Club Ladyship Stakes for the 3YO Fillies, the $60,000 Group 2 Alabar 3YO Classic and the $40,000 Group 3 Founders Cup. As part of Friday Night Lights…
Tact McLeod presses claims for The Race
By Adam Hamilton Wanted – a slot in the $1 million Race by Betcha at Cambridge on Friday, April 4. That’s the call from Tact McLeod’s driver and caretaker trainer Anthony Butt after the emerging Kiwi pacer ran a slashing third in Saturday night’s stellar Miracle Mile behind Don Hugo. “That’s where we want to go,” Butt said. “It would be a perfect race for him with his gate speed around the Cambridge track. “I’m so proud of how well he’s stepped into the big league with those big runs…
Mitchell takes out West Coast double at big odds
By Dave Di Somma, Harness News Desk Heading into the West Coast circuit Mid Canterbury trainer David Mitchell thought Deceptive Lee was his best chance of victory. As it turned out the best he could manage was one third while unfancied stablemate Sinai Sermon won at Westport on Friday and then again at Reefton yesterday, both at big odds. “To be honest I didn’t back him either day, usually I put something on as an interest,” says Mitchell, “I would have at Westport but didn’t get to the tote on…
Breckons and Dalgety win at Rural Sports Awards
The Breckons were winners even before Friday night’s Ford New Zealand Rural Sports awards got underway in Palmerston North. A number of high profile harness racing figures were at the annual awards at Awapuni Racecourse with Ken and Karen Breckon being named joint winner of the TAB Outstanding Contribution to New Zealand Rural Sports Awards and young gun Carter Dalgety winning Fonterra Rural Young Sportsperson of the year. History-making driver Sam Ottley, the first woman to rein 100 winners in this country in a 12 month season, also made the…
First Group win for Faithful at Ascot Park
By Jonny Turner Chelsea Faithful took her training career to another level when Ideal Crown dug in to win the Group 3 Caduceus Club and Alabar Fillies Classic at Ascot Park on Saturday. Both horse and trainer were having their first starts in Group company and for Ideal Crown it was her first test of any kind under the pressures of raceday. And amid a highly competitive feature event, both Ideal Crown and Faithful produced the perfect result. “It is unreal, it was sort of a dream and for it…
Tomlinson after more success at Reefton
By Mike Love After achieving win number 300 in the sulky at Westport on Friday, in-form Canterbury driver Sheree Tomlinson will be looking for more success at Reefton today. Tomlinson drove a double on Friday, bringing up her milestone win on a horse she also part owns in Rosary, trained by Ken Ford and Amanda Tomlinson. “I wasn’t expecting it to be on her (Rosary). She was disappointing at Addington in the start before, and I wasn’t even really going to bring her over but there was space on the…
Hidden Talent looking to overcome big mark in trotting feature at Invercargill
By Jonny Turner If she can continue her winning run at Ascot Park on Saturday, Hidden Talent will complete a long path back to Group 1 racing. The mare will be out to make it four consecutive wins when she starts the short-priced favourite in the Northern Southland Trotting Club’s feature trot, the Mark Jones/Gordon Sutherland Memorial Handicap Trot (4.07pm). Hidden Talent last headed to Addington to compete at Group 1 level in December of 2022 when she was as a three-year-old. Though her form has fluctuated since then,…