Category: Punting

By Jonny Turner Wayne Adams heads to Winton on Sunday with two solid winning hopes – or in other words, most of his racing team. Adams doesn’t have the numbers he once did in his Ascot Park stable, but the horseman who has churned out a line of outstanding pacers still has a bit of quality to work with. Few would have missed the outstanding last-start performance of Forever Arden, who made a huge recovery from an early break to run second at Wyndham last week. Adams is hopeful of…

By Michael Guerin On face value Addington’s iconic Show Day meeting yesterday looked like any other major race meeting. It was anything but. Peruse the results and you would see superstar trainers Mark and Nathan Purdon trained the winners of both the $300,000 Dominion with Oscar Bonavena and the $200,000 New Zealand Pacing Free-For-All with Self Assured. Nothing unusual in that, after all they trained two Group 1 winners on Tuesday too and usually pick up a couple at our major meetings. That fact Oscar Bonavena finally won one of…

By Jonny Turner Nathan Purdon could only think of one person when Oscar Bonavena swept past his rivals to win the Group 1 Dominion at Addington on Show Day. The injury-plagued trotter was at his scintillating best when unleashing an incredible burst of speed to win the most sought-after prize in New Zealand trotting. Oscar Bonavena was raced by the patriarch of the Purdon harness racing dynasty, champion trainer the late Roy Purdon, until his death in February of last year. Nathan Purdon, who trains the speedster in partnership with…

By Mike Love  Oamaru trainer Phil Williamson was pleased but by no means surprised when Empire City was simply too good for her rivals in yesterday’s listed Macca Lodge Sires’ Stakes Fillies Classique at Ashburton. “The draw was my main concern. But I’m scared of nothing as far as the fillies go. She’s as good as any of them,” said Williamson. The Volstead filly had to avoid an early galloper at the dispatch before settling at the rear for driver Ricky May. May eased off the rail at the 1000m,…

By Jonny Turner It didn’t start as the perfect preparation but it will be if Southland trotter Smokin Bandar enters harness racing’s history books at Addington on Show Day. Southland-trained trotters have been unable to make their mark in the Dominion in the modern era, but Smokin Bandar gets the chance to buck that trend on Friday. When the flashy grey battled to match it with a middling bunch of Brisbane’s best trotters during a Queensland winter campaign, he didn’t exactly look on track to be a major threat to…

By Brigette Solomon Minutes after Show Day racing at Addington concludes, The Thames Country Cups meeting gets underway at Cambridge Raceway. The two feature races of the night are Race 5, 7.59pm The Dunstan Thames Trotters Cup and Race 7, 8:51pm The IRT Thames Pacers Cup. Michelle Wallis and Bernie Hackett bring two horses to compete for the Dunstan Thames Trotters Cup over 2200m, Kiwitrix and Melsadele. The latter was somewhat unlucky in her last start after being held up in the final stages to finish fourth at Alexandra Park…

Show Day is another massive day at Addington, highlighted by the three Group 1s – the Renwick Farms Dominion Trot, the Dunstan Horse Feeds Sires’ Stakes Series Final for the 2YO Fillies, and the Airpark Canterbury NZ Pacing Free For All. To help out Michael Guerin has selected his five of the best. 1: Muscle Mountain (R9, No.15): Adding pull-down blinds to his gear seems to have super charged his already impressive motor. Traffic looks his biggest concern. 2: Akuta (R11, No.1): The Cup runner-up looked a great chance in…