Category: Punting

By Michael Guerin Driving legend Ricky May says only one thing stands between Beach Ball and becoming a player on the open class scene: standing start tapes. The four-year-old produced the performance of the night at Addington on Friday night when he came from last with a surging run over the last lap to crush his opposition before the top of the straight. It was ninth win of his 34 start career and May thinks he may have gone where no other driver has before. “I’m pretty sure I am…

Ashburton Trotting Club are set for a great day of racing on Monday with their Magic Monday race day. We have created and put together a comprehensive form guide for you which includes, selections, previews and the fields. You can download it here

Top horse woman, trainer, driver and ex show jumper has been surprisingly diagnosed with an aggressive form of lung cancer (primarily effecting young female non smokers) after going to the doctor a month ago for a cough and initially being prescribed antibiotics. Katie is only 33 years old and this has come as a shock to her and all that know her. The only option at this stage is to use the private healthcare system to access the specific targeted drugs that are having very good success overseas managing this…

By Michael Guerin The money Kourtney Kardash earned winning at Alexandra Park on Thursday night was spent before she had even made it back to the winner’s circle. Because trainer Shane Butcher and driver Monika Ranger, who owns the mare on lease, have had something even bigger to celebrate in the last week. The popular couple have bought their first house with the deal only recently finalised and while they are thrilled to get on the property ladder anybody who has their first mortgage knows, spare cash becomes a thing…

By Michael Guerin Trainer Cran Dalgety is worried about a host of tricky starting points for his team at Addington tonight. So he warns punters even though most of those he and wife Chrissie take to headquarters tonight are good enough to win they should be treated with caution. “We have copped a lot of bad draws and even have Casino Action (R4, No.11) having his first standing start, so we could have a few starting issues tonight,” says the in-form trainer. Team Dalgety begin their night with two of…

The Tuapeka Harness Racing Club bring their annual Cup Day race meeting back to Ascot Park Raceway in Invercargill this Sunday, 22 October. This is the third year the club has raced in Invercargill and the meeting has proved very popular with good crowds attending to enjoy a mix of great racing allied with plenty of free activity for the children making it an ideal day out for the entire family. The feature race is the $20,000 Tuapeka Lodge Cup Handicap Pace over 2700m timed to start at 3.45pm. For…

Here’s Greg O’Connor with the latest Addington News. 

How fitting it is that Ian Dobson’s life will be celebrated at the Christian Cullen Lounge at Addington Raceway today. The man, known by all as “Dobbie”, died on his 90th birthday on Monday. At 10.30am his extraordinary life will be celebrated, with the harness racing community expected to turn out in big numbers. Dobson’s death brings to a close one of the most spectacular ownership chapters in harness racing – he won 385 races in New Zealand alone, with 73 individual winners, including 31 at the very highest Group…

By Michael Guerin Fresh from claiming one of our elite juvenile prizes trainers Barry Purdon and Scott Phelan launch another wave at Alexandra Park tonight. The Clevedon barn won the Harness Million juvenile boys pace for the second year on end when Cold Chisel took out the $200,000 final at Addington last Friday, a year after Merlin won the race for the same owner Dean Shannon. “It was a good win because he only had the one lead-up run and while he got the right run I think there isn’t…

Improved stakes will be a feature of the Manawatu Harness Racing Club’s new 2023-24 season that kicks off with a six-race meeting on Labour Day (Monday). In all there will be 12 meetings at the club’s Palmerston North track between now and March 28, 2024. “We sought a lot of feedback, especially from northern trainers, to see what we could do to improve our fields and the recurring theme was to increase stakes – so that’s exactly what we have done,” says Manawatu HRC president Dan Lynch. “With the Entain…