By Dave Di Somma, Harness News Desk
Santanna Mach is the very essence of the 1980s Tourism New Zealand slogan : “Don’t Leave Home Until You’ve Seen The Country”
The grand old campaigner lined up for start number 224 at Westport this evening in the BP2GO Westport Team Teal Pace, finishing seventh with Rapid Response winning for Sam Ottley, her third victory for the day.
In doing so he completed a truly remarkable feat. The 11-year-old has now raced at every active harness racing course around the country and even at some that are now no longer going. In total he’s raced at 31 different venues.
Michael House has been his only trainer and clearly holds the veteran pacer in the highest regard.
“This is quite novel what he’s done,” says House, “and he’s touched a lot people’s lives along the way.”
House only became aware of Santanna Mach’s incredible record late last year. He worked out that of all the tracks in the country the only other ones missing on the CV were Blenheim, Omakau (Central Otago) and Westport.
He then hatched a plan.
House took Santanna Mach to Omakau on January 2, finishing second, followed up by an eighth at Waterlea Raceway in Blenheim on January 17.
That left Westport as the only racecourse left. And now that’s been ticked off too, with Kimberly Butt driving him for the first time.
She’s the 39th individual driver to have guided the horse since his debut in 2016!
Leading junior driver Wilson House has had the most drives with Santanna Mach and it was one of their wins, at Addington in 2023, that stands out for his father.
“He really launched him … it was a daring drive and it was at the stage when Wilson hadn’t done much and I was very proud of both the horse and Wilson.”
Wilson House’s 100th driving win was Santanna Mach’s 20th. At the time Wilson described him as a “pretty cool old horse”.
Bred and raced by retired Whakatane accountant John Rennie, Santanna Mach didn’t win the marquee races though he was the Country Cups king for a while, winning at places like Otaki and Tauherenikau as well as closer to home.
Under-rated by many, when he won his 21st race in December last year at Rangiora he still paid $36.70 for the win.
“He’s very easy to train but difficult to get right – he runs his own races,” says Michael House.
The fact that he’s won races every year from 2018 to 2024 is a testament to this longevity and attitude.
With harness racing planned for Taupo (January 26 2026) Santanna Mach’s jaunt around the country might not be finished yet.
“He’s been everywhere so why wouldn’t I?”
Santanna Mach :
Career record : 224 starts for 21 wins
39 different race day drivers
They are : (from most to least drives) :
Wilson House 58
Blair Orange 39
Sam Ottley 19
Sarah O’Reilly 14
Jimmy Curtin 10
Kirstin Green 9
Nathan Delany 7
Sam Thornley 7
Michael House 6
Benjamin Butcher 4
Colin DeFilippi 4
Todd Mitchell 4
Kerryn Tomlinson 3
Ricky May 3
Zev Meredith 3
Alicia Harrison 2
Crystal Hackett 2
Daniel Anderson 2
Dexter Dunn 2
John Morrison 2
Jordyn Bublitz 2
Kim Blakemore 2
Robbie Holmes 2
Tyler Dewe 2
Zachary Butcher 2
Alan Edge 1
Andre Poutama 1
Barry White 1
Ben Laughton 1
David Butcher 1
Dylan Ferguson 1
Kimberly Butt 1
Luke Whittaker 1
Matthew White 1
Matthew Williamson 1
Peter Ferguson 1
Sailesh Abernethy 1
Steph Burley 1
Tony Cameron 1
