Kiwis dominate Ballarat Cup night

Harness racing is incredibly parochial at the best of times but when the big clashes occur between Australia and our trans Tasman rival New Zealand, the rhetoric tends to get ratcheted up a few notches again.

Last nights Ballarat Cup meeting is a prime example with several mouth watering clashes in the Victoria Derby heats, Australasian Trotting Championship and Ballarat Pacing Cup between the emerging and established stars of harness racing in both countries.

When the dust had settled, the Kiwis had a smile from one ear to the other after they dominated the night results wise.

Outstanding Kiwi three year old Lazarus treated his Derby heat rivals with disdain and showed Australians why he is held in such high regard by the all conquering All Star barn.

While both the other heat winners ran similar time,neither did it in such emphatic fashion and Lazarus will start a very short priced favourite in the $200,000 final next Saturday night.

The West Australian Sprinter was impressive in derby heat three and the Kiwi bred looked the most likely to present a challenge to Lazarus next week.

So two Kiwi bred winners of the three derby heats was not a good start for the locals and it went from bad to worst when the two heats of the Australasian Trotting Championship were run.

First up was star New Zealand trotter Monbet who brained them in the first heat by nearly 20 metres and looks in a different class to his opposition in this series.

Just to rub salt into the wound, the second heat was taken out by another Kiwi bred trotter in One Over Da Moon who did everything right and looks primed for a big effort next week against Monbet.

Lastly the Ballarat Cup was an Australian bred affair with Smolda and Lennytheshark putting on a great show but Smolda would have had plenty of Kiwis smiling as most of his owners, trainer and driver are New Zealanders these days.

The worrying part from an Australian point of view is the invasion is just starting and the reinforcements that will arrive shortly or have just arrived in Australia from New Zealand are genuine stars in their own right in their homeland.

One gets the feeling that Ballarat Cup night may become the norm this season when the Aussies and the Kiwis face off on the track.

Harnesslink Media