South Coast Arden does best in a titanic struggle

Iron horse South Coast Arden had to call on all his reserves tonight when coming back from being headed in the straight by his harness racing rival Self Assured and Mark Purdon in the (Gr2)Auckland Co-Op Taxi City Of Auckland FFA at Alexandra Park.

In a race where the two favourites were lead and parked for the entire race, South Coast Arden looked set for second place after a titanic home straight war that saw the parked horse Self Assured narrowly get his head in front with 100m to go.

South Coast Arden (Somebeachsomewhere) was not to be denied and fought back bravely after some urging from driver Brent Mangos to take the decision by a head at the line.

“Marks horse put a head on me halfway down, but he has kicked back great,” driver Brent Magos said after the race.

“He is a great stayer and a good front runner actually,” he said.

Earlier in the night the fillies Young Gun Heat 2 was taken out by the Steve and Amanda Telfer trained Kahlua Flybye (Bettor’s Delight)

Kahlua Flybye trailed all the way and zipped up the passing lane for driver Peter Ferguson to win the race in a quick 1-56.9 mile rate.

The colts and geldings Young Guns Heat was even faster with the winner Merlin (Art Major) and driver Zachary Butcher getting a nose decision over Seve and Tony Herlihy in a mile rate of 1-56.5 for the 1700m event.

View the Auckland results click here!

Harnesslink Media