Aussie pacer claims NZ record in Group One win

Aussie pacer Majestic Cruiser has turned the tables on his harness racing rivals by winning tonight’s (Gr1) NZ Messenger at Alexandra Park.

After getting beaten narrowly by kiwi champ Self Assured in the $900,000 The Race by Grins two weeks ago, Majestic Cruiser came from well back in the field tonight to grab a deserved victory over Self Assured in New Zealand record time.

Australian driver Cameron Hart gave the son of Art Major a good run back on the outer in the race and when produced in the straight he was too fast for his opposition winning by one and a half lengths.

“It’s a pretty big thrill,” Hart said after the race.

“I have been saying for a while Jason (Grimson) is the best trainer in Australia and through the week he has put in a lot of hard work with the horse to get him to go this way around, a few gear changes have done the trick.”

“He wasn’t disgraced last week and he only just got beaten a couple of lengths by the best horses here and I knew if we could get him to go his best tonight he would be hard to beat,” he said.

Majestic Cruiser paced the 2700m in a new New Zealand record time of 3-13.1, a mile rate of 1-55.1.

Self Assured was a game second after being attacked during the race and setting up the quick time and A G’s White Socks ran home well for third.

View the Auckland results click here!

Harnesslink Media