Ferguson/Rogerson team ready to rumble at Cambridge Raceway

North Island harness racing heads south of the Bombay Hill’s top Cambridge on Thursday night (Sep. 8) with the promise of some even fields and exciting betting races.

And while the Waikato meeting may be void of some of the star power we have seen at Alexandra Park in recent weeks, only one of the eleven races on the programme has an odds-on favourite at the time of writing which from a punting perspective should see some interesting racing.

The Graeme Rogerson & Dylan Ferguson barn won’t have far to travel and take with them a tidy team of eight runners to Cambridge Raceway where they have picked up nine of their 11 winners this season.

Dylan Ferguson might not be in the cart for driving duties tonight, but should be kept busy with his stable charges and took some time out of his busy schedule to rate their chances below:

“I’m suspended at the moment, so I thought I’d give dad a nice drive for a change,” he laughed.

UNICO GEM (Roll With Joe – Unico Rose) | Race 2, #6

“She is probably a bit one-dimensional and has to race on the pace because she lacks a bit of speed. I would have preferred a better draw and a shorter distance but that’s her grade, I think she’s had two starts in the amateur races for a win and a third. Hopefully, with a bit of luck, she won’t be too far away from them at the finish.

LUKA DONCIC (Always B Miki – Cougar Bromac) | Race 3, #11

“We’ve always thought he would be all right, but he’s always been very big and weak and taken a bit of time. It was probably a bit of a trainer error in giving him those couple of trials at Pukekohe and I backed him up a week about and it knocked him around quite a bit. I backed off him and waited until he was ready to go, and we really only put him in that race instead of going to the workouts. He seems to be getting better every time we put him in the cart, and I don’t think we are going to see the best of him even for the next six months, but he has a bit of upside and should be competitive tonight.

HIGH POINT (Bettor’s Delight – Class Above) & JACCKA COOPER (A Rocknroll Dance – On Jackka)
Race 6, #3 & #4

“They are the old campaigners of the stable who like to go round most weeks.

“High Point’s forte is her standing start manners, and the mobile will spring her back to a level playing field a bit. Jaccka Cooper can turn it on on his day, but it just depends on what horse turns up for the pair of them really.

I’LLAVEABUBBLES (Always B Miki – Delightful Dale) | Race 7, #8

“She always tries really hard, and she just can’t pull a trick with the barrier draws at the moment. Even at her last start she came from barrier seven and only just went down narrowly. Probably tomorrow night I can’t see her finding the front, but I think you’ll find when she strikes a good draw, she will be winning one real quick and I can’t fault her attitude or work.

LOUTENAT (Sweet Lou) – Emeli Maguire) Race 9, #3

“We’ve always had quite a good opinion of him and to be honest I was probably surprised he took as long as he did to win a race only getting one at his last start. If ever he was getting better, it’s now. He looks good; he’s barely got a winter coat and he’s just getting better and better every time we put the hopples on him and I think you’ll see an even better horse tomorrow night.

GAZ MAN (Majestic Son – Topnotch Dream) | Race 10, #10

“He’s back from a bit of a freshen up when pulling up crook after his last start at Auckland. We opted to come to Cambridge as possibly an easier option than jumping back into the deep end at Alexandra Park as his first run back. He’s got the ability and while left-handed probably isn’t his forte, he gets around it and gets better every time. I really think it could be a race between the two back markers. He’s got to do everything right which will be the key to his chances and if he does, I think he will be hard to beat.

HOLYROOD (Bettor’s Delight – Eyre To The Throne) Race 11, #1

“She’s dealt with injury problems her whole life and I was starting to wonder whether this prep she had had enough and was calling out for the broodmare paddock, but then she popped up and surprised us and won her last start.

“She has got a good draw and will race handily on the speed again and she tries hard. But as I said I think her injuries have curtailed her career quite a lot. She is going to be put in foal this season and it would be nice if she could pick up another win or two before then. I can’t see why she couldn’t run in the top three tomorrow night.

DYNAMITE DEZ (Sunshine Beach – Courtney Cass) Race 5, #1
Dylan’s partner, Jo Stevens trained runner

“He’s had his fair share of problems over the course of his life. For his owners and Jo, it would be nice to see him go a good race and he is going to get his chance tomorrow from a good draw. He’s got to stay handy but he’s capable and would be great to see him fighting out the finish.

For complete race entries, click here.

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The Rogerson/Ferguson partnership has been kept busy over the winter months with a solid team of homebreds and yearling sales purchases to educate and that system may have unearthed a potential star in the two-year-old trotting filly, Shez Bella (Pegasus Spur).

She was excellent in winning her debut run at Cambridge in August where she beat the highly touted Regal Girl (What the Hill) on her merits.

Her first look at Alexandra Park a week ago in a two-year-old and older race was littered with some of the other well-credentialed juvenile trotters and after working overtime for the first lap in front was gallant in running second.

“She went super in doing all the donkey work and just got beat by Regal Girl with the cold shot on her. She’s shown plenty of potential so far, so hopefully, she can carry it on.

“The Group One two-year-old fillies race is our only goal for her at this stage because she isn’t paid up for much being homebred. She has a stakes race at Auckland next week and will then work our way back from the big race at Addington,” said Ferguson.

Shez Bella has plenty to aspire to being a half-sister to the highest assessed trotting mare in the country in She Reigns (Monarchy ).

The winner of 14 races has had a lean season thus far after a massive campaign the previous year in which she was lumped with some massive back marks that possibly took its toll on her in the end. After a nice little freshen-up, fans of the bonny mare can expect to see her back in due course.

“She had a hard year last year and if she comes back to her best then we know she will be competitive, but when she probably raced at her peak for a good 12 months it can be hard to recapture that sort of form.

“As much as she’s been the higher assessed horse race when you’re starting off 40m or 50m in a 15-horse field, I don’t care how good you are, it becomes near on impossible to win. It’s just nice for HRNZ to recognize that and put on a race for the best trotting mares instead of the ones who have the chance to race in the ratings every week.

“She’s not going to be ready for the Jasmyns Gift at Oamaru next week, but we do want to have a look at some of the nice mares’ races that are being programmed,” said Ferguson.

“She has taken a while to come up and we will be looking at the new Group Two race in late November at Addington. For now, we will just stick closer to home and find suitable races.

“She’s the highest rated mare in the country and has next to no opportunity to get any black type without racing off 50m or taking on the open class ones like Sundees Son and Bolt For Brilliance. Hopefully, we can get there, and I don’t think many people would knock her in the fact that she probably deserves to get a bit of black type on the page,” he said.

Both trotting sisters are out of the broodmare gem, Topnotch Dream (Dream Vacation) who has now left four foals for four winners in an impressive start to her stud career for her owner, Graeme Rogerson.

As a race mare, she was good enough to win nice races and run second to her stablemate, Chocolate Brownie, in the three-year-old sales series final. She also lined up in the New Zealand Trotting Derby before heading to Menangle and running a 1.57-mile rate and is now passing that ability onto her foals.

“She’s left Shez Bella now and Gaz Man too who held a New Zealand record at one stage. We’ve had a Majestic Son weanling that we’ve had a trotting round in the cart for a couple of days and she is starting to become a wee bit of a gem. She’s left some very nice horses don’t get me wrong, but she hasn’t left a real top liner yet, we are hoping it might be Shez Bella, and either way, we think she will make a nice horse that’s for sure,” said Ferguson.

Topnotch Dream isn’t the only breeding venture for the stable with Graeme Rogerson incredibly passionate about that side of the sport through his first love of thoroughbreds.

“Graeme loves breeding full stop really, he’s got his thoroughbred stallion whom he is breeding 40 or so mares to every year. He really loves the breeding side of things, and we are pretty well on the same page with the standardbreds whereby the mares are well bred, and we are of the belief that if we put them to a nice stallion, you would like to think your giving yourself a reasonable chance to produce a nice horse out of it.

“We are starting to add one or two to the broodmare band every year now. To start with we just had the three mares, Class Above, Topnotch Dream, and Banana Smoothie. Last year we added Miss Slippers, True Believer, and Splitting Image to that. This year it’s looking like Holyrood and High Point will be added to the band also.

“We like to think we have given the mares every chance and the last couple of years we have put all our trotting mares to Majestic Son and this year we are going to be supporting What The Hill with them. Hopefully, we can keep striking gold with some of them,” he said.

The satisfaction that comes from breeding and rearing young horses through to realizing their potential isn’t lost on Ferguson who despite being a young fella as far as most in the harness demographic would go, has started to feel his age a bit as he now educates progeny that is from the third generation of some of the breeds.

“I do take quite a lot of satisfaction from breeding them and it makes you realise how old you’re getting when I won a race with the likes of Banana Smoothie, I won a race on all of her progeny, and now Splitting Image who is out of the mare is starting to leave foals, “he laughed.

“It’s good having any winner, but most of the horses we have got in work now are products of the work I have done since I have started back with Rogey from the sales or one we have bred so most of the team we have had since they were young and it’s great watching them develop and going on to be racehorses,” he said.

by Brad Reid, for Harnesslink