Derby debut for Hill

Surprisingly Swannanoa harness racing trainer Benny Hill has never had a runner in the New Zealand Derby but tomorrow night that will change when he takes Renegade (Captaintreacherous) to Addington.

“He’s had a great campaign this time. A great lead up for this race and I can’t fault him,” Hill said.

Hill has trained 283 winners and has twelve Group One winners in his résumé, with Carabella and Monkey King having won six each.

“I get out of bed to train Group One winners and this is a race I’d love to win.”

Renegade impressed at his last start, beating quality pacers We Walk By Faith and Chase A Dream. He got too far back in The Velocity though, but powered home for sixth.

“That race (Velocity) didn’t work out the way it should after drawing six. We decided not to burn him off the gate. The race the other night worked out well.”

Renegade draws two of the front row.

“I’d rather have that than nine or thirteen. You can’t be in the Derby with a horse like him and be four fence. It’s an even field and no standout. Chase A Dream is a very good horse but he’s been beaten twice. It’s probably a great year to be in the Derby when there’s no Lazarus’s or stand out $1.30 shot.”

Renegade was bought by Tony Hickman for $47,000 out of the Breckon Farm draft at the 2022 NZB Standardbred Auckland Sales.

“We had the half-sister Double Down and really liked her before selling her. We saw the mare’s (Double Shot) Captaintreacherous colt the following year and we were all over that, so we were definitely going to buy him.”
Owned by Phil and Glenys Kennard, Hickman, John Magness and the Australian based Kirkwood Family, Hill says Renegade is a horse that needs plenty of management.

“He’s been a hard horse and full on. He’s a big boy and we’ve had some issues on the way with his feet and different things, so a lot of work goes into this horse. He is dangerous and he’ll kick and bite you. There are orange cones in front and behind him when he’s at the races to keep people away because he’ll have ya.”

Renegade will be driven by regular pilot Ricky May and the Derby is one of the few feature races the multiple Group winning driver hasn’t won. The closest he got was driving Classie Brigade which ran second to Lazarus in the 2016. And Colonial Anvil filled the same slot when Courage Under Fire won the Derby in 1999.

by Bruce Stewart, for Harnesslink