Second Cup for the Dalgetys

Harness racing driver Carter Dalgety won his first Group One in December 2022 when Krug won the first ever $100,000 Group One Ascot Park Hotel Invercargill Cup.

He repeated the success today at the Invercargill HRC meeting at Ascot Park with Republican Party (Bettor’s Delight), which is trained by his parents Cran and Chrissie Dalgety.

“It’s the best feeling ever really. Krug is my favourite horse of all time and it’s great to come back and do it with this guy. He hasn’t had a Group One before and I always thought he deserved one. To do it in this race, with the crowd and the owners here, it’s fairytale stuff,” Carter said.

After settling back, driver Carter sent the five year old forward taking the lead with two laps to run.

“It was really hard work into the wind in the straight so I didn’t want to do too much. To his credit he just relaxes so beautifully.”

With some of the favourites back and caught in traffic, Dalgety was able to pinch a break at the top of the straight, going on to win by two and a half lengths.

“Yeah, he kicked away really nice. You can never be confident. I knew I had such good horses on my back and I had a lot of respect for them and I thought they would flash late. But he kicked a lot better than I anticipated.”

REPUBLICAN PARTY REPLAY

The winning time of 3-21.1 was just outside Pembrook Playboy’s record of 3-20.2.

The win was his seventh and the first Group One success for Republican Party. He’s now won over a half a million dollars.

For complete race results, click here.

by Bruce Stewart, for Harnesslink