Race replays of the week – Million-dollar race headlines world action

On North American harness racing tracks it’s all about speed over a mile trip, in Australia it’s a mix of both standing start and mobile features across a range of track sizes, in New Zealand it could be about an extreme two-mile contest or a grass track race featuring non-race winners and in Europe the champion trotter is celebrated as a king of the track.

In Harnesslink Race Replays of the Week we bring you a snapshot into the very best contests from around the harness racing tracks of the world.

NEW ZEALAND REPLAY

Bruce Stewart reported on the million dollar The Race By Grins on Friday. The much-anticipated event didn’t disappoint either with a fantastic last furlong struggle between two of the most impressive pacers in the country taking place. In the end the Purdon / Phelan trained Merlin weaved a little bit more magic over the final stages to take the win from a game Don’t Stop Dreaming. A sign of the quality of the race was the superb NZ record posted by the winner.

AUSTRALIAN REPLAY (NZ FEATURE) 

Brad Reid covered the TAB Trot feature from Cambridge on Friday night. While the race was run on New Zealand soil you could have been mistaking for thinking it was an Australian feature – the Aussie brigade outperformed their Kiwi rivals all over the Cambridge track. Just Believe, a world traveler and class act proved too strong, lifting over the concluding stages to take the event in great style.

USA REPLAY 

Steve Wolf covered the first appearance of 2024 for the impressive Little Rocket Man recently with the son of Rockin Image not letting down supporters that had waited for the star to reappear this year. A 1.51.2 effort being enough to take out the Louis Gossett, Jr. Memorial, an Open-Handicap Pace. You can watch the action below.

CANADIAN REPLAY

Nicholas Barnsdale covered another big bite from the irrepressible Shark Week on Saturday. The son of Vertical Horizon certainly knows how to make a statement and so it proved again with a 1.52.2 overall time enough to spread the field in the Preferred at Century Downs. Shark Week has a long streak of wins at the track to his name – he literally owns the Preferred with 17 straights victories.

We’ll be back in seven days time with more race replays of the week

by Harnesslink Media