A tremendous trotting feature – The Canterbury Park Cup

Quality feature racing continues this week with the running of the Stevie Golding – Harcourts Canterbury Park Cup (Gr 3) at Addington on Friday night.

This is a race that’s produced some fantastic champions in the past with the victors list including some of the finest squaregaiters in New Zealand trotting history. About Now, Basil Dean, and Tussle all have their names engraved on the trophy twice while the great Sundon couldn’t be caught in 1992.  Buster Hanover was burdened with a 30m handicap in 1997 but still proved too good for his rivals while Lyell Creek, that freak of an animal, was the champion of 2000. Anthony Butt then went back-to-back when guiding home Take A Moment the year after in 2001.

Recent victors include Dr Hook who won back-to-back titles in 2010 and 2011, and a master of the track in Master Lavros, who claimed wins in both 2013 and 2015.

This year the race has attracted a field of the finest quality… the main chances?

The field is headlined by Sundees Son who put in a mighty effort to run down stablemate Chief Of Staff a fortnight ago. He faces a tougher ask this week off his 20m mark as the field size may well force multiple mid-race moves. He’s looking to go back-to-back Canterbury Park Cup titles here and stands a great chance of doing so given his star status and undeniable ability to lift when it matters.

Majestic Man, an animal with an enviable standing start record, joins Sundees Son off the 20m mark and will only be improving this time in after having to sit parked last time out and feeling the effects of the run over the latter stages.

The Greg and Nina Hope trained Muscle Mountain looked like a mountain moving in the right direction last week at Rangiora trials. The Group 1 Fred Shaw Memorial winner has a 10m handicap to overcome while the Tony Herlihy trained Bolt For Brilliance joins the 10m party and is fresh into this assignment… All stunning individuals, all known Group performers, and all are ready to impress!

The chances don’t stop there either with Mataderos, who won at the D G Jones Banks Peninsula Trotting Cup in a canter, the potential surprise package. The son of the fantastic La Coocaracha and winner of 10 has the services of Blair Orange and is drawn to press forward from an unruly mark. If he brings his grass track form to the all-weather surface then he’s got to be in this Group 3 conversation.

Midnight Dash (drawn #4) and Majestic Lavros (drawn #2) must also be considered and are capable of mixing it with the very best with the right sort of run too while the forementioned Chief Of Staff gets the #1 ace draw and must surely be one of them most improved horses in the country over the last 6 months. His tough racing style will find a suitable home within the open-class trotting ranks and you can certainly see him playing a part if able to gain an economical run on the back of some smart sectionals.

All of that is leaving out the heavyweight champion of 2019 in Oscar Bonavena, a horse that’s won 12 of his 25 career starts on NZ soil. Can the Mark Purdon and Hayden Cullen trained son of Majestic Son return to his peak form? It’s easy to forget that this horse took the trotting ranks by storm when first getting to the track and that, despite his injury worries of the past, is still only 5yrs of age and could well rise to the top of the game once again.

This really is a fine field and importantly there would seem to be enough numbers in the field to ensure a honest tempo and dynamic race pattern.

It’s trotting at its very best on Friday night.

The full field can be viewed here

Ben McMillan