Dancingonmoonlight and Houghton flex their muscle at Addington

There is always a bit of excitement when harness racing’s new wave of juveniles make their way to the races, and yesterday at Addington Raceway was no different for a variety of reasons.

Firstly the field of six were under the umbrella of two trainers at contrasting stages of their careers, with Ken Barron no stranger to conditioning top line horses, but having been a while between drinks since having a trio of juveniles up and going this early.

His contemporary, Ross Houghton, while not a stranger to training a juvenile pacer, is starting to break out of his own shadow as an early educator and has clearly began to make a name for himself as a trainer with a nice team of horses around him.

Training out of one of the best facilities in the country at Dancingonmoonlight, the powerful yet boutique Canterbury breeding and racing operation of Robert Famularo, Houghton is making every post a winner of late.

Two of his own trio for yesterday afternoon’s assignment were bred and raised at Dancingonmoonlight and farm owner Robert Famularo was on hand pre race to share in the occasion.

“It’s a bit of a first for us, having two horses from the farm in the first two-year-old race of the year,” said Famularo.

“It gets the heart beating and reminds you what it’s all about,” he said.

If his heart was beating harder than normal pre-race, it certainly would have been revving high as he and the rest of the onlookers at Addington watched the farms homebred’s run the quinella in the sixth event of the programme.

The Dancingonmoonlight bred and owned Showmethetanlines (Downbytheseaside) was backed into heavy favouritism and did not disappoint on debut after working hard off the mobile arm to lead easily from the widest barrier of the six horse field.

With his stablemate on his back in Incentivise (Bettor’s Delight), he ably partnered by an inform Craig Ferguson led the field a merry dance before clearing away in the Addington Straight for an easy four length victory.

SHOWMETHETANLINES REPLAY

The winning time of 2:26.6 in a 1:59.1 mile rate for the 1980m journey are a good indication of a well above average horse when you consider last season’s champion juvenile, Marketplace, won the G1 Ace Of Spades just eight weeks in 2:25.8.

“He went super tonight, he feels like a good horse. The ear plugs are still in, he did it under his own steam and felt like he could have gone a whole lot quicker too so I think he is going to have a bright future,” said winning driver, Craig Ferguson.

The winning trainer was equally delighted given he trained the first three home.

“It’s bloody good, they all did everything I asked of them and they ran home good and are nice horses to work with. They will probably come back in a fortnight, there is another race for them that has been programmed that is great and we will have another crack at that,” said Houghton.

And the owner of the quinella appeared to be happy to bask in the Addington sunshine and catch his breath somewhat after a tremendous result which saw Dancingonmoonlight pocketing the $8250 winning stake on top of the $12,000 Entain 2YO bonus. Ironically, the almost the same figure as his reserve at the 2021 sales in which the colt failed to attract a bid.

“I would call it relief,” said Famularo.

“It’s been a plan since we came home from the yearling sales, we never got a bid on them and even though we are sellers, we thought no, these horses are a wee bit better than giving them away.

“Credit to the girls at home for the work they did early with this pair and also to Sam (Langrope) who put a bit of a plan together in conjunction with Chris Ryder in the USA for a training plan

“To Ross Houghton and Bronson Munro for following it, Ross has done his thing, but he has also been respectful of what we wanted to do and I think the fact he ran the trifecta says a lot about that man and where he is going as a trainer. I think there is a lot to be said about what Ross does and his team. We are very lucky, I am only the back end of the operation, the front end has done a marvellous job.

“I think you have to give Burt a lot of credit, he had bone chips and was a preparation behind our pair and I think in a fortnight you might see a better horse,” said Famularo, echoing comments made by Ricky May about the horse being a big improver from the run,” he said.

Famularo’s daughter, Sara, is busy preparing a team of 13 yearlings for the upcoming NZB Yearling Sales in Christchurch and having prepared the likes of Bolt For Brilliance, Mister Smartee and plenty of other Group performers, the question was asked as to whether buyers should be inspecting any relatives of the homebred duo.

“We have a Bettor’s Delight full-sister to Incentivise who is probably a better type than he was at the same stage. Unfortunately the half to Showmethetanlines, a Lather Up filly, got an infection and had to be put down. But that’s the industry,” said Famularo.

For complete Addington results, click here.

by Brad Reid, for Harnesslink