Donmaro ready to rumble in Harness 7000 feature

Friday night’s (Sep. 16) harness racing feature at Addington Raceway will see a handy bunch of eight three-year-old’s greeting starter Ricky Donnelly and the IRT mobile barrier for the eighth running of the Sires Stakes Harness 7000.

The $40,000 Listed event over the 1980m is a unique concept in that it presents the runners and their connections with an opportunity to race for a significant stake in a like-for-like environment.

That being that each of the eight runners were sired by a stallion with an advertised service fee of $7000 or less.

The conditioned race caters to a group of horses who despite being Sires Stakes eligible are often besieged by the progeny of superstar stallions such as Bettor’s Delight and Art Major.

The previous editions have seen winners sired by the likes of Shadow Play, Gotta Go Cullect, Big Jim, Stunin Cullen, Auckland Reactor, and Washington VC. Stallions who over the years have proved more than capable of leaving a classy pacer.

With that said, many of the aforementioned sires fail to serve massive numbers in an open market environment and are lacking in representation at the deep end of the aspirational races.

As is often the case, all but Washington VC who retired after years of punching above his weight from the deep south have either never returned to New Zealand or have gone to Australia to continue their stud careers.

By virtue of a special resolution to the conditions in 2018, lifting the service fee eligibility from $5000 to $7000, the crack pacing filly Aardiesexpress (Always B Miki) finds herself a warm favourite after her impressive last start win over Northern Oaks winner, True Fantasy.

Drawn nine due to the preferential barrier draw system, she won’t have it all her own way if she is to become the third filly after Nek Time and Bardot to take out the Listed feature.

That’s because drawn just inside her at eight is a strapping son of A Rocknroll Dance in the Rodger Austin trained, Donmaro.

In just six starts he has developed quite a reputation for not only his size but the manner in which he effortlessly covers the ground.

Speaking with his Prebbleton-based trainer it’s fair to say he’s been a work in progress since the day he arrived through the gates as a yearling.

“We’ve had him since day dot really after having him broken in elsewhere.

“He’s always been a big rangy sort of horse, a typical A Rocknroll Dance you could say. Early on he was a bit of a hard case and sort of a horse who could have gone one way or the other.

“That’s why we’ve taken our time with him because he could have gotten quite hot, but he’s gone the right way which is the main thing,” said Austin.

On the back of three winning workouts and a qualifying trial, Donmaro opened his career with a trip away to the sunshine capital of the South Island (Nelson) in January.

“Once he qualified, we thought he was probably good enough to go and have a race somewhere. He probably wasn’t ready to go and race but we had other horses going to Nelson and I didn’t really want to turn him out at that stage, and that’s why we took him basically,” said Austin.

It proved to be a wonderful decision with Donmaro lobbing the early trail behind race favourite, Himself, and despite putting in some fanciful steps when presented with the lane, he took advantage of the Bob Butt trained runner galloping to sprint best and get home at his first race day start.

DONMARO | NELSON REPLAY

Donmaro went south for his second-up effort where he raced on the card of Invercargill Cup Day at Ascot Park. It wasn’t quite what his connections had in mind for their big striding pacer with Donmaro thrown in the deep end a wee bit in a heat of the Southern Supremacy.

“There was a bit of a mix-up with nominations and the fields at Methven and Invercargill with Methven not thinking they would be able to get their race off the ground. While it wasn’t our ideal race for him, we didn’t want to let the club down after he was accepted. We knew he was good enough; it was just a learning process but after that, we thought we would just take him home and wait for him,” he said.

Donmaro was next presented at Ashburton Raceway in June on the back of an impressive trial where despite racing unkindly in the straight, he easily rounded up his opposition after sitting last of the four runners for the majority of the 2000m affair.

He was sent out as the punters elect and after burning to find the front, ran his rivals ragged pacing the 2400m journey in a sizzling 2:55, only a couple of seconds outside of the national record for the trip.

“We thought he would race well after his spell; he had been working really well and we always thought a bit of him. But he just does things so easily, he’s got a high cruising speed and you don’t know he’s pacing as quick as he can when you’re in behind him.

“Jimmy Curtin got off him that day and said he had no idea they were going that sort of time,” said Austin.

Donmaro raced then raced three times under lights at Addington Raceway in July where he only added to his reputation as a pacer with a fair bit of ability.

He was an awesome fifth from a hopeless position at his first attempt, being some 20 lengths off the leaders 400m from home and running on strongly to be near enough in a blanket finish.

He then showed he could do it tough, sitting outside the leader in his second Addington attempt and proving too good for his opposition before sitting last again and storming over the top of his opposition to record career win number three in just his sixth attempt on race day.

Donmaro was given a light freshen up to be set for tomorrow night’s feature and had his first race in over a month a fortnight ago at Addington. Despite finishing second to Harness Millions winner, Magic Four, Donmaro went the best a beaten horse could possibly go, coming from last on a 1:56 mile rate to get within one and a quarter lengths of the winner.

“He went a huge race and because he has jumped up the classes so quick or he’s been in preferential barrier draws it’s been quite hard to get a decent run with him of late so we’ve been forced to drive for a bit of luck.

“It’s still early days and the other reason we have driven him that way is we have been just trying to teach him how to be a racehorse. Once you get up the grades you have to be able to race like that as you can’t just get out and burn to the front if you want to be a winning chance or have any longevity,” he said.

Tomorrow night’s feature will be a great litmus test for the big brute and with early speed inside him from the likes of the Steve Dolan-trained Bri Express and possibly the Greg and Nina Hope-trained Mossdale Ben, it will be interesting to see what tactics Blair Orange will adopt with Donmaro.

They all will be wary of the immense talent that is Aardiesexpress with the Southland Oaks winner simply sublime in her fresh-up assignment last week and she will clearly be the horse to beat.

Austin is taking everything in his stride and is excited to see how Donmaro will measure up in the quality field of three-year-old’s.

“We’ve just kept doing the same with him and he’s a bit of a laid-back sort of a fella round home so it will be interesting to see how he goes. This will be his biggest test so far and his co-owner Hamish Roberts and I are really looking forward to it,” he said.

For complete race entries, click here.

by Brad Reid, for Harnesslink