Douglas looking for home track advantage

Ascot Park trainer Jeremy Douglas will be looking to take full advantage of racing on his home grit at the Invercargill Harness Racing Clubs meeting on Friday.

Fresh to the stable in Race One is Weststar Molly (Changeover). She’s been sent south from the Hope stable after breaking at her last two starts. She’s had three workouts for her new stable and was running on well at her last one at Winton a week ago.

Beaudiene Blaze (Sweet Lou) lines up in Race Two – a race that’s named after him. The three year old is having his first start but has been well schooled at workouts.

In Race Six Douglas lines up two runners with contrasting draws. Magic Sign (Terror To Love) draws one (preferential draw) while Miki Knows (Always B Miki) starts a new campaign from barrier six.

Magic Sign has good match fitness and will appreciate the good draw.

Miki Knows has had two workouts to get him ready for matchday but has a couple of quality pacers
(Snow Robyn and Street Art) draw inside of him.

Meanwhile Junior reinswomen Kerryn Tomlinson will be looking at reaching her first milestone of one hundred driving wins. She’s currently on ninety nine and her drives on Friday are: Ron McKinley (R4), Son Of Majestic (R5), Magic Sign (R6), Classic Mission (R7) and Dalness Arizona (R8).

Gore horseman Brian Norman is currently on 199 training wins. His chances for reaching 200 are Close (R2), Steve (R3) and Sherwood Maggie (R7).

The Invercargill HRC Iron Horse bonus also starts on Friday.

The top 10 most raced horses that start at an Invercargill Harness meeting and win one race or more between Friday 15^th September 2023 and 15 June 2024 will be eligible for the bonus.

The top starter will get $5,000. The remaining horses from second to tenth will get $2,500 each.

If there’s a tie a countback will be done on most wins, then most seconds and then most thirds.

Full terms and conditions are on the Southern Harness Website.

Just out of interest, if the bonus had been run for the same period in 2022 and 2023 the top ten list would have looked like this.

1. Jabali (11 starts for 1 wins- and 1 second) – $5,000

   

2. Fireforfiddle (11 starts for 1 win and 0 seconds) – $2,500
3. Sagwitch (10 starts 2 wins) – $2,500
4. Jenny Gump (10 starts for 2 wins) – $2,500
5. I’m Watching You (10 starts of two wins) – $2,500
6. Sherwood Maggie (9 starts for one win) – $2,500
7. Oneloveonelife (9 starts for one win) – $2,500
8. Mucho Fuerte (9 starts for one win) – $2,500
9. Superfastsuperstar (8 starts for two wins) – $2,500
10. Chezz Dale (8 starts for one win) – $2,500

by Bruce Stewart, for Harnesslink