Fiftieth Mossdale win for Hopes

The win by Mossdale Ben (A Rocknroll Dance) in the Group Three Allied Security Maurice Holmes Vase last night at Addington was the 50th win for the harness racing training partnership of Greg and Nina Hope and owners Archie and Margaret Affleck.

Mossdale Ben and Ben Hope winning the Maurice Holmes Vase at Addington (Race Images)

MOSSDALE BEN REPLAY

The stable has been training for the Afflecks for twenty years. The first ‘Mossdale’ winner was Mossdale Claire (Camtastic) at Blenheim in January 2003.

Fifty six horses have been registered with the ‘Mossdale’ name of which the Hopes have trained eleven winners from fifty races.

The best has been Mossdale Conner (Bettor’s Delight) who won thirteen, including the Group One 2015 Taylor Mile. He banked $461,714 in stakes and ran in two New Zealand Cups finishing third behind Arden Rooney (Bettor’s Delight) in the 2015 Cup and tenth to Lazarus (Bettor’s Delight) in the 2016 Group One two mile feature.

Tragically he died in the United States after a battle with cancer.

The Mossdale Harness Racing prefix has been around since 1993 and stems from the Mossdale Clydesdale Stud near Otama which was owned by Archie’s grandfather the late Thomas Logan.

In the early days Affleck had his horses trained by Hori Lee and Kirk Larsen but they are all now  trained at Woodend Beach by Greg and Nina. It’s a relationship that goes back to 1998.

“We had two at the sales and one didn’t sell and Anthea Sharp who had prepared the horses recommended that we send it to Greg. He went halves in it. When we went there Ben was barely walking,” he told me in a previous interview.

It was the beach training the Hopes provide that appealed to Affleck.

“I remember one of the Southland trainers – it might have been Tony Barron, went up to Brighton Beach before he went to Auckland. I reckon you could just about see the horses smiling. It was better than running round in Southland in a circle. If I was a horse I’d want to be on the beach,” he said.

After selling the last of their farm in Northern Southland a few years ago the Afflecks now grow cherries on their three hectare property in Cromwell.

The win by Mossdale Ben guarantees Mossdale Ben a start in the Group One New Zealand Cup on the second Tuesday in November and the Afflecks will be hoping the two Bens can provide the cherry on the cake for a lifetime of breeding and racing standardbreds.

by Bruce Stewart, for Harnesslink