G1 juvenile trot was Meant To Be

To be competitive at the elite harness racing level as a two year old trotter, you need to have two things.

Good manners, and a bit of a speed.

This afternoon’s winner of the 28th New Zealand Sires Stakes Two Year Old Trotting Championship’s has always had the latter, and despite not always having the former, has managed to establish himself as trotter with immense ability.

With the Barry Purdon and Scott Phelan trained son of Father Patrick putting it all together in his G1 grand final this afternoon, I guess you could say, it was Meant To Be!

Big race driver, Zachary Butcher, gave the enigmatic juvenile a beautiful trip in transit off the speed, after the unbeaten Habibti Pat (Father Patrick) and Blair Orange burned early to cross down to lead inside the first 400 of the 1980m journey.

The pair were kept honest by Frazzled and Riley Harrison, with the Phil Williamson trained duo of Atlantic City (Volstead) and Tarragindi (Majestic Son) sitting sweetly in the trail and one/one.

The race changed complexion down the back straight the final time when Frazzled lost her gait, forcing those in the running line to take evasive action.

The second starter, Tarragindi, having galloped free of interference on debut in the same place on the track, showed serious mettle by staying in his gait and working forward to apply some pressure on the unbeaten filly in front.

While all this was unfolding, Zachary Butcher and Meant To Be were in a great rhythm and despite being eight lengths off the lead duo, always looked to be travelling well within himself throughout.

As the acid went on at the 400m, Habibti Pat, showed a lot of her mothers toughness as she found more and looked up for a dog fight as both Tarragindi and Meant To Be threw down the gauntlet.

The two geldings eventually mastered the filly inside the last 100m, with Meant To Be and Zachary Butcher timing their charge beautifully to win the G1 feature by a short half head.

“He’s really come of age,” said his pilot Zachary Butcher.

“I said to the boys that he had really grown up a bit with the trip away and he showed that by putting it all together when it mattered today,” he said.

Phil Williamson would have been wrapt with the performance of his second starter having told Harnesslink last month his gallop on debut was out of character. Choosing to race without the whip in a G1 might not have changed the result, but it just goes to show how much care the master trainer places in his horses stating pre race he wanted the horse to be looked after when asked for his reasoning.

Habibti Pat was not disgraced by any stretch of the imagination and will take a lot of catching when she gets a G1 crack against her own sex later in the year, whilst NZ Record holder and stablemate of the winner, Ocean Eyes (Father Patrick), was excellent in making up ground from the rear to run third.

The winning time for the feature being run at G1 level for the first time was 2:31.1, with the last half run in 60.6, and the last quarter in 28.5.

Meant To Be took his record to four wins and two placings from seven starts with earnings now in excess of $130,000.

For complete Addington Show Day results, click here.

by Brad Reid, for Harnesslink