Harness racing champions headline a special Cup Day parade

IRT New Zealand Trotting Cup Day racegoers are used to seeing champions, but they are in for a great bonus this November when some of the most iconic horses in New Zealand harness racing history headline a special parade.

Former New Zealand Trotting Cup winning heroes Terror To Love, Monkey King, and Lazarus will be joined by the Crusaders Guardians in a Cup Day parade at Addington which will welcome the IRT New Zealand Trotting Cup to the presentation area.

In a display of equine firepower rarely seen in this part of the world, the three former champion pacers will return to the track where they won a combined seven NZ Cups, Terror To Love in 2011-2013, Monkey King in 2009 and 2010, and Lazarus in 2016 and 2017.

Terror To Love’s three-peat gives him a special place in the history of the Cup, one of only three horses to complete the hattrick and Monkey King could have so easily joined him, finishing second in another Cup before his two wins.

Lazarus only contested two Cups, winning them by a combined 15 lengths, before being sold to the US where he went on to beat the world’s best. He has returned home to New Zealand to stand at stud.

The trio of champions, who won over $10million between them, will provide a timely reminder as to the greatness of the New Zealand Trotting Cup, and what is required to win it for the capacity crowd Addington is set to welcome back to New Zealand’s biggest raceday.

But they won’t be the only beloved horses on parade as the Crusaders Guardians, riding six of the horses made famous as the equine mascots of the legendary local Crusaders rugby union team, will lead the charge in a scene certain to stir the emotions of local sporting fans.

The parade, set for immediately after race 6 on the November 8 meeting, will pre-empt the IRT NZ Trotting Cup arriving in the presentation area accompanied by the most successful reinsman in the history of the race, seven-time winner Ricky May.

May’s appearance alone will be of special significance as he is something of a human Lazarus, recovering after all but dying when having a medical event during a race in 2020.

As hard as it is to believe, IRT New Zealand Trotting Cup Day just got bigger.

Tickets for IRT NZ Trotting Cup Day are selling fast but are still available at www.addington.co.nz.

From Addington Raceway