Marlborough set for annual two day meeting

The Marlborough Harness Racing Club presents their annual two day meeting on the grass at the Waterlea Raceway this Friday and Sunday.

The $25,000 Marlborough Pacers Cup and the $20,000 Marlborough Trotter Cup will be the two features of the meeting.

Marlborough, typical of many small regional clubs, has just the secretary drawing wages.

“We have a big group of volunteers that help out for the race meeting and help to keep the track going all year round. Tony Thomas who trains is also the track manager. All the track work and pre-race stuff like cleaning and maintenance is done by volunteers. They’re a great team and work hard at it,” Club President Shirley Morrison says.

The Club also benefits from good community support.

“This year we’ve got a great group of sponsors with a couple of new ones like the new owners of Donegal House. Les Whiteside who’s on the committee used to run the local paper The Sun, so they do some great articles about our Club.”

As well as some new sponsors, there are loyal sponsors who’ve supported Marlborough HRC for a number of years, which include Grove Tavern, Pak ‘N Save Marlborough, Superliquor, Kiwiseed and The Blenheim Sun.

Morrison says a number of trainers stay at the Waterlea course over the weekend.

“We do breakfast on Friday, Saturday and Sunday. Paul and Di Scott do that. Again, they’re volunteers.”

Robert and Jenna Dunn’s stable have dominated the Marlborough Pacers Cup in recent years, winning the last three, with Dashing Major (2022), Sam’s Town (2023) and Double Time (2024).

The stable usually brings large numbers north from Canterbury and has an exceptional record at the Blenheim course. In January 2014 and January 2018 Robert won five races on the card.

There are fewer trainers in Marlborough these days but many will remember Soxygen (El Patron) which was trained locally by Allen McKerrow and won eight races – his first in February 1983 with Peter Jones in the cart.

All roads lead to Blenheim this weekend in what promises to be a great two days of harness racing.

by Bruce Stewart, for Harnesslink