Maui salutes six generations of McCormick breed with Dominion tilt

Whilst Cup Day is typically about the star harness racing horses and the headline names with the likes of Merlin, Duchess Megxit, Swayzee and Leap To Fame pulling in the crowds, spare a moment for a horse of the people like the David McCormick trained trotter, Maui (Peak).

The six-year-old gelding wont be on a lot of tickets to win the $400,000 Renwick Farms Dominion Trot a little after 3pm tomorrow. However, for the McCormick family, just seeing their pride and joy contest the G1 feature on the industries biggest day is an achievement in itself.

The McCormick name is synonymous in Canterbury harness racing circles with the late Doug McCormick (David’s father) having held a license to train and drive well into his early 80’s. Despite passing away in 2018, there is something serendipitous about Maui’s inclusion given the fact that he will be the first Dominion runner from the family breed that has now seen six generations of McCormick involvement.

“Dad’s first one from the breed was Silver Wood (Casanova) and he brought her off the Grice’s back in the late 40’s or early 50’s which is around when he started breeding from the family. It’s the same breed as Janetta’s Pride and has been in the family now for several generations,” said McCormick.

“My first winner was actually on a trotter called Perfect Wood who is out of a daughter of Silver Wood in Lucky Wood,” he said.

Perfect Wood left arguably the best performed trotter out of the breed in the form of G2 Canterbury Park Trotting Cup winner, Perfect Du Jour (Plat Du Jour). Although the family hasnt produced a litenany of top liners, it has produced more than it’s fair share of handy trotters including Gee Abby, a former NZ record holder at the age of three, whose 2600m stand record held firm for 17 years.

While his father Doug trained and drove a Dominion runner in Able Adios to a start in the 1973 Dominion Handicap won by Philemon (Sun Chief), Maui represents the first in the line from Silver Wood to contest the feature trot in the famous family silks. A feat not lost on the Tinwald horseman.

“Absolutely it is a massive thrill. I hadn’t really bred anything out of the family until Dad passed away a few years ago and I picked it up. I think I might be the only owner, breeder & trainer in the race. Greg Hope might be in the same boat with Mr Love, but it’s not a bad achievement for a small timer like myself,” said McCormick.

“It’s quite exciting, I know we are the outsider in the field but he wont disgrace himself. The last three starts he hasn’t been far away from the likes of Oscar Bonavena, and I know Oscar was starting off marks and all that, but he has been racing good,” he said.

Few could begrudge Maui of his place in the Dominion tomorrow afternoon with the McCormick trained gelding having earned his spot the hard way. Going as far back as his three-year-old campaign which saw him fourth in the G3 Hambletonian, the son of Peak has never shied from a challenge which saw him ending last season dipping his toe in the deep waters of group racing at Open Level.

Maui was 6th in the G3 David Moss last December, 5th in the G3 Summer Cup, and has not finished further back then 7th in any of his four attempts this campaign which yielded a cracking 4th in the G3 Ashburton Flying Mile, all but securing him of a start on the second Tuesday in November.

McCormick has always had plenty of time for his stable ‘star’ and recounts the moment he jokingly surprised his wife and let the cat out of the bag that they may have just bred one a bit above average.

“Between Lawrence and myself, we work about five or six at the moment I suppose. We have Vertigo and Brianna and a couple of young ones with Maui of course. We haven’t had what you might call a champion but we have been around horses long enough to know what a good one might feel like.

“Maui was always a good horse from early on. As an early two-year-old I text my wife at work to tell her I was coming out of the closet and that I had fallen in love with a boy called Maui,” he laughed.

“I got a haha response and that was quite funny. Straight away he just seemed a bit smarter then most of the ones we had been working to that point. He doesn’t have any quirks and doesn’t do anything wrong at home or gallop at the races. The only thing I could fault at the moment is the little bugger doesn’t line up. He walks around at the start good as gold, but as soon as the starter blows his whistle, he freezes and wont walk into line,” he said.

With the new rule around attendants not being allowed to look after a fractious stand start type like Maui, the unruly, which affords him plenty of open air to make his usual safe beginning, also becomes his biggest cumbrance, negating his manners and ability to find a handy position early in the race.

While his chances of upending a champion like Just Believe seem slim, McCormick is adamant his trotter will see out a gruelling two miles better than most and has the added enjoyment of seeing his son, Lawrence, take the reins behind the homebred hero.

“I was tossing up whether I would drive him myself, but after Bob Butt pushed me out beautifully at Kaikoura, I came back to the barn and told my son he could have the steer on Cup Day. Lawrence is looking forward to the occasion, and with no pressure on us as the outsider of the field, he can go out and enjoy it. As will we!

“From the unruly, there is no plan a. It is straight to plan b and we will be hoping for a lot of luck and take it as it comes. I cant see how you could even work out a plan from there. But it’s just great to have one in a G1 on Cup Day and we will be making the most of the day,” he said. 

In a season that has already seen David McCormick break his own personal best for stake money ($85,000) and winners (6), Maui greeting the starter in the inaugural Cup Day Dominion is certainly the icing on the cake.

For complete Addington Cup Day fields, click here.

by Brad Reid, for Harnesslink