News briefs – 27th October

Harness racing news snippets from New Zealand and around the world.

Records tumble in big week

There were milestones aplenty over the past week. In the training ranks Sean McCaffrey had his 500th training success when Betterzippit won at Auckland on Friday night. He’s been training since the mid 1980s.

With Andy Hall’s win at Ashburton on Monday Nathan Williamson got his 300th winner as a trainer, John “Coaster” Howe had his 200th with Majestic Chick’s victory at Addington on Thursday, Adrienne Matthews had her 100th success when The Hulk won at Cambridge, while Steve Telfer clocked up his 400th when Darling Me won in a New Zealand record at Ashburton. And Darling Me wasn’t the only one in record-breaking form, so too were two other very impressive winners, Franco Indie and Muscle Mountain.

Mexicana hits the beach

Four-win trotter Mexicana is now at Woodend beach having joined trainer Bob Butt. She was with John Dickie and comes south, having not raced since finishing eleventh in the 3YO Ruby at this year’s Harness Jewels.

Another Group One beckons for Amazing Dream

Amazing Dream is a $1.55 favourite to win Saturday night’s $100,000 Group One Queen of the Pacific at Melton. She’ll start from gate four. Stablemate Spellbound has come in from $8 to $5 from the inside of the back row while the Pantheist ($8.50) and Maajida ($8.50) are the major players.

Trotter excels against pacers

A rare win for a trotters over the pacers in Queensland with Rosehill Magic, a seven-year-old mare, beating the pacers at Marburg on Sunday. The time was 2:02.3, smashing the old track record for the 1850m mobile (trotters) by 2.6 seconds. The last time a trotter beat the pacers in Queensland was Justamaori back in 2014 at Albion Park.

10 wins one day

What a day out Wally Hennessy had in Florida, with 10 wins at Pompano Beach. There were only 15 races on the card, with four of Hennessy’s wins coming in non-tote races. He has 353 wins in North America this year which puts him at tenth overall, one place behind Dexter Dunn (366 wins). Aaron Merriman leads the way with 661.

Gavelhouse auction ends soon

The latest gavelhouse.com standardbred auction closes at 7pm tonight. Among the lots up for sale are race winners Yea You (1 win from 2 starts) and Maurice (3 wins from 41 starts).

Club News : Auckland Trotting Club

In conjunction with Woodlands Stud, Franklin Park Training Centre and ATC are pleased to offer the following Stallions Service Fees for tender –
A Service to Sweet Lou and a Service to Speeding Spur.
Tenders Close at 8.00pm on Friday 29 October 2021.
For enquiries or a tender form please contact Karen Blanchard on 021 808 3150 or e-mail karen.blanchard@alexandrapark.nz

Club News : Kaikoura Trotting Club

Thanks to Alabar NZ the Kaikoura Trotting Club is pleased to be able to offer the following stallions for tender:
· One service to Art Major (valued at $14,000)
· One service to Majestic Son (valued at $5,000)
Tenders close at 5pm on Saturday, 30th October 2021
For enquiries and copy of Tender Form please contact Geraldine Stanbury 021 351 615 or email on kaikouratc@xtra.co.nz

HRNZ