Next wave of trotting talent en route to Dominion

The road to the New Zealand harness racing’s time honoured Dominion trot heats up tomorrow night with Addington Raceway playing host to the 59th edition of the G3 $40,000 Ordeal Cup.

What’s clear when looking at the 13 trotters contesting the 2600m affair tomorrow night is that New Zealand trotting is slowly ushering in a new wave of Open Class talent.

The Phil Williamson trained Love N The Port (Love You) is the only trotter in the field to have won an Open Class Group One with his upset in the 2023 Rowe Cup.

And while defending champ, Aardiebythehill (Muscle Hill) has been competitive in the top grade since joining the Diamond Racing stables in 2022, the rest of the competition are looking to establish themselves in a crop that has seen a seismic shift with the retirements of Sundees Son, Majestic Man, Bolt For Brilliance and now Five Wise Men in a short space of time.

Sunny’s Sister (Majestic Son) and Confessional (Father Patrick) are G1 winners at Age Group level and clearly have some x-factor, so too Galway Girl (Majestic Son) who cracked a deserved G3 against her own sex in the Autumn. But to put things in perspective, the highest rated trotter in the field is Aardiebythehill (R84), and the last 5 contests have seen (in some cases multiple) rated 110+.

With the 2022 Ordeal Cup winner, Muscle Mountain (Muscle Hill), not in the picture as yet, and the impending arrivals of Aussie stars, Just Believe (Orlando Vici) and Callmethebreeze (Trixton), the time is now for some of these budding up and comers to put their hand up and stamp themselves as contenders going forward.

One such trotter is the Kirstin Green-Daly trained southerner, Fiery Bandito (Majestic Son).

The five-year-old gelding began the year a one win trotter with a rating of 45. He went to the spelling paddock a six win rating 75. That could have been even higher had he not been checked out of the final race of his campaign, but nevertheless, the half brother to last year’s Dominion runner up, Smokin Bandar (Monkey Bones), has the engine and breeding behind him to be part of the next wave.

“He has strengthened up a bit and is probably carrying a bit of condition, but it is early days. he has had two quiet workouts and I have been reasonably happy with him,” said his trainer/driver, Kirtsin Green-Daly.

“He is a tricky big fella to get going along early. Like last season, once he had a few races under his belt, he was away. I’m probably as happy as you could be without having had some of that race fitness which he will definitely benefit from.

“The trouble with a trotter like him down home is you cant get a race for him without starting off a big handicap so we thought the best thing to do was to bring him up to Addington and see where he is at,” she said.

The last time Fiery Bandito was at Addington, he was winning a $32,000 Racing Rewards Series trot off a 20m back mark stylishly. The competition was nothing of the calibre he meets tomorrow night, but as they say, you can only beat what’s in front of you and it sealed a sequence of five wins (four consecutive) in six starts, with Green giving credit to an earlier Addington visit for setting the big son of Majestic Son on his way.

FIERY BANDITO REPLAY

“I think on the surface people would have looked at his trip to Addington over Cup Week last year as a wasted trip, but it was honestly probably the making of him.

“He stayed at Graeme Court’s place and was a nervous wreck the whole time and pretty much raced accordingly. But after we got him home, he was a completely different horse.

“We took him to Omakau and even though he was wiped out, we were chuffed with how he handled himself in the stalls and it’s been the case ever since. He really matured and it showed as the season went on,” she said.

Green-Daly is under no illusions that tomorrow night’s assignment is a tall order for her up and coming talent, admitting he would benefit from the run against a field who for the most part have a race or two under the belt already.

The Paul Nairn trained Confessional was impressive with his fresh up performance last week, so too the Diamond Racing pair of Mighty Logan and Sunny’s Sister who ran the quinella in their first up assignments a fortnight ago.

The latter starts a $4.40 favourite and with manners and any sort of luck would be a royal chance of adding her name to a trophy her champion full brother claimed in three consecutive years.

Finishing close up in behind the aforementioned pair in a fresh state was the Bob Butt trained Gold Bullion, with his trainer/driver unable to drive the son of Father Patrick out fully as he mounted a serious challenge in the run home. As a result his removable deafeners were in tact past the post and he might be one to watch going forward.

Of those with ‘runs on the board’ in this grade, Phil Williamson’s former Rowe Cup winner in Love N The Port has an awesome fresh up record with 3 wins and 2 placings from 6 starts and has shown at the trials he is forward enough to be handling this bunch on his day. So too Aardiebythehill whose second up record is far better than that of his fresh stats, with the added benefit of getting back to the standing start which has seen him winning eight of his nine races.

It was only a few years ago we were asking the same questions of the pair above and with time they both answered the call. Just as his older bro from the South, Smokin Bandar has done. Will we be able to say the same about Fiery Bandito?

“I think so, his biggest attribute is he has such a good motor and once he gets a few runs under his belt and the harder they go, the more it suits him,” said Green-Daly.

“Being realistic, this season in this grade will be the making of him for next season. He is still a bit immature in his head and it will be another learning curve for him and hopefully next year he will be ready to go and do the job,” she said.

Speaking of going and doing the job, Green-Daly has a couple more close relatives in work and nearing some race day action.

The next cab off the rank is likely to be Garonne, a larger than life son of French bred The Best Madrik. There is only six of his offspring in the country, and Green-Daly trains another in Garonne’s talented older full brother, Madrik (4 wins).

“He’s going to the workouts this weekend actually, he has taken a lot of time and effort. He is a big giant horse and he couldn’t trot faster than I could walk at one stage,” she laughed.

“But we do have a bit of time for him, in saying that, as far as the family pecking order goes he wouldnt be very high up the list at this stage.

His little sister and last foal from The Fiery Filly however got a glowing report.

“I absolutely love Fiery Adi (Majestic Son),” she said.

“She is more like the build of Smokin Bandar and is a lot more light framed and a bit nippier than the rest of them. She is a bit of a ratbag and has tipped a couple people out of the cart a couple times but she is lovely gaited and of the family, she probably goes the best at this early stage.

“I would expect to have her at the workouts before the end of the year and she could make a nice three-year-old. She is a wee ratbag but she is very light on her feet and like a wee mini version of Fiery Bandito,” she said.

Breeding buffs will note this is also the family of Alan Clark’s warhorse, the Fiery Ginga (CR Commando) who is out of a half sister to the aforementioned cavalry in Green-Daly’s care.

The astute judges will note that this family traces back directly to Moccasin, the dam of Interdominion Grand Final winner, Stylish Major (Flying Song), and possibly New Zealand’s greatest ever trotting export in Le Chant (Flying Song). The multiple group race winner has been the direct source of some unbelievable success as a broodmare, starting with her granddaughter, Grades Singing (Texas).

The Canadian Hall of Fame inductee was arguably the best trotting mare in the world in the 80’s, winning 15 Group Ones and $2.6 million in stakes across North America and Europe.

Le Chant is also the 5th dam in the pedigree of the dual millionaire and 2 time Breeders Crown winner, Amigo Volo (Father Patrick) and appears in the pedigree of the three time G1 winning Swedish star, Cyber Lane to name but a few 29 six figure earners (9 $500k+) tracing back to the former New Zealander.

For complete Addington race fields, click here.

by Brad Reid, for Harnesslink