Shadow Play six-year-old clinches Cup start

Smart pacer Di Caprio (Shadow Play) has beaten a nice harness racing field tonight in the Avon City Ford New Brighton Cup (Gr3) and in doing so secured his place in this years New Zealand Trotting Cup to be run in November.

Trained by Brian O’Meara and driven by Samantha Ottley, Di Caprio  received a cosy trip three deep on the fence before piercing up the inner in the straight to win going away, beating the leader Classie Brigade and the trailer Copperhead Rose who made it interesting with an early burn in the first half of the race.

“I wasn’t overly surprised, there was some nice horses out there but he footed with them, ” Ottley said after the race.

“He has got a good sprint on him and he finished it off really nicely,” she said.

Di Caprio paced the 2600m stand in 3-13.3 with a last 800m in 56.2 seconds.

The winner of the race was guaranteed a start in the 2021 IRT NZ Trotting Cup, providing it was eligible for selection.

Earlier in the night Sundees Son (Majestic Son) looked back to his scintillating best running a 55.9 second last 800m to head off a tidy bunch of trotters in the Ordeal Trotting Cup (Gr3). The Robert and Jenna Dunn trained six-year-old led all the way and won by 3/4 length to book his place in the Dominion Handicap later in the year.

Harnesslink Media