White moves up the leaderboard at Drivers Championship

It didn’t pan out as expected, but the harness racing result was perfect for Barry White in heat two of the New Zealand Amateur Drivers Championship at Addington on Friday night (Jun 23).

White went to second equal halfway through the competition when Shards Fury (Changeover) kept winding up wide on the track to dramatically turn around his driver’s fortunes.

White had to settle with last placing in the first heat of the championship at Cambridge on Thursday night after his charge broke in the middle stages.

Though heat two didn’t go to plan from a pre-race perspective, it mattered little when the Bruce Negus trained Shards Fury sustained a big finish to win.

“It wasn’t a drive that Bruce told me do, he told me to go forward and have a crack and maybe lead or sit parked,” White said.

“But just the way it worked out I ended up further back than he would have liked, but it worked out good, as sometimes it does.”

“It is good to win a heat win – it might be short lived but we will see what happens on Sunday.”

“Obviously at Cambridge it didn’t go according to plan, I had my tail between my legs on the way home.”

“But this is a bit of a pick me up for sure.”

SHARDS FURY REPLAY

White looks to have secured two genuine winning chances in the final two heats of the New Zealand Amateur Drivers Championship at Addington on Sunday.

Precious Belle brings tidy form to heat three, while Santanna Mach would be highly competitive with his best effort in heat four.

“I spoke to Amanda Telfer and they have got Precious Belle back from down south and she’s been doing a bit of GPing (galloping pacemaking).”

“She said she has been jumping out of her skin.”

“It will be great to put on the Telfer colours, that will be a tick in the box.”

“I have followed Santanna Mach for a long time, he is getting a bit older now but I think he has got a chance drawn one.”

New Zealand Amateur Drivers Championship standings:

Michelle Northcott 10

Cheree Wigg 7

Barry White 7

Jo Buckland-Stevens 5

John Kriechbaumer 4

Colleen Negus 4

Frank Phelan 3

Warren Rich 2

Neil Munro 1

Kevin McClintock 1

For complete race results, click here.

by Jonny Turner, for Harness Racing New Zealand