Young trio riding the wave of Country Cup’s hat trick

Watching Mo’unga carve up the opposition is nothing new for Cantabrians who for the last decade witnessed their prodigal fly half dominate club and international rugby. But now his namesake is doing the same in the harness racing ranks with the Regan Todd trained pacer announcing himself with a statement win in the Rangiora Winter Cup on Sunday afternoon.

Connections and followers of the five-year-old son of Bettor’s Delight have known for some time this was a horse with a bright future and he has done little in his lightly tried career to date to suggest otherwise.

His victories in the Cheviot and Waimate Cup’s in his most recent race day performances have only furthered the opinions and expectations of Mo’unga being a star on the rise, but yesterday’s Winter Cup field posed his biggest test to date in his 2024 campaign with a tidy ensemble of intermediate and budding Open Class pacing talent greeting the starter.

What unfolded was a track-record performance and career victory number seven from just his 15th start, with the manner in which he put away his rivals indicative of a pacer who wouldn’t look out of place at the two mile stand point come the second Tuesday in November later in the season.

One of the great storylines of Mo’unga’s rise through the grades has been a trio of great mates in the horses trainer, Regan Todd, his regular pilot Robbie Close, and part owner, Cameron Kirkwood.

The young harness racing participants are basking in the experience of having won three successive country cups with a pacer who looks destine to take them on the ride of a lifetime.

“I’ve almost got to pinch myself to be in the ownership of a horse with so much raw ability,” said Kirkwood who has worked as an administrator for the sports governing body, HRNZ for the better part of a decade.

“He is just such a good stand start horse, we knew he would eat that 20m up pretty well early on and he did that and lobbed a comfortable position in the running line. But then he got a wee way off them and had to come wide on that final bend which was never going to be easy. But when he straightened up and Robbie (Close) pulled the hood, he just really showed his speed.

“His last win at Cheviot he had to be tough and today he showed a clean pair of heels so he is proving to be quite a versatile horse. The sky is the limit with him and we’re not quite sure where he will end up, but he’s the kind of horse a lot of us dream of being involved so I am pretty lucky really,” he said.

Kirkwood finds himself rubbing shoulders with one of the industries most prominent ownership groups with the likes of the Woodham’s, Breckon’s, Gibbs’ and Kennard’s no strangers to saluting in some of New Zealand’s biggest races.

For the 26 year-old Kirkwood, the opportunity came somewhat out of the blue with a series of serendipitous events leading to the good fortune of being among the connections of a pacer on the rise.

“Being a part of the ownership group in itself has been quite an experience. Gary (Woodham) used to work here at HRNZ obviously and him and the other owners had the horse in work with the All Stars camp. He had a few issues along the way and was going to take a bit of time and with so many young horses to develop, that didn’t quite fit the business model of their stable.

“I suggested to Gary one day that he should give Regan a call given they had a couple of horses already in his barn and was surprised to get a phone call from Reg saying we had a new horse in the stable. When I asked him what he meant he told me Mo’unga had joined him and he was giving me a share in him I guess as a gesture of goodwill and it has all gone from there,” he said.

Woodham who resigned from his tenure as HRNZ’s CEO late last year with health complications was a great mentor to Kirkwood who had worked with the HRNZ registrations team since leaving Papanui High School as a teenager. In May last year he was promoted to a newly established role as the HRNZ Liaison.

“Liaison is not a fancy job description but it is exactly what it says,” says Kirkwood, “it’s all about upping the communication to everyone – licence holders, clubs, owners, punters, everyone involved in the sport.”

“Gary was a huge help to me in my career in the time that he was here and it was a shame that he had to step down from his role but completely understandable as to why. Those first couple of wins for Mo’unga he was on track and that was really cool to be able to share in that with him.

“But then you consider I’ve been working down at the stables with Regan and giving him a hand with his team on the weekends for quite a few years now and have known Robbie Close and been friends with him for a very long time as well, to be able to share in this experience with them is amazing.

“Its awesome watching ‘Goose’ kick goals and he works bloody hard to get the drives he does and spends a lot of time doing form and he deserves all the success that comes his way. Winning races is great, and winning these Country Cups is something I feel very fortunate about but winning them with your mates involved is that little bit more special and it could be a maiden and I would be thrilled about it,” he said.

MO’UNGA REPLAY

The hurdle from Country Cup’s to New Zealand Cup’s is not something to be understated, but when asked whether the Mo’unga camp are daring to dream a little bit beyond the $110,00 Country Cup Final on May 10th, it was clear that it’s been discussed once or twice.

“I try not to think about the Country Cups final too much because it is a hell of a sum of money and makes me quite nervous given he will be one of the favourites. I said yesterday with that race being $25,000, Group Three’s are worth not much more than that so it’s great money for these intermediate pacers. It gives them a solid pathway to stay in the country and run for great stakes for their owners with a great carrot of a six figure final.

“With being such a great standing start horse and where his rating is, he is going to have to race the Open Class pacers at some stage. I think thats the direction Regan wants to go and see how he handles it. He keeps surprising us and stepping up, so why not.

“I do like my trotters, but the New Zealand Cup has that kind of prestige around it. I said to Robbie yesterday that even if we made it and ran dead last, having a runner in the Cup would be quite an amazing experience at our age with that ownership group and my good mates training and driving the horse on the sports biggest day. It would be quite a cool feeling,” he said.

For complete Rangiora results, click here.

by Brad Reid, for Harnesslink