Monika Ranger nine points clear in NZ Junior Drivers Championships

By Michael Guerin

Monika Ranger’s golden run at the New Zealand Junior Drivers Championships continued at Addington on Friday night but her only issue is that everywhere she went her nearest rival Carter Dalgety followed.

Which means the final two heats of the series at Methven on Sunday set up a perfect North versus South battle for the title.

Ranger followed up a second and a win on the opening night of the series at Cambridge with exactly the same results at Addington.

She drove Major Happy perfectly to finish second to Brandi Snapp in the mobile pacing heat on Friday, the winner simply too good in front for Sam Thornley.

Ranger then led most of the way with big trotter Donna’s Boy as he beat Harriet’s Moment and hot favourite He Aint Fakin in the second heat.

The latter was part of an unusual mid-race incident when driver Emily Johnson had her helmet knocked off by the horse trailing her.

Johnson never missed a beat and still gave her horse every chance, he just couldn’t sit parked outside the leader who is clearly on the improve.

You would think any driver who could go through the first four races of a series with two wins and two seconds would already be in an unbeatable position but that is not quite the case as when Ranger ran second on Friday Dalgety finished third and when she won he finished second.

So after four rounds over two nights even after the almost perfect series Ranger leads on 58 points but Dalgety is still very much in the picture on 49 points, with 16 points back to Mia Holbrough on 33 points in third.

Johnson sits fourth in 31 while Sam Thornley and Wilson House share fifth on 27 points.

While technically the top three can all still win it looks battle between Ranger and Dalgety with the latter having the slightly better two drives, according to the markets, than Ranger on the big grass track on Sunday.

But while neither of Ranger’s drives Franco Humble (R5, No.7) nor Dennis Denuto (R7, No.10) have any recent form to recommend them they both at least have good grass track records.

Ranger was taking her series lead all in her stride on Friday night, admitting she was initially reluctant to take her wild card into the series but was enjoying meeting new trainers and putting faces to names.

“It has been really good and now I will have to do plenty of study for those two heats on Sunday,” she smiled.

The juniors series aside there were good wins from former TAB Racing Club pacer Eun Sogno over another smart pacer in Sonofamistery on Friday while in the night’s pacing handicap Ted’s Legacy gave trainer Jim Curtin the second leg of a double after the earlier Brandi Snapp win.

Curtin managed to snare the lead after pacemaker Berretini rolled into a gallop and once there Curtin took no prisoners, rolling even 30-second quarters that meant those back in the field trying to come wide never got into the race. 

It was Ted’s Legacy’s seventh career win and in beating home Bettor Be Sharp he reversed their quinella from the junior drivers race just five days earlier at Motukarara.