Danke – No fairytale 300th race start

By Dave Di Somma - Harness News Desk

He’s harness racing’s record-breaking veteran but Danke raced more like a rookie in his 300^th start last night.

The 12-year-old son of Sundon became the first standardbred in this country to reach 300. But  in the race named after him (The Celebrating Danke 300^th Race Milestone Trot) at Cambridge he broke at the start and lost all chance for trainer-driver Geoff Martin.

In his 300 raceday appearances Danke has won 13, had 19 seconds and 36 thirds for stakes of $150,975.

In contrast the race was won by a  horse who’s had 298 less starts than Danke.

Favourite  Kristofferson was cruising throughout in the hands of trainer-driver Joshua Dickie, after being an expensive failure in his debut on May 31.  

This time his manners were spot on, giving his backers a very stress-free watch as he won by  1 ¼ lengths.