Mainstream stories of the past year

As we enjoy the holiday season we felt this would be a great opportunity to go back over some of the harness racing mainstream colour stories from the past year or so. Please note we were not able to source copies all of the stories that went to air, but below is a selection of the content we have received.

We thank the team at TVNZ and our mainstream media partners for this amazing coverage.

Jeremy Wells meets his namesake

Seven Sharp host, Jeremy Wells, was thrilled to have a horse named in his honour. So much so he wanted to come and meet the horse in Christchurch. But we had a bit of a surprise in store for him when he was able to take a spin behind dual NZ Cup winner, Monkey King.

See the story here

Jeremy also hosted Seven Sharp live when Jeremy Wells made his debut. As we all know with babies things don’t always go to plan, but Jeremy was pleased just to be oncourse to see his horse. Hilary Barry also got involved.

Check out the highlights from the show here

Lazarus wins his American debut            

Lazarus made the lead story on the Saturday night TV1 sports news when he won his American debut at Hoosier Park. View here

2018 New Zealand Cup

Leading into last year’s New Zealand Trotting Cup, TV1 News Sport filed two stories leading up to the big day.

Samantha Ottley view here

Barry Purdon view here

IRT Harness Jewels

TV1 News Sport spoke to the IRT team around the logistics of flying horses to Christchurch for the 2019 IRT Harness Jewels. View here

Life After Racing – Borntobeastar

Jason Gunn’s production company produce a children’s show named ‘Fanimals’ which features on weekday afternoons. Former Westview owned trotter, Borntobeastar, was featured on the programme for her career after racing. Story can be viewed here

Jo Herbert

Jo Herbert returned to race driving after ten years out of the sulky this year, TV1 News Sport featured Jo ahead of her first drive back. Watch here

U May Cullect

The star pacer featured on TV1 News Sport following being crowned Southland Horse of the Year. View the story here

Shartin World Record

Following her record breaking win on Hambletonian Day, TV1 News caught up with Shartin’s breeder Grant Crabbe. Watch here

Kaikoura Cup Day

Mike Thorpe of Seven Sharp put together this beautiful story about Kaikoura’s annual race meeting. Featuring Grant Anderson, Heather Vitale and Ricky May. Watch the story here

2019 New Zealand Cup

The All Stars team featured on TV1 News leading up to the 2019 NZ Trotting Cup, talking about the logistics of getting their team ready for our biggest race day. See the story here

Heather Vitale

Heather also made her way onto TV1 News ahead of the 2019 Cup as she filmed her social media coverage at Robert Dunn’s Woodend Beach stable. View here

Matt Cross calls his first NZ Cup

Mike Thorpe of Seven Sharp followed Matt Cross on his journey to becoming the youngest caller to call the NZ Cup with insights from commentary legend, Reon Murtha. Watch it here

I Can Doosit

Ahead of the 2019 IRT InterDominion Grand Final Guy Hevelt caught up with champion trotter, I Can Doosit. Watch it here

Ginger Woodhouse and Lionel Sinnamon

Mike Thorpe of Seven Sharp headed to Omakau in Central Otago to find out about two stalwarts of the region’s harness racing community. Watch it here

Celebrity Dual Sulky Races

We were also fortunate to have celebrities take part in dual sulky races at Alexandra Park to help fundraise for Daffodil Day and Team Teal. Below are some links to highlights from those  fundraising races.

2018 – Daffodil Racenight Celebrity Race 

2019 – Team Teal Celebrity Race

Foal Watch Series 2018/19

HRNZ also produced a mini-series named ‘Foal Watch’ following the mare Ohoka Moon over a 12 month period from the conception to birth of her Bettors Delight colt. Our thanks to Dancingonmoonlight Farm and Andrew Bailey of Rangiora Vet Centre for allowing us to be part of this fascinating process.

Foal Watch Episode 1 

Foal Watch Episode 2

Foal Watch Episode 3

Foal Watch Episode 4

Foal Watch Episode 5 

2019 Catch Driver New Zealand Cup

And finally with our world first Harness Racing Interactive Game – Catch Driver – landing at Addington Raceway in 2019, the team in Canada were able to help us put on a very special edition of the New Zealand Cup at the pre-cup function.

Check out the video below for a replay and here were the contenders:

Andrew Fitzgerald - Andrew Fitzgerald - Thefixer
Brent Smith - Sauce - Classie Brigade
Brian Thompson - Brian T - San Carlo
George Breckon - George McSpeedy - Mach Shard
Haley Evans - Halebob - Spankem
Heather Vitale - racing as Jess Smith - Cruz Bromac
Jacob Dunn - Native Dunn - Smokin By
Jeremy Markham - Jez - Henry Hubert
Lacey Dunn - Doofus - AG's White Socks
Nigel Armstrong - Westview - Chase Auckland
Phil Kennard - Laz - Hail Christian
Tim Sissons - Shakamaker - Nandolo
Wayne Ramsey - Yasmar - Our Uncle Sam

A video of the race can be found here.