News Briefs : May 15

Chase goes to third in stakes-earners

Chase A Dream is the now third highest earner in New Zealand this year after winning the Garrards Sires' Stakes Series No 40 Final at Addington on Friday night. The Purdon-trained star just nosed out stable-mate We Walk By Faith in the $160,000 feature. Chase A Dream has earned $232,054 from five wins and a second from eight starts in 2024, with only Merlin ($520,675) and Just Believe ($348,500) ahead of him.

What The Hill kicking goals

The progeny of What The Hill are excelling at the moment, with eight wins across the last nine meetings in this country. He is now the leading sire of 4-year-old trotters in New Zealand headlined by the impressive Bet N Win.
His full list of New Zealand winners across the last two weeks are:

Bet N Win - $40,000 Listed Uncut Gems winner and fifth career win
Queen Kizen – Second 2YO win from two starts
Moment Of What – Two wins in two weeks
Bravehearthighlander – Maiden Win
Ferdinand – Maiden winner at his second start
Ya Rite Darl – 2YO Winner at her second start
Kairaki Spur - 3YO winner

Two out of three ain't bad

Carter Dalgety got two legs of what would have been a unique treble last Friday. On his 21st birthday he also graduated from Lincoln University with a Bachelor of Commerce with a double Major in Global Business and Supply Chain Management. He then headed to the races at Addington to add what was already an epic day but a win would prove elusive. His best result on the night was a fifth with Franco Sinatra in the Matt Harrison Construction Mobile Pace.

Dex passes 50 stateside

Ten-time champion Kiwi driver Dexter Dunn has gone past 50 wins in North America this year. The New Jersey-based driver now has 55 wins for the year from 350 drives, with stakes of $906,023 and UDR of 0.277. It's been a slower than usual year for Dunn, who was the US Driver of the Year from 2019 -2022. In 2022 he was the talk of the harness racing world through his world record-breaking efforts with Bulldog Hanover. Aaron Merriman has the most wins in North America this year with 287 and $2.2m in stakes, while Jason Bartlett has earned the most, $3.3m from 196 winning drives. Australian Todd McCarthy recorded a big milestone at the Meadowlands over the weekend, with his 1000th career victory in North America with a Lazarus gelding, Endofstory.

No Whale Watch this week

Harness racing punting platform Whale Watch won't be on our screens this week, though presenter Craig "The Whale" Thompson will be back in time for the Rowe Cup - Auckland Cup and other meetings next week. The Whale watch is a regular and popular feature on Youtube, the hrnz website and Trackside channels.

Winner out west

Kiwi bred mare Tiger Lou has made a winning Western Australian debut. Trained by Matt Scott and driven by Shannon Suvaljko, the seven-year-old took out the Norm Bell Memorial at Kellerberrin over the weekend. The daughter of Sweet Lou was exported to Australia in 2022 with Scott buying her on-line after she'd earlier won three races in New South Wales. In this country she had one win from 27 starts, with her sole victory for trainers Jason and Ian Thomas at Motukarara in November 2020.

Weanling sale May 23

NZB Standardbred's National Weanling Sale will take place at the Karaka Sales Centre on Thursday 23 May 2024 from 12pm. A total of 106 weanlings will be offered for sale with two yearlings (by Downbytheseaside and Captaintreacherous) rounding out the sale. There are 33 siblings to black-type performers. Nineteen stallions will be represented including Bettor's Delight, Sweet Lou and Majestic Son. A full catalogue is available here

Club News :

Ashburton :
The Chertsey trials at Ashburton May 28 will not now be going ahead as planned as the track at Ashburton is being resurfaced that week.

Invercargill :
The annual ILT Race Day at the Invercargill Harness Racing Club’s meeting at Ascot Park Raceway in Invercargill this Saturday will give on-course patrons the opportunity to win several $50 meal vouchers at ILT establishments. Fifteen meal vouchers from a variety of ILT establishments are up for grabs and entering the draw to win them could not be easier. Just put your name and contact details on the back of any losing tote ticket placed on a race at the meeting, place them into the buckets around the course and late in the day a lucky draw will be made in the birdcage to find the winners. Fifteen draws will be made and each ticket drawn will be paired with one of these fantastic prizes. Meanwhile the annual Punting Competition takes place in association with the race day with The Ave looking to back up last year’s success and take home the trophy for the second year in succession. The day will feature nine races from 12.16pm and admission on the day will be free.