News Briefs - Oct 1

The retirement of New Zealand's fourth most raced standardbred, a new round of Metro heats and Finals, a Group 1 win for D Mac and an Aussie record all feature in this week's News Briefs.

Franco Huntington retired

A veteran of 290 starts, Franco Huntington has run his last race. Now 13, the decision to retire the gelding was made by his owner and trainer Doug McLachlan after his ninth placing at Gore on Sunday. He made his debut in 2015 with his best season wins and earnings-wise being the three wins and $32,526 he made as a 12 year old last year! All told he won 17 races from his 290 starts and $185,978. Bred by Spreydon Lodge, he was trained for his first 23 starts by Robin Swain before joining McLachlan in 2017. His favourite track was Ascot Park where he had eight wins. He is the fourth most active standardbred ever in this country behind Take After Me (413 starts), Alexy (347), and Danke (300).

New Metro Heats and Finals

Another round of Metro Series Heats and Finals have been confirmed for Alexandra Park in October. The $15,000 Heats for the 3YO and older R35-54 Trotters and Pacers will be held on October 24, with the two $35,000 Finals a week later. The last round of Finals were held at Alexandra Park last Friday with Confederate winning the Pacers event and Bravehearthighlander taking out the Trotters Final.

PACERS:
3YO+ R35-54 - $15k heats 24/10/25
Final - $35k 31/10/25

TROTTERS:
3YO+ R35-54 Discretionary Hcp - $15k heats 24/10/25
Final - $35k 31/10/25

Milestones for Phelan and Butcher  

Both Scott Phelan and Benjamin Butcher got to big milestones with wins at Alexandra Park on Friday night. Phelan had his 600th driving success with Mama's Wish, who he co-trains with Barry Purdon, while Butcher's 300th came with Seaside Boss, trained by Brian and Gareth Hughes. Phelan's first win was as a junior driver with The Rich Uncle 25 years ago. Butcher's breakthrough victory was with Viewfield Apache in 2013.

Ex Aussie pacer qualifies as trotter

He Aint Fakin, Phil Williamson's latest project, appears to be heading in the right direction. The Oamaru-based trainer picked up Aint Fakin It from Australia after he had had 13 wins as a pacer. Now Williamson's helping the Art Major gelding re-invent himself as a trotter. And so far so good. He Aint Fakin qualified at Oamaru over 2500 metres in 3:31.6, inside the qualifying mark of 3:32.2. He won by more than a length.

Sires' Stakes latest 

The NZ Sires Stakes ask the question : "How are we travelling?" in their latest newsletter. To get the answer click here 

Dunn up to second in USA

Dexter Dunn has continued his move up the leaderboard among the leading stakes earners in North America in 2025. The champion Kiwi driver has won 219 races this year with a combined worth of $11.2m, putting him second only behind Jason Bartlett ($11.8m). Among Dunn's achievements over the weekend was his win with superstar mare Twin B Joe Fresh, who he co-owns, in Dayton Ohio. She won in a new track record 1:48.8. Dunn is a five-time Driver of the Year in the USA and the way he's going at the moment he could well add to his total in 2025. And a racing top worn by Dunn at the 2010 Australasian Young Drivers Championships has been auctioned with all proceeds going to the Blue September fund-raiser for prostate cancer. The item was put up for sale on HRNZ's Facebook page. It sold for $180. Overall HRNZ's Blue September campaign made just over $36,000.

No deal for Carla

Despite attracting a fair amount of interest, top class broodmare Carlas Pixel failed to reach her reserve when offered up on gavelhouse.com last week. The 11-year-old mare (Courage Under Fire - Pixie Perfect) was passed in. Her reserve was $100,000. Based in Victoria, Australia she was also in foal to Captaintreacherous. In 2023 when she was last for sale she went for a record $300,000. She was offered for sale by Ola Yoder of Kountry Lane Standardbreds in North America who is dispersing all of his horses in Australia.

D Mac rules out west

Former southerner D Mac has underlined his considerable potential with a dominant win in the $150,000 Group 1 Golden Slipper at Gloucester Park in Western Australia. The win gave master trainer Gary Hall Sr’s just his fourth win in the Golden Slipper, but his second in as many years after Cyclone Jordy won last year. His other wins came with Beaudiene Boaz (2014) and way back in 1989 with Love Of Glory. D Mac, named after All Black Damian McKenzie, finished second at Winton before being sold and heading out west. “He could be one out of the box,” Hall Sr said post race.

Aussie record at Wagga  

Emerging three-year-old My Ultimate Barney set an Australian record at Wagga last Friday. The colt blasted home in 25sec flat for his last quarter to win a heat of the NSW Breeders Challenge. It’s the fastest official last quarter ever run in Australia. Driver Kate Gath captured the moment the best: “Stewards confirmed the 25sec was correct, but it was very windy and it was a tail win. It wouldn’t have counted for (Aussie sprinter) Gout Gout. It’s a very fast track, but I’ll take it.”