Trans-Tasman battles loom at this week's HRNZ annual awards
By Michael Guerin
The Australian exclamation mark could be coming at the HRNZ annual awards in Christchurch this Saturday night.
That is when the industry celebrates the good and the great of 2024.
The night will feature a huge roll call of equine talent to honour as well as some of the people who make the industry tick and while it is always a special night it could be even more so for any Australians who make the trip across the Tasman.
This year Australian-trained horses are eligible for age group and major awards. They will be judged on their performances on this side of the Tasman only.
Last season saw the Australians dominate New Zealand’s major races and that could be reflected in the categories and even overall Horse of the Year voting.
They won big races including the New Zealand Cup with Swayzee and the Auckland Cup with Better Eclipse, with Merlin flying the Kiwi flag in the Race by Grins.
Those results alone will make for interesting voting: is a one-off NZ Cup win enough to earn Swayzee aged pacer of the year against, say, the Auckland and Invercargill Cup wins of Republican Party, who was also third in the NZ Cup?
And if Merlin is, as looks likely, to win the Four-Year-Old of the Year would that and the Grins win give him a shot at Pacer of the Year?
A little horse who casts a shadow over all the pacing winners will be recently-retired Australian trotting champion Just Believe, whose body of work here was close to a total domination.
He won the first TAB Trot, the Rowe Cup and the Dominion and he and his connections are also enormously popular so he is certain to be in the running for Horse of the Year.
The supreme award has of course been won by a trotter two of the last three years in Sundees Son but Australian-trained winners of the premier award are a far rarer occurrence.
Flashing Red was half classed as an Aussie when he won in 2007 but was trained by Tim Butt for the wins that won him that title.
So if one of the Aussies can claim the signature award this Saturday night they will join the elitist of clubs.
The change of the calendar that sees most feature races run at the start or end of the season has also increased the competitiveness of the categories, with many having early season stars who will to be weighed up against later season form.
One of the most open awards will be Three-Year-Old Male Pacer with Cold Chisel, Chase A Dream, Major Hot, Better Knuckle Up and We Walk By Faith all winning huge races and with no dominant performer.
The juvenile pacing fillies also shared the honours around as did the older pacing and trotting mares, three-year-old male trotters and the four-year-old pacing mares.
Where and when :
NZB Standardbred HRNZ Annual Awards
Saturday, February 8
Christian Cullen Lounge, Addington Raceway
Doors open at 5.15pm, Awards begin 6.00pm
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