"Wonderful" trotter with 15th win at Winton

By Jonny Turner 

Two very different kinds of trotting milestones were reached at Winton on Sunday.

Aveross Majesty showed at the grand age of 11-years-old he has plenty of life left in his racing career when running to a stylish victory.

The win was the 15th of the grand campaigner's career and came in his 120th start for Waikouaiti owner-trainer Denis O'Connell.

Aveross Majesty has been with O'Connell for all but seven of those starts and he has clearly done an outstanding job of keeping on top of the horse's niggling issues.

But the trainer was quick to brush any credit aside.

"He needs to be worked on the beach because he has a few issues with his legs,” O’Connell said.

"But the beach really helps him."

"He has been a wonderful old horse for us."

"He is good to work with and he loves being worked on the lead on the beach – he loves the beach."

Aveross Majesty has raced extensively in Canterbury, Otago and Southland which has seen O'Connell rack up thousands of kilometres on the road during the horse's career.

The trainer's family are nearly always by his side, making the hours on the road much more enjoyable.

"They are my best supporters and great helpers," O'Connell said.

"When we are travelling, we make it a family thing."

"The girls bring along plenty of food and we make it a bit of a picnic."

Showing he's not slowing down yet, Aveross Majesty's Winton win rates as good as any he's produced in recent seasons.

The trotter reeled off respectable closing sectionals while holding off a quality opponent in Tarragindi.

And he was untested in doing it for driver Carter Dalgety.

"Carter rated him wonderfully well in front," O'Connell said.

"He said he still had plenty left in the tank and he didn't pull the earplugs."

Fellow Otago horseman Matthew Williamson also produced a trotting achievement on the Winton card.

Victory with Blarney Stone took Williamson to 500 trotting driving wins in New Zealand.

The Oamaru trainer-driver went into the weekend on 497 victories before scoring with Axel Rose and Master McGoogan at Addington on Friday night.

Win number 500 came when Blarney Stone produced the first faultless performance of his short career to break maidens.

"I was on 497 with John Dunn and I thought he would beat me to it, but we had a great week and we managed to do it," Williamson said.

Williamson has 502 trotting wins in the sulky altogether, having won two races in Sweden while competing in the World Driving Championships.

He has won 851 pacing races, taking him to a total of 1,351 victories in New Zealand