Kyvalley Ray is chasing a stakes‑racing double‑double in this IRT Sires’ Stakes Series Final. With the two‑year‑old versions of this race and the Harness Million already in the locker — alongside last week’s three‑year‑old Harness Million trophy — it’s hard to argue against a well‑founded superiority complex.
Is Kyvalley Ray asserting his superiority — or is the Otago‑bred, Kiwi‑ex‑pat‑trained, Australian‑owned three‑year‑old trotter still susceptible?
A son of champion Euro trotting sensation Bold Eagle, he’s chasing a stakes‑racing double‑double in this IRT Sires’ Stakes Series Final. With the two‑year‑old versions of this race and the Harness Million already in the locker — alongside last week’s three‑year‑old Harness Million trophy — it’s hard to argue against a well‑founded superiority complex.
It’s just that he has the capacity for the occasional cognitive calamity (refer: Ray’s gallop around Cambridge fresh‑up and the trial‑day blooper reel), leaving the gate open for talented rivals to pinch the stake money at any time.
It might be false hope, because when Ray gets it right, he’s quickly out of sight once the winning post comes into his blinkered view.
The competition has shown signs of being able to foot it, though.
One who got closest last time, Who’s Ya Daddy, is sidelined this week and waiting for the Northern Trotting Derby. That leaves the filly who chased hardest last summer to get the job again — although Petite Amour might prefer Ray does the chasing. The Diamond Racing‑schooled square‑gaiter found another promising filly too fast at her 2026 debut on Night of Champions, but was brisk and brave when looking an improved product all the way around at Cambridge.
Which gets us to the horse that beat her that night: Our Col.
Undefeated and devastatingly good up until a “plain Jane” third in the Harness Million, the giant filly — who had her legendary trainer‑driver Tony Herlihy waxing lyrical about long‑term prospects — has more likely had him helmet‑banging since.
If Col comes back to form, we might get an exciting exchange. If she comes in flat for the second time in a fortnight? She’ll keep — if not for the Northern Oaks or Derby in May, then for the premium occasions over spring and summer.
Floats full of three‑year‑old fillies will file into Alexandra Park for a final hit‑out ahead of next week’s Sires’ Stakes Final.
We’re being a little facetious — while some are in the maiden races, most are majoring their autumn in the Northern Oaks.
Last year’s running of this heralded Group One feature changed the course of the 2025 three‑year‑old filly contest. Arafura upset burning‑hot favourite Beside Me, but a week later Captains Mistress came back with a vengeance to put the Magness Benrow title alongside her Dunstan Horsefeeds Series two‑year‑old trophy from the previous spring.
TBH, you can make a case for any of the final 13 fillies who will face the starter for The Oaks this year — especially since the barrier draws dealt most of the form runners the second row.
Unless something unleashes, it might be the same in the Sires’ Stakes next time around Auckland. It’s hard to see a clearly defined first three or four just yet.
“This sets up perfectly for the division,” says Sires’ Stakes CEO Martin Pierson. “It just makes you feel the majority have a genuine winning chance, and the stables are confident to travel and make their claim — as the full‑to‑overflowing number of acceptances clearly shows.”
That carded 15 doesn’t include a couple from down south who came up short in the Sires’ Stakes Semi Final at Addington recently — so numbers are up and hopes are high among another large group of competitive fillies and connections.
Hoofnote:
Meanwhile, Jumal looks in the right place to right the ship on his expected Sires’ Stakes attack at Addington on May 15, when he sets off from the pole in the Northern Pacing Derby this week. It gives new skipper Blair Orange a clear sighter first time steering the young gun.
The Northern Oaks and Northern Derby winners automatically qualify for their respective Sires’ Stakes Finals as long as they're subscribed to the series with another semi‑final opportunity still to come in Christchurch for the colts and geldings on May 15.
It’s worth taking a pause to appreciate — and anticipate — the quality coming into the big league of Australasian harness racing from New Zealand right now.
Finally. Right?
The Kiwis have been bashed around with a green‑and‑gold boomerang in the big time for a while, and it might finally be our turn — at least in the pacing division.
Trainer‑driver Bob Butt summed it up for the local fanbase not long after his hoop, The Lazarus Effect, gave it to Swayzee and company over the Taylor Mile short‑course Group One last week.
“We need these horses like The Laz coming through now because it’s been hard to watch the Aussies win just about everything these last few years.”
Not only has TLE stamped himself as the local measure of speed in the open division — it goes without saying how good GTC was running second last week.
Ominously, Swayzee — for all his grand‑circuit miles — was breathtakingly brave to rally off the burn he copped around the final corner.
Surprisingly, Cam Hart is bullish for the dual NZ Cup winner’s rematch with the next‑gen New Zealanders in the Roy Purdon Memorial over 2200 metres this Friday night.
Time will tell, with everything drawn inside him: GTC (1) and The Laz (4).
Whatever the result, it’ll give us more pixels for a clearer picture of the current trans‑Tasman rivalry.
Plus, there’s a “bigger, stronger, faster Steve Austin”… er… Marketplace, ready to strike if we need him too. And we definitely will — to win a war or three and then take on Larry in the battle of 2026.
