There's Group 3 glory offered under the Friday Night Lights at Addington this week with the Macca Lodge Two-Year-Old Trot Fillies Classique. Then the action shifts to Ashburton "Speedway" on Labour Day!
There's Group 3 glory offered under the Friday Night Lights at Addington this week with the Macca Lodge Two-Year-Old Trot Fillies Classique.
Then the action shifts to Ashburton "Speedway" on Labour Day where it's all on and we're all in as runners look to qualify for Sires' Stakes Series Finals during Cup Week.
PREVIEW/NOTES
DUNSTAN SERIES TWO-YEAR-OLD PACING FILLIES
Nervous times in this final heat (4) for the 'Reidman' and his charge Nella Keenan.
Ranked number 12 and surrounded by rivals willing to step into the dance of the desperate and take their chances.
Lean On Me, who nearly sacked the boss on debut, along with Pepinyastep, Wat Fun, and a handful of other sleepers, all look capable of jumping the queue.
The Pro Stables can never be underestimated. Add to them Bronson Munro, bringing both business acumen and some serious horsepower to the Dunstan feed barn with Dancingonmoonlight Stables. The combo has three classy,competitive fillies as a first wave in their first season!
To that...
Jorja... hints at being good enough to do something spesh at some stage. Validation did that already with a fine third in this series and Eternal Perfection will be ripped second up from her new stable.
An ambitious Belle Biddy heads south looking for a promotion given the perfectly named I'm The Boss is on leave from racing this weekend.
WOODLANDS SERIES TWO-YEAR-OLD PACERS
First and foremost, Tour Party.
The freshly crowned Harness Million Champion is mathematically 14th in the rankings right now.
He's needing pushbacks with the likes of Dollar Bill and others who've flubbed a few chances and their final two minutes starts...now!
The Tour Party is still raging though, much to the relief of those closest to the blueblood Bettor's Delight colt.
His defeat (5th) in Heat 4 of the series remains a mystery, but it means that despite his return to form in the NZB Harness Million, the early favourite still needs to deliver the goods on Monday to be absolutely certain of his place on Cup Day.
What Else We've Learned...
Scoundrel has scattered some pigeons.
There was a degree of disbelief around what this guy did when he rounded up and dropped some key rivals at Addington on October 2.
Brendon Hill was still ungearing him when reality started sinking in...
"We were almost going to turn him out a few weeks back. He's so big and still growing, but we thought we'd just have a look tonight and he's gone and done that?!"
They’ll be pressing on to the Woodlands Series Final on Cup Day now instead.
Faith Not Fear has attracted something of a cult following.
He remains the benchmark two-year-old colt of the season, even after a luckless third placing and his first taste of race-night defeat behind Tour Party and Bamm Bamm on NZB Standardbred Harness Million night.
“He presented as a rig at the yearling sales, which put a few other big bidders off him. That brought him back into our buying budget, so we're lucky and blessed to have him now. My knees are still shaking!”
Co-owner Dennis Dunford reacting after the now-confirmed colt’s clinical victory in Heat 2 at Addington.
The fire still burns for others.
Coal Fire’s hopes are far from extinguished given his series performances so far, while Captain Wolf can and will stalk the speed from pole position and is well placed to recoup his late entry fee.
NEVELE R FILLIES SERIES...
To quantify...
Australian-owned filly Ripples has already run third in an early heat at Alexandra Park, which you'd logically expect to be enough, but she's currently listed 11th in the rankings and has had to return early and needs to perform well at Ashburton to secure a spot.
Why? Because there are at least half a dozen rivals with the ability and ambition to lap up her picnic lunch if she leaves any.
Having said that, breaching the bank to the top of the rankings may be a tall order, and that works in favour of Ripples and those positioned closer to the "entry" than the "exit" signs.
Consider:
The Queens Gambit, who arrived back on the same plane.
Kentuckiana's All Of Me and stablemate Lizzie Borden.
Classic winner Cath.
Wat Next for the new Purdon power.
Miki's Deal from down south.
Song Of Seas, looking to catch a second wind of form once again.
Even Hinemoana, lurking deep on the pole, has a shot at dunking a few.
All hell could break loose with a major or minor placing, and the North-South form blend only makes this series more mouthwatering.
There are no losers among these Nevele R fillies...
But after Monday, there have to be some.
A band of five-star fillies from a mega Standardbred family are all live chances heading into this weekend!
Cherish Me and Indulge Me are already safe and just watching.
Their not-so-distant relative All Of Me can make the family trifecta of finalists with a top-three finish at Ashburton. They all descend from the incredible race and broodmare Scuse Me and will unquestionably continue the Charles Roberts Ltd legacy for as long as harness racing remains part of our landscape.
Living in the same world right now, but perhaps from a galaxy next door, is Fly High, the only unbeaten filly in the Nevele R Series so far, with victories in both Auckland heats.
She's one of not a band, but a pair of fillies flying the flag for the famous McDermotts and their Standardbred breeding side hustle on the outskirts of Christchurch. John and brother Martin are capitalising on and enjoying the feats of their current poster mare, Flyover.
Her three-year-old by Always B Miki, Fly High, is bypassing Ashburton, but her little Lazarus half-sister Jorja isn't, despite already locking in her place for the Dunstan Series Final by finishing second in Heat 3.
John's always done well enough to be dabbling with decisions around classic-quality fillies.
It actually started back in the 1970s when, as a teenager, he held firm on choosing a filly by Lordship over a colt by Bachelor Hanover when given the option by family friends Andy and Ann Wilson at the time.
Her colt, the fourth in arow from her mare Deft, turned into Noodlum, New Zealand's iconic young pacer of the last century, but that's okay.
When John's filly finally arrived the next year she wasn't bad either. Olga Korbut won the Sapling Stakes, New Zealand Juvenile Championship and ran third in the 1976 NZ Oaks when raced by Mrs A A Wilson and J B McDermott.
Jorja will have to swoop late from her deep second-row draw (14), but having two fillies do battle in Stakes races over Cup Week is not only bringing back memories, it's also making for a few sleepless nights.
Maybe some dream results next month too!
In the room after the Garrard's Sires Stakes Sophomore Classic?!
"Bring on the Derby," reckoned Frank Endacott!
The much-loved Rugby League icon knows a thing or two about the big time and, along with his son Shane and their co-owners who form a Sires' Stakes student-of-winning collective, he can't wait for a Jumal rematch with their rocket-fast Franco Lomu.
Imagine the next one... Franko Lomu?
Made in footy heaven that!
And don't dwell on the League World Cup opener last week.
"The best team ran second. That's all I want to say about that..."
Frank can't wait for that rematch either, you think?
