Some sporting highs have helped us over the winter hump and into the right frame of mind for spring harness racing!
Man, there’ve been some sporting highs to help us over the winter hum‑drum.
Ryan Fox barnstorming to that last‑hole victory at the golf open. We relished Zoe’s Commonwealth Games gold as much as she did. Eliza’s comeback in the pole vault was inspiring. Closer to code, Dexter Dunn got his dream result on Hambo Day.
Has us in the right frame of mind with spring and summer harness racing ahead, doesn’t it?
An ardent All Black fan and Sires’ Stakes CEO, Martin Pierson, gets the feeling our premium sports team might even deliver beyond expectations too.
Signs are the same around sign‑on for the Sires’ Stakes this month, he says.
“There are still a couple of weeks to go yet, but yes, I’m pleasantly surprised by the encouraging uptake at this stage. A sense of controlling your own destiny in the Sires’ Stakes could be a motivator for participants in the coming weeks, given the overall reset ahead for harness racing.”
Aspirational stakes racing like the New Zealand Sires’ Stakes is a pay‑and‑play model rather than relying solely on the sport’s majority funding source — betting turnover — and has enabled the recent announcement around an unchanged prize money commitment to New Zealand harness racing’s premium stakes racing series.
While the total prize money is unchanged, there have been subtle movements for a few events on the race date calendar.
Pierson points to the addition of the NZB Standardbred Southern Pacing Mares Classic, won last Show Day by Esmerelda, being brought forward to October 9 at Addington.
“The new sponsorship aligns that race nicely with NZB Standardbred Harness Million night now, and it will be a quality $50,000 showcase race for the aged mares alongside those three lucrative Sales Series features for two‑year‑olds that night.”
Shifting the other way — to be closer to the final on Show Day — is the second IRT Trot Prelude for two‑year‑old square‑gaiters. Now November 6 at Addington. The first prelude remains in Auckland on September 11.
Of course, the most anticipated calendar change is coming in 2027, when the Garrard’s Series for Three‑Year‑Old Male Pacers comes back to the spring racing schedule where it used to be highlighted by a Cup Day final.
The race is renowned for teasing fans with the next generation superstar, and its return to the spring schedule is a mouth‑watering prospect for Pierson too.
“Gee, scrolling down the greats on that winners list is a spine‑tingling trip by itself. I think all fans of the sport remember those races and the horses in fine detail. Almost every year the Three‑Year‑Old Sires’ Stakes Final gave us a race that rivalled the New Zealand Cup as a highlight on our biggest day.”
He’s right.
If you had to pick just one, you couldn’t — not without mentioning at least two others.
For example, Auckland Reactor’s win (2007) from near the tail of the field on settling was unfathomable, and that makes you immediately think of Sir Lincoln’s success (2009) from somewhere similar on the final bend, which left fans and his owners gasping post‑race.
Then, if you scroll back further through Cullen, past Courage, just before hitting Chokin, you get Laud!
A green, oversized son of Andrel who provided another green youth, Cran Dalgety, with his first significant win. Wily Peter Jones reined the inexperienced learner to victory over some Purdons, O’Sullivans, Camerons — and most pre‑race predictions — at just his fifth start of 1992.
Woah.
And we’re back from the time warp to 2026, where a now‑wily Cran Dalgety is prepping the exciting Tour Party among others as the Sires’ Stakes‑administered series kick off next week with opening salvos in the Dunstan Horsefeeds Two‑Year‑Old Fillies and Nevele R Three‑Year‑Old Fillies Series.
Poignant reminders to have your horses sorted by the September 1 closing date for series payments and foal registrations — to be included in the next chapters of Sires’ Stakes excitement.
