Always back the horse named self-interest, son. It'll be the only one trying
If the Group 3 Lincoln Farm Founders Cup last night at Alexandra Park last night was any indication then North Island harness racing looks to have a veritable Autumn full of racing riches ahead. A star studded field of pacers lined up in the 1700m race, with the cream of the NZ crop Merlin, Republican […]
29 October 2025 , News By Michael Guerin Auckland Trotting Club bosses have heard the words they needed to provide security about the future of the industry after a crucial property deal has fallen through. The ATC have been informed by Oyster Capital that after completing their due diligence that development company will not be going […]
For the second start in a row the Sale of Pukekohe has galloped in the score-up and taken no competitive part. First the mooted $100 million sale to the Chinese Developers went west. At least the Auckland Trotting Club got to keep the deposit from that one, although most of it went to the bank […]
Tim Vince with one of his favorite doped to the eyeballs pacers We are pretty sure this is a gee-up so we will treat it with the contempt it deserves, but mail from an anonymous tipster in the South Island is that Tim ‘Stonefish’ Vince – a founding member of the uber successful Hong Kong […]
60 percent of the Everest crowd were under 26. 95 percent of the Auckland Trotting Club members are over 70. The person charged with bringing young ones to the trots has failed,. Courtney Mackinnon – the Fairy Princess – is by all reports a lovely young woman, but is surely overpaid at $25k a year […]
The problems with small field sizes in North Island NZ harness racing continue apace, with this week’s cards at Cambridge and Alexandra Park further illustrating the magnitude of the issue. It is well known that to maximize wagering turnover on the trots races need to have a minimum of 8 race (preferably more) with 10-12 […]
The problem with small field sizes for harness races in the North Island of New Zealand continues apace, with 2/3rds of races run or about to be run this month in the region having fields of less than 8 runners, the sort of numbers that spell wagering turnover death. Cambridge is the worst affected track, […]
About three months back we wrote a story illustrating the problems with Harness Racing New Zealand CEO Brad Steele’s proposal to use proceeds from the forced sale of the Forbury Park track to help the Auckland Trotting Club (ATC) build a new training center and track to replace the Franklin Park facility the ATC is […]
Out of a combination of idle curiosity and a desire to benchmark Merlin’s time for the 2700m at Alexandra Park on Friday night I decided to go looking for the records at the track. It started off pretty simple, as you can see from the screenshot at the top. The slogan was pretty stupid, particularly […]
