Always back the horse named self-interest, son. It'll be the only one trying
Alexandra Park 1973. Once were warriors, now just holes in the ground and towers in the sky. “I think we’re doomed in Auckland. Harness racing could be extinct in the north in five years. We’ve been on a slippery slope for so long and breeders have been treated like toe-rags for years. “It’s amazed me […]
At his best I rate Zac Butcher as the 3rd best driver in New Zealand, behind Nat and Mark. In the four seasons between 2017 and 2020 he proved my judgement right by winning at an average strike rate of about 1 in every 6 drives. But something happened along the way, and I am […]
Where’s Daddy used to be trained by trained by the convicted criminal Mitchell Kerr – the man who sold horses that didn’t exist, and then charged his clients imaginary fees for the upkeep the non-horse never incurred – and driven by Matthew Anderson, the convicted criminal who deals drugs and bashes and strangles women. The […]
Pukekohe trainer Derek Balle has been left fuming after his stable star was, he claims, poached by another trainer. Aardiebythehill is on a truck south to Canterbury at present where he will link up with the Woodend Beach arm of Robert and Jenna Dunn’s dual-island operation. The promising trotter’s move was decided by Canadian owner […]
Suppose you said this world we live in today has an unrecognisable skew to it, utterly foreign from what we knew even a short five years ago. In that case, you could be talking about politics, extreme climate events, violence, crime, inflation, cost of living, education, All Black rugby, work prospects or the potential for […]
Robert and John have been training together in very much an unofficial partnership in recent years as the stable has northern and southern bases, with Robert often spending time in Auckland. But the time has come to make the partnership official but with John also the country’s second leading driver it will be Jenna’s name […]
About seven months ago we wrote a story about a horse called Mark Dunnett, who couldn’t a yard when it was in the barn of Courage Under Fire’s trainer B. Negus, but turned into Batman when transferred to the Woodend Beach stables of Lurch Dunn. In his first six runs for Lurch the 26 starts […]
Bruce Negus is a bloke who can train pacers a bit. Do you remember that rather handy horse called Courage Under Fire? It was his. Negus is no mug is what I am saying. Bruce looked like a mug at Westport yesterday though, that’s for sure. He once had this horse called Mark Dunnett you […]
Until a fortnight ago the Kiwi pacer Cab Calloway had raced 55 times for 3 different trainers and had won just twice. On both occasions it had dream runs against rather ordinary opponents The first came at Winton about 3 years ago in a team drive (his team) where the stablemate led and he sat […]
Patience is a virtue. Copy That’s owner Merv Butterworth and his trainer Ray Green have plenty of it. The Champ resumed in a workout – our version of a trial – at Pukekohe Raceway this afternoon, against three top class horses. BD Joe is a Group 1 winner, OId Town Road is a rising star […]
