Smith said although there were some lucrative open class and age group pacing events on offer over the next month or so, it was the trotters who really had some nice purses to cash in on at the North Island’s two major racetracks.
“We have dubbed it the ‘Trotting Grand Prix’ simply because there are five Group and Listed trotting events between December 10 and January 7 both here and at Cambridge Raceway. As a result we are expecting all the gun trotters from both Islands to be competing,” Smith said.
The four races are the Group Two $40,000 Lyell Creek Stakes at Alexandra Park on December 10; the Group Three $25,000 Northern Trotting Breeders Stakes for Fillies and Mares at Alexandra Park on December 17; the Group Two $50,000 Trotters Flying Mile at Cambridge Raceway on December 24; the Group One $80,000 National Trot at Alexandra Park December 31; and the Listed 35,000 Cambridge Trotters Flying Stakes at Cambridge Raceway on January 7.
The Lyell Creek Stakes will be beamed live into France.
Murray Tapper said he and Stylish Monarch would definitely be travelling north from their Timaru base within the next week or so.
“We haven’t confirmed exactly which day we will be travelling but it will be in early December in time for the December 10 trot at Alexandra Park. We finished second behind Sundon’s Gift in the Rowe Cup in May so it would be nice to win a race there after a couple of seconds and a fourth,” the South Canterbury trainer said.
He said he gave Stylish Monarch a couple of days off after he and Ricky May won the Group One $200,000 Dominion win at Addington Raceway on Show Day (November 12).
“He’s the sort of horse you have to keep putting the work into. In fact he loves it. I’ve just been bowling along with him lately but tomorrow (Saturday November 27) I’ll really step it up and we will work slowly towards the big Group One event on New Year’s Eve. That’s our main target,” Tapper said.
Tapper and his 7-year-old Monarchy gelding will be staying with Richard Brosnan at Ardmore while in the North Island. He will not be bringing a travel mate with Stylish Monarch.
“I’ll come up initially and then return home to work the rest of my team,” he said.
That team includes his second best racehorse, Sundon 8-year-old mare, Domination, who has won 10 of her 86 starts and placed 19 times for $89,733 in purses.
Stylish Monarch, whom Tapper rated the best standardbred he has trained since taking out his licence in 1992-93, has won 13 of his 39 races and placed in 13 others for $326,082 in career stakes. He was bred and owned by Mrs Anne Patterson.
Other South Island trainers who will converge on Auckland and Cambridge include Ken Barron, Mark Purdon and Grant Payne, Murray Brown, Brent Weaver, Paul Nairn, Cran Dalgety, Tim Butt and Mark Jones who has transferred his six-win Pacific Rocket gelding Algeepee to Todd Mitchell’s Cambridge stable.
By Duane RANGER (editor)