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It was good to see Ian and Jocelyn Cameron pick up another nice race at Addington. The Fernside couple have been involved in harness racing for years, remaining dedicated to a sport that they love.

Two decades ago, seeing Ian's orange and brown stars silks lead the field home first was a common occurance, and he hit a real purple patch of form when in the mid-1980's he won over 20 races per season a few times in a row. Double figures were achieved again four times during the early 1990s, but lately the pickings have been slim, although not a season has gone by where Cameron hasn't bagged at least a couple of wins.

The tally for 2003/04 is now sitting on four after Ginas Brightest took out the $18,000 NZ Trotters' Trust Trotting Oaks last week, and she did it the hard way. Slow away from her wide draw in the 1950 metre mobile event, Cameron had her up outside the leader Tracy's Dream with a lap to travel and poured the pressure on, eventually pulling away from that runner and then holding out the late charge of Kahola.

"I am enjoying the game more now than I ever have," Cameron said afterwards. "I'm working eight, and it is the best team I have had around me for years." Cameron outlined the importance, for them, of his wife having a full-time occupation in addition to harness racing, because with her being the head teacher at their local kindergarten it enables them to manage their involvement in the sport.

It is quite an involvement too, because apart from the racehorses, they have been breeding for the yearling sales for nearly a decade, putting "the odd one" through the ring, and this year have seven mares in foal. One of those is their latest winner's dam, Rangitawa Gina. "Gary Allen and I bred Ginas Brightest, but he wanted out of the breed so Jocelyn and I leased his half share and also bought the mare off him. Her first foal was Debbie Galleon, who has won two, and the next was a full-sister to Ginas Brightest that Glenys Buchanan qualified nicely and then on-sold (now with Jeff Whittaker). We have got an Armbro Invasion 2-year-old filly which broke in nice, and she is in foal to Monarchy."

By Britewell, Ginas Brightest's career started last year when she qualified as a 2-year-old at Rangiora in July. "I was working her with the older horses, and she was going alright, so I decided to give her a start and she ran third in a mobile at Addington behind Time Of Reckoning. She broke from a stand next start, so she went out for a good five months spell and only came in when we got back from the Coast after Christmas. "She is good-gaited, and so tough - a run like the other night doesn't worry her. It was nice to win a race like that too...we had a bit of luck for a change," he said.

Credit: John Robinson writing in HRWeekly 24Mar04

Tidal Franco, the biggest winner in the field for the $120,000 NZ Yearling Sales Series Pace, was not the big certainty that she may have appeared under analysis. She had won the most races - three - she had won the most money - $86,932 - and the draw - one - was hardly a matter for complaint. And once she led and had it pretty much her own way, the Live Or Die filly seemed to have Addington's feature at her mercy.

It was not until That's Life Lavra came out of the pack after turning in that Tidal Franco looked vulnerable. That's Life Lavra came in for the kill less than 100 metres out, and with the formidable Tony Herlihy weilding the brush, swept past Tidal Franco to win by half a neck. there was a gap to the others, headed by Asabella.

That's Life Lavra is a Life Sign filly from Expressive Moves, an unraced mare by Nihilator owned in Victoria by Andrew McNair. She was bought for $24,000 by Kypros and Mary Kotzikas and placed with Robert Cameron, where she stayed until joining Herlihy's team for Christmas racing at Auckland. "She raced good there and ran fourth in the Oaks, without being quite up to Dudinka's Star," said Herlihy. "But she has come a long way in just five starts and I am sure she will go on with it," he said. Herlihy gave himself a winning chance some way from the finish. "I was travelling better than the favourite on the turn," he said

Credit: Mike Grainger writing in HRWeekly 18Feb04

Anyone backing one to beat Coburg in Friday night's $100,000 NZ Standardbred Breeders' Stakes will do so at their peril. The winner of the PGG Premier Mares Championship "has done terrific" says trainer Mike Berger. "I took Coburg out on Monday to bowl round free-legged, but she was that frisky I had to bring her back in and put the hopples on," he said.

Berger said that while Coburg is a stronger horse than she was last season, she was not quite up to Pullover Brown and Alta Serena, he says the good draw could make all the difference over the sprint. "But both her and Hot Shoe Shuffle have thrived since being down here. Hot Shoe Shuffle won't need to improve much to beat Coburg if the draw goes her way," he said. Neither work together, as Berger finds they get too competitive and go too hard if they do. "They are better on their own. I tend to take them along quietly and tighten up the bolts later on," he said.

Coburg had the run last week that Pullover Brown had slipped into until Fake The Moment broke. After they had skirted her, Pullover Brown was on the back of Coburg who was following the parked Hot Shoe Shuffle. She is the new drive of Peter Ferguson, who said after her first night win: "I am not scared of anything next week."

Those in the Coburg syndicate are Dr Ray Thomson, who is the majority shareholder, HRNZ Executive Member Ray O'Connor and his wife Christine, who are also in the syndicate that races Hot Shoe Shuffle, Jan and Sandy Yarndley, and Barry, Matthew, Evelyn and Jill Gordon. According to Barry, Ray Thomson inspected a number of the Yarndley fillies that were being offered at the PGG sales before settling on Coburg. "I think she cost us $30,000, but we were prepared to go higher," said Gordon. "Ray is very particular in what characteristics he looks for. He is very good. We will be looking again this year, but won't be buying for the sake of it," he said.

Of those beaten runners, none impressed more than Don't Tell Kate who cut many lengths off the leaders after being near last at the 400 metres.

Credit: Mike Grainger writing in HRWeekly 28Jan04

Lyell Creek has the FFA in safe keeping

Lyell Creek is obviously not as old as people think he is. He made short work of younger bones in the Porter Group Hyundai Construction Equipment NZ Trotting Free-For-All at Addington last Friday, sending his 11-year-old legs humming over 2600m at record speed.

The 11 others, all of younger vintage, saw him disappear down the straight, followed by Sumthingaboutmaori, who chased him gamely. For most of them it was more of the same. This was his 55th win, a number which still takes some comprehening. He ran the trip in 3:14.3, which clipped 0.1 off the old mark shared by Last Sunset and Major Decision. This, too, takes thinking about. It might suggest that he is as good, or better, than he has been.

Trainer Tim Butt shakes his head at the thought of it. "He is not the horse he was. Today, the race panned out for him. Some of the others, like Allegro Agitato, were taken on and had hard runs. This was run to suit him," he said.

As good as it was, Butt is anxious to keep the performance in perspective. "If they go 4:05, he can win the Dominion, but not if they run 4:10. In the last three weeks his work has been great. He enjoys life around the stables, looks forward to his work, but we will still have to space his races. The Friday one was designed to top him off for the Dominion," he said.

Butt said it was fantastic hearing the Addington crowd give Lyell Creek such an ovation after his win. "They respect him, and I think they can see he has got that will to win, just like Sunline showed," he said

Credit: Mike Grainger writing in HRWeekly 17Nov04

When Robin Swain bought Roman Gladiator at the Premier Yearling Sale 33 months ago, he had ever intention of breaking the colt in, getting him running along, and selling him. Well that was the plan anyway.

After all, the Christian Cullen son out of Assisi was a spur of the moment purchase; Swain had ventured up from his home in Knapdale specifically to buy a particular filly, and when that plan went out the window he found himself lifting a finger later in the day so that he could at least take something home.

Placed in the name of Swain's wife Amanda and their good friends Peter and Marie Neil, from Sydney, Roman Gladiator sailed through his early education without a hitch and was soon at the races, winning his 2-year-old debut impressively during March 2003. The Swains didn't need to hunt for buyers, they came knocking themselves. "I remember Robin telling me on the phone that we had had an offer for $50,000," recalled Peter. "Well I turned that down, but then he won his second start as well and we got another offer, this time for $300,000." Swain rang his co-owner again. "Robin said to me...'half of $300,000 is a house'. And I replied...'well, half of a million is two and a half houses'."

The Neils had been friends of the Swains for quite a few years, ever since they first bought a horse off the called Oneinamillion, and Peter's faith that Roman Gladiator would indeed develop into something special one day - and thus should be hung on to - was installed by Swain himself. "It was just the way I had heard Robin talk about the horse early on," he continued. "He believed that Roman Gladiator was the best horse he had ever sat behind, and that as far as speed goes he had never driven a horse as fast. So I thought, well this is what we all dream about. I said to Robin that if we sell him, all I'm going to do is go and look for another horse like him to buy. As far I could see, we already had the horse.

History shows that Neil was indeed justified in trying to talk his partner around. When Roman Gladiator captured the Sires' Stakes Final at Addington this time last year, it was his sixth win from 11 starts. And the ride didn't stop there...victories at Ascot Park, Forbury Park and Winton earlier this year followed, and then Roman Gladiator gave his Sydney connections their greatest thrill in racing when he captured a Prelude and the Final of the New South Wales Derby in May at their 'local' track, Harold Park.

Roman Gladiator went out for a spell after that, and after winning his resumption at Addington last month with a super effort after pulling fiercely in the trail for the entire event, he was back at Addington two days ago to take out the $30,000 Firestone Direct Free-For-All with a brilliant late surge. The Neils were there too, coming across the Tasman especially to see their pride and joy on his big day. "It certainly beats listening to his races over the phone, which we have had to do a few times," Peter said. "It is not ideal, but it beats not knowing how he has gone though. We knew it was going to be a test for him today, and thought that Lennon was going to be a big danger, so to beat him was a great thrill."

Credit: John Robinson writing in HRWeekly 11Nov04

If there has been any criticism of Sundon's progeny at all, it has been their lack of success at Group 1 level as aged trotters, a fact that could perhaps be attributed to their preference for sprinting as opposed to staying.

It was ironic therefore that when the dust had settled on Cup Day, Belle Galleon had won the two-mile intermediate trot and another Sundon mare in Some Direction had out-stayed the open class trotters in the Christchurch Casino Handicap.

Sent off as the rank outsider at odds of 75-to-one, despite a strong win in lesser company at Ashburton two starts prior, Some Direction overcame sitting parked for the last 2000 metres and proved too strong for the pacemaking Whatsundermykilt and Sundon's Luck, who had sat on her back. With Sumthingaboutmaori and Castleton's Mission having traffic problems back in the field, and the last mile going by in 2:00.6 (58.9, 29.1), the race sat up perfectly for Some Direction.

It was a "career high-light" for reinsman Justin Smith, who co-owns and co-trains the 7-year-old with his mother Lynn near Rakaia. Some Direction has been a great money spinner for them. this was her 77th start since she began racing as a 3-year-old a little under four years ago, and her 13th win along with 21 seconds and thirds took her stakes to the verge of $100,000. "We are not doing anything different - she needs the right sort of run and she hasn't had a lot of luck in her racing," said Justin. "She was racing well at this time last year up until the Cup Meeting, and then went off, probably because of the breeding season. So we only gave her a brief break at the end of last season with a view to having her back racing early this season," he added

The Smith's will now go into next week's Dominion with a little more confidence than they would have otherwise. It is a race which is starting to look like the winner is going to be a stayer off the front anyway. "I think she can go 4:08, so we'll just have to see if anyone can go quicker."

Credit: Frank Marrion writing in HRWeekly 11Nov04

Tim Butt, Joan & Peter Cocks savour the moment

A horse that Peter Cocks bought simply because he wanted his Sundon yearling to have a paddock mate ended up giving him and his wife Joan their greatest thrill in harness racing at Addington on Cup Day.

Now 66, Cocks has been racing horses for 35 years. He had hardly ever raced a 2-year-old during that time, nor had he ever had a runner in a Sires' Stakes Final, but Tribute has surpassed both of these hurdles and on Tuesday he iced the cake with a super victory in the $150,000 NRM-sponsored Group 1 event.

"I won't tell you what I paid for him, because I never do that, but he wasn't cheap considering he was only supposed to be a paddock mate," Cocks joked, remembering back to the reason why he bought Tribute in the first place. "We were going to put him through the sale ring after that, and he was all set to be entered and sent away to start being prepared when we decided to keep him. "I think Joan fell in love with him," he said. Probably in the back of his mind also was the fact that of the seven or eight horses he has bought from the sales, Cocks is yet to enjoy a win from any of them. "I think the best I have had was a qualifier. But you never know, it's just bad luck I suppose."

Placed in Tim Butt's stable, Tribute made his debut as a juvenile earlier this year when running a close second at Addington, and then he went down south to Wyndham nine days later and made everyone sit up and take notice of him when he became the first 2-year-old pacer to break 1:55 in NZ. "That was a shock - Tim wasn't expecting much more than a top five finish that day," Cocks said. "Even today we were thinking that fourth would be our lot, because there were a few nice horses in there and some of them have been beating him in the lead-up races; anything better than that was going to be a bonus."

And a 'bonus' is certainly what Tribute's connections got on Tuesday, because after being tucked away sweetly behind Marika, who set a red-hot pace, Tribute dived through at the business end and took out the 1950 metre event in a sizzling 1:56 mile rate. Cocks and his wife are "always" on-course when one of their horses is racing, and in the past they have been on-hand to enjoy such moments as a Trotting Stakes victory by Whizzing By and nine wins apiece by the likes of Eastnor Lad and Greenidge. The latter also started in the New Zealand Cup one year for them as well, finishing 10th behind Bee Bee Cee in 1994.

"This is certainly the biggest win we have ever had, and it is a great thrill," said Cocks, who started up his own hot water cylinder manufacturing company 40 years ago and is still suppling a strong niche market today. "We have got a factory in Bromley and employ ten staff - I must be due to retire soon though," he smiled.

Afterwards, the In The Pocket-Going Royce's trainer spoke very philosophically about the one victory that he and brother Anthony managed to grab on an action-packed Cup Day. "Tribute is a very nice little horse, who is seasoned, and he got the trip and did the business today," Butt said. "Luck probably went our way a bit out there, because there were a couple of very nice horses in that race. But he is a good horse to work with, and he has got a great constitution - he is the perfect racehorse, really. Where he goes from here is up to him now; he will either go on and mature or he will level out, it remains to be seen."



Credit: John Robinson writing in HRWeekly 11Nov04

Mister D G justified his favouritism in the $25,000 Nobilo, winning from Light And Sound and Scorching.

Coming on top of his Hannon Memorial win, and with more room for improvement still likely, Mister D G is emerging as the horse to beat in the Canterbury Draught New Zealand Cup.

Lady Toddy was a game and close fourth, less than two lengths from the winner, and the Australian Mont Denver Gold finished strongly, about a length further back.

Credit: Mike Grainger writing in HRWeekly 20Oct04

The cover of the Weekly says it all !

2004 CANTERBURY DRAUGHT NZ TROTTING CUP

Cup Day was a cocktail of triumph and tragedy for Ollie and Irene Haines at Addington on Tuesday. Minutes after watching Just An Excuse give Elsu a repeat beating in the Canterbury Draught New Zealand Cup, the Haines’s learned their good friend Graham Higgins had died in the stand nearby.
Higgins was a member of the Cambridge Harness Racing Club, President of the club from 1986 to 1989, and was part of the support team behind Just An Excuse. Ollie, visibly shaken by the death of his old friend, took some consolation on hearing that he'd died calling out ‘Go Mitch’.
It was all part of a turbulent ride the Haines’s have had since winning the New Zealand Cup with Just An Excuse last year when he was a warm favourite. Through one reason and another, Just An Excuse had fallen from favour, and Ollie sat on the sidelines as trainer Robert Mitchell used all his professional skills to put the jigsaw back in place.
The time he spent on the horse was unbelievable. “He has virtually lived with the horse for the past six weeks. “Back and forth to vets, tooth men and farriers. “I’m sure if he’d been in a big stable he wouldn’t be here now,” he said. There was a chewing problem that some attention to his teeth fixed. There was a jarring up problem to his club foot that some special cushioning to his sole fixed. And then there was the abortive mission to Ashburton, which nearly unfixed their whole campaign.
“We were gutted after Ashburton,” said Haines. “It didn’t seem fair; we wanted a rewind. “It wasn’t the fact we didn’t win there, but the fact he didn’t take any part in it.” But Haines didn’t lose faith in Mitchell, nor in the horse. He chided the media for doing so. “I don’t know why you fellas wrote him off,” he said.
Ironically, the Haines’s had been associated with the Butcher stable for 13 years, before Mitchell was given the horse after he’d been tried by Cambridge trainer, Brent Donnelly. The Haines’s had dozens of horses at the time, but five years ago Ollie stuck to a principle and culled more than 30. One of those he couldn’t quit was My Excuse, a Smooth Fella mare and her Live Or Die colt foal.
The foal was Just An Excuse and the culling was successful, because only My Excuse and a Camtastic-Another Excuse 3-year-old remains. Ollie still takes time to bless his Addington luck.
“I’ve only raced two horses here, and they’ve won five Group races.
Just An Excuse has won two Cups and the Superstars, and Smooth Performer won the Oaks and the DB Fillies Final,” he said. And while Todd calls Addington his second home, the Haines’s don’t mind the place either. They could, however, do without the emotion and high drama that came with their visit this time.


Credit: Mike Grainger writing in the HR Weekly

2004 SOUTHERN TRUST DOMINION TROTTING HANDICAP

It's all been said before, but it needs to be said again - how much of a equine wonder is Lyell Creek? A champion, a freak, a marvel, great, phenomenal, amazing. They've all been trotted out to desperately describe the feats no other horse has done. Like this report, however, they don't adequately cover his stature as a world class icon.

The horse is 11 - though he could be going on seven. He has been to places most of us only see on the map. He has footed it with the best, and his reputation is legendary. After winning millions, he returned home, and if he wanted it, honourable retirement.

'Lyell' obviously had other ideas. He settled happily into stable life again at Premier Stables, and with the exception of one or two minor hic-cups, he has dominated the ranks of open class trotters in New Zealand. He ran a corker first-up for the season, when his ill-fated stablemate Sonofthedon won, then showed his intolerance of being bustled early with a mulish display on the grass at Motukarara. With others sharing the load in front on Cup Day, Lyell Creek was in his element and showed it with a stylish win over Sumthingaboutmaori.

Would he do the same 10 days later in the $100,000 Southern Trust Dominion Handicap, off 10 metres?

'Lyell' made his intensions known quickly, with such a speedy beginning that had him sixth or seventh, on the outer, after 300 metres. From there, driver Anthony Butt had the race at his mercy. He had Castleton's Mission two places behind him, he'd probably seen Allegro Agitato in a gallop, and he had the classy Australian Sumthingaboutmaori inside him, four deep. He only had to press the button at some time near the corner to turn 'Lyell' loose and set the crowd alight. It all came together swimmingly well, and while Castleton's Mission looked more like his old self with a solid charge from the back, Lyell Creek was on his way to another Dominion win.

"He is just so superior to the others," said Butt, who said his failure back at Motukarara was due to being 'off colour'. "He had a little break, and he's been so healthy since then," he said.

To match his own talent as a horseman, Butt has never been short of a great horse to keep him at the top of the top level. "Blossom Lady - she was the first, Happy Asset and Take A Moment, and now more of 'Lyell'. I mean, to win 16 Group 1 races like he has is unreal. Take A Moment is a great horse, but 'Lyell' is amazing. He's one of those horses you'll never see again."

For the record, it was Butt's sixth successive win in the Dominion Handicap, and it was brother Tim's sixth successive training win. Some record!


Credit: Mike Grainger writing in NZHR Weekly