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It kickstarted the sale of pacers in Christchurch with a hiss and roar, but for Mark Jones and a duo of loyal owners the big-price purchase of stunningly bred filly on Tuesday was as much about the future as it was the present. Jones and his loyal owners Jim Haines and Grant Hatton went to $150,000 to secure a Bettor’s Delight filly from the outstanding race mare Tact Lizzie, prepared beautifully by Chelsea Faithful, adding even further arsenal to a powerful line up of current and future broodmares that the trio will have on their books going forward. “She was …

Australia is beckoning, but Mark Jones believes that Stylish Memphis can leave New Zealand on a winning note this evening when she tackles the Group One Queen of Hearts at Alexandra Park. And that’s despite knowing that in order to win, she might have to do it the hard way. Booked to depart for Sydney on Tuesday, where she will join the stable of Jack Trainor, the dour daughter of Bettor’s Delight will have one final hurrah in New Zealand tonight against what is being touted as one of the hottest fields of female pacers seen for many years in …

Cup Week features might be a bridge too far at this stage for exciting Mark Jones Racing prospect Deny Everything – but that doesn’t mean serious consideration wasn’t given to looking toward them. Off the back of the powerful pacer’s fifth consecutive win at Addington on Friday night the son of A Rocknroll Dance shot right into contention for a race like the Junior Free-For-All on Cup Day, but trainer Mark Jones has elected to target another race instead. But the Junior Free-For-All wasn’t the only feature considered. “He would have headed to the New Zealand Cup if it wasn’t …

The bid for the New Zealand Trotting Cup next month is over for class Mark Jones Racing mare, Stylish Memphis. The winner of close to $500,000 in stake earnings was officially withdrawn from the Cup this week by Jones but he insists the decision not to be there on the second Tuesday in November is more about maintaining the longevity of the daughter of Bettor’s Delight as a race mare than it is anything else. After battling a number of wee issues over the past few weeks, Jones and owner Wayne Higgs made the decision to take the Cup of …

A Cup Day assignment is the main aim for exciting Mark Jones Racing product, Deny Everything. The big, robust son of A Rocknroll Dance made it three-from-three for this campaign at Friday night’s premier meeting at Addington with another performance that left a few tongues wagging behind him. And now after a quick burst up the grades, trainer Mark Jones is having to be a little more selective with his latest find and being a part of the action on the second Tuesday in November – down in the lower grades – is the main focus. “That was a massive …

There was a time when it was wondered if Deny Everything would ever make it back to the races. A winner of one of his four career starts back in 2019, the ability was there but the body wasn’t. An injury, of which was never fully identified, and a wind operation took the big son of A Rocknroll Dance off the track. “He was sore, but we never found what it was, so we just gave him time,” Mark Jones said. That was almost two years ago, but if the two starts since he returned from that spell are anything …

There are some nice targets in sight for later in the season, but right now, it’s one race at a time for promising maiden filly, Monaco Grace. The Woodlands Stud owned and bred two-year-old will have the first start of a new campaign on Thursday at the Gore meeting in Wyndham, setting up for what should hopefully be a profitable time of it in the deep south this season. The daughter of Bettor’s Delight has had just one career start where she finished fourth on debut in the Diamond Creek Farm Classic at Invercargill. Beating her home that day were …

New Zealand’s loss is Australia’s gain this week after an up-and-coming Mark Jones Racing prospect boarded a plane for what will hopefully be richer shores. Maiden trotter, Taimate Sass is due to land in Australia in the next few days and will join the stable of ex-pat Kiwi, Brent Lilley for all of her future racing – some of which, will include chasing some lucrative riches. The two-year-old daughter of Love You raced twice from the Mark Jones barn with an encouraging sixth on debut backed up by an even better second at Oamaru earlier in the month – but …

Mark Jones has been pondering through the early stages of this week whether he pulled the right rein on Sunday, or not The Mark Jones Racing principal took two of his leading pacers, Stylish Memphis and Plutonium Lady to Oamaru for the Hannon Memorial thinking he’d at least get a good run under the belt as the prepare for upcoming features over the coming months. But as he trekked back to Canterbury on Sunday night, Jones was left to wonder whether a good strong workout at home might have been beneficial for the pair instead. “I may as well of …