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MASTER LAVROS THROUGH FIRST OF THREE MOBILE TRIALS

Overport Lodge trainer Mark Jones had mixed feelings after Master Lavros left the mobile gate without any problems at the Motukarara trials on Wednesday, March 19.

Mark only had Master Lavros there to leave the gate safely then was pulled up out of the trial after the opening 400m.

Master Lavros, delared unruly for mobile starts after the Glenferrie Challenge. He was ok in his first mobile trial on Wednesday.

He has to trial three times to the satisfaction of the stipendiary stewards in NZ before being placed back in the draw.

He was declared out of the draw (unruly) by Australian stewards after galloping from the gate in the Glenferrie Farm Challenge at Menangle on March 2.

In an anomoly between the two countries, he would only be required to trial once successfully in Australia to be return to the barrier draw.

“Why couldn’t he do that in Australia ?,” Mark lamented after Wednesday’s trial.

In hindsight, Mark says Master Lavros become over enthusiastic on the day.

“I think I made a mistake. I went out of the birdcage real early and he got stirred up,” he said.

Master Lavros, on his return to Canterbury via Auckland, overcame a 30m handicap when beaten a neck by outsider Cool Cobber at Auckland in a C4 and faster trot on Auckland Cup night, March 7.

The 5YO Sundon gelding should have a great chance of returning to the winning list off 20m behind in the $25,000 4 & 5YO Glenferrie Farm Trotters Championship at Addington on April 4.

This season’s Dominion Handicap winner will then be kept going for a second crack at the $150,000 Rowe Cup at Auckland on May 9.

He finished a luckless fifth as a 4YO in last year’s Rowe, won by Stig from Springbank Sam, Boizel and Cyclone U Bolt.

ADDINGTON PAYS OUT $187,500 WITH MET MULTIPLIER

Addington’s Met Multiplier has proven extremely popular since its inception some 20 months ago. Twenty-five pacers or trotters have now earned the Met Multiplier bonus with $7500 paid out to each qualifying horse’s owners and trainers.

The “Met Multiplier Honour Roll” shows harness horses right across the classes in both pacing and trotting gaits from a diversity of stables. Current total pay-out is at $187,500 for the new initiative.

The scheme is designed to encourage trainers to support the New Zealand Metropolitan Trotting Club (NZMTC) with a lucrative incentive for the connections.

To earn a Met Multiplier a horse has to start at a (NZMTC) meeting a minimum of 15 times over a 12 month rolling period and be placed 1st or dead heat for 1st in one of those qualifying starts.

So that means that your horse has 12 months to have the 15 starts and gain one win from when it first starts at a NZMTC meeting. (E.g. A horse that has its first start at Addington on 14 March 2014 must have a minimum of 15 starts at NZMTC meetings and be placed first in one of those starts by 13 March 2015).

Horses that have had more than 15 starts and are yet to win can still qualify as long as they win a race within their 12 month period and at the same time satisfy the 15-start criteria within that time period.

Addington’s Racing Manager Brian Rabbitt said “that the initiative has proved to be a winning formula for the club, owners and trainers. We have seen an increase in horse numbers and our starter numbers are tracking above the national average which is a positive result.”

“It is intended to keep the scheme going especially as many owners and trainers are taking advantage of it and there are several horses very close to earning a cheque for their connections.”

Full details and conditions of The Met Multiplier Reward can be found under the Racing – Promotions and Incentives section at www.addington.co.nz or contact Brian Rabbitt or Richard Bromley at the Addington Racing Department on (03) 338 9094.

Courtesy of Ged Mooar
Marketing & Commercial Manager
Addington

CRAZY HEART DELIVERS AFTER THREE DAYS

The YOR ! Racing With Mark Jones Syndicate scored the perfect result, after only three days as lessees, when Crazy Heart won the Signprint Fillies and Mares Mobile Pace at Forbury on Thursday, March 6.

The syndicate obtained the lease of the 3YO Santanna Blue Chip filly from breeders, Frances and Max Bowden, after she ran a first-up seventh at Timaru on February 23.

Crazy Heart, successful for the YOR ! Racing With Mark Jones Syndicate at Forbury on Thursday.

However, Crazy Heart stepped up a gear for the syndicate, powering home from three back on the outer with a well-timed finish in the hands of Blair Orange.

Crazy Heart arrived in time to wear down front-running Expressive Art, and Delightful Dash (parked), in a 1:57.4 rate for the 1700m.

The 120-strong Syndicate, managed by Canterbury racecaller Mark McNamara, includes Racing Board colleague Maryanne Twentyman, who gained a pleasant surprise to see Crazy Heart win when hosting Thursday’s Trackside Radio show.

Northern racecaller George Simon, and champion netballer Irene Van Dyk, are other celebrities in the syndicate.

This is the third Syndicate win for the Mark Jones-based syndicate and third at Forbury Park.

They first tasted success when Curve won at Forbury on June 6 last year, while Pat’s First Sun obliged for them at the December 13 Forbury meeting.

Both earlier winners were returned to their original owners.

Crazy Heart is the third foal and first winner from the two-win In The Pocket mare Belle’s Girl.

Meanwhile, the Mark Jones stable racked up its 46th win of the season when Strike On Command delivered in the final event, the C1 Next Meeting 24 March at Wingatui Mobile Pace.

Strike On Command, handily placed on the outer by Blair Orange, swept to the front early in the run home and held fellow Canterbury visitor Memorable by two lengths in a 2:00 rate (2200m).

The consistent 3YO McArdle-Noble Strike colt took his record to three wins and five placings in 11 starts for Australian owner Kevin Stanley.

FLYING ISA SETS AUSTRALASIAN RECORD

NZ-owned squaregaiter Flying Isa is the new Australasian mile trot record holder after a blazing front-running romp in 1:53.2 at Tabcorp Park, Menangle, on Tuesday, March 4.

Flying Isa, now with the Belinda McCarthy stable, missed a start in last Sunday’s $A200,000 Glenferrie Farm Challenge as Keystone Del lowered the mile mark to 1:53.9 when holding Canterbury trotter Stent for his second consecutive Challenge win.

Flying Isa, the newly-crowned Australasian mile record holder.

However, Flying Isa, the former top two-year-old classic performer for north trainer John Dickie, returned to his former glory as a $1.30 favourite in Tuesday’s $A7000 Cordina Chickens Trotters Mile.

The 5YO Pegasus Spur-Sun Isa gelding free-wheeled in front from the outset for driver Luke McCarthy, spearing clear early from the six gate.

McCarthy ran fairly even quarters throughout of 28.3s, 28.9s, 28s and 28s to make a mess of his T2-5 rivals, winning by a big space of 21.7 metres.

This was his third run since teaming up with the McCarthy barn, having won first-up at Menangle on February 18, then running second to Cyclone Jake at Menangle on February 22.

Flying Isa, who won the $A164,000 Australasian Breeders Crown 2YO trot at Melton at his only other Australian start in the hands of Robbie Holmes in 2011, has now won 13 of 38 career starts for nearly $A310,000 in stakes.

He won the 2YO Harness Jewels Emerald earlier that year in 1:59.3 for the mile at Ashburton, beating Escapee, and also the $55,200 Seelite Windows & Doors sires Stakes 2YO Trot Championship.

A NZ-bred also holds the Australasian mares mile mark, with Savona (Dream Vacation-Millburn Segil), having posted the female record of 1:55.4 on April 14, 2012.

Savona, sent to New South Wales for the twilight of her race career by Highbank owners Carl and Heather Middleton, has returned to NZ for her breeding career.

She won 13 races and was 20 times placed in 80 starts during her career, winning $157,444 in stakes.