NZ HARNESS NEWS
Champion Australian driver Kerryn Manning, who became the first female to drive the winner of the NZ Cup in 2015 with Kiwi pacer Arden Rooney, has set a world record with NZ-owned Mr Mojito at Terang in Victoria.
Manning is now the most successful horsewoman on the planet with 3706 career wins, heading off American jockey Julie Krone.
Mr Mojito, owned by Merv and Meg Butterworth and formerly trained by Mark Purdon and Natalie Rasmussen in Canterbury, won on Tuesday night in a slick 1:53.9 mile rate over 1680 metres, scoring by 8m.
The Butterworths also owned Arden Rooney and have been long-time supporters of Manning and her stable.
Beginning her career as a 16-year-old, Manning registered her first win with Gorgeous Gambit, at Ararat on May 27, 1993.
Since then Manning has been a trailblazer with accolades and records arriving at an amazing rate.
She is the first female to win the Victorian metropolitan and state drivers’ premierships, the first to be Australia’s leading driver, and the first driver to win more than 300 races in a season.
Manning, aged 41, is more than 1500 wins clear of the next best harness racing driver, Rita Drees, of Germany, and has piloted winners in Group One races in Europe (the Harley Davidson Trot in Norway with Knight Pistol), New Zealand (Arden Rooney) and Australia (26 Gr.1 victories).
Krone rode 3704 winners in North America plus one at Doncaster (UK) in a career that saw her become the first female jockey to win a Triple Crown event (1993 Belmont Stakes – Colonial Affair) and the first woman inducted into the National Museum of Racing and Hall of Fame.
Approved By Dean Baring www.harnessbred.com
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