NZ HARNESS NEWS
Unbeaten New Zealand filly Princess Tiffany will line up a near-unbackable favourite in her A$300,000 Australasian Breeders Crown Final at Melton in Victoria next Saturday.
In the hands of co-trainer Mark Purdon, she was a punishing semi-final winner at Bendigo on Saturday night, soundly beating local star Kualoa.
Later in the night, she drew the front line for next week’s final and Australian bookies opened her a prohibitive $1.35 favourite.
A Breeders Crown Final will be the icing on the cake for the daughter of Art Major, bred and co-owned by Palmerston North’s Braeden and Caroline Whitelock, who race her with Dunedin’s Phil and Margaret Creighton.
Already this season Princess Tiffany has tasted Group 1 success with victories in the Caduceus Club Fillies Classic at Alexandra Park and the Harness Jewels Diamond at Cambridge, no doubt sewing up Filly of the Year honours in the process.
Purdon gave her a strong rap post-race, saying she’s “as good as any two-year-old filly we’ve had”.
Stablemate Another Masterpiece ran second in his heat, defeated by local star Centenario on a 54.9 last half.
Centenario has come up a $1.85 favourite for the A$300,000 Final after drawing gate four, one inside of stablemate Hurricane Harley ($2.15), who won the other heat.
Another Masterpiece has drawn the second row and is a clear third favourite at $5.50.
Show Gait, trained at Woodend Beach by Regan Todd and a first-up Australian winner at Menangle last week, is a $1.75 favourite for her $80,000 Final after drawing barrier five.
Meanwhile, Auckland juvenile trotting filly Tickle Me Pink is heading home despite qualifying for her final at Maryborough on Thursday.
Trainer Tony Herlihy had said pre-race she would need to win impressively to justify staying another 10 days and her effort for third was clearly down on her best.
- NZ Harness News
Approved By Dean Baring www.harnessbred.com
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