By Matt Markham
At what is seemingly a hard time to attract new owners to the harness racing industry Nigel Armstrong is trying to tackle the problem head on.
Through the use of his Westview Racing Syndicates, Armstrong is leading the way with ideas and promotions around attracting new people into the ownership game including giving away a free share in one of his horses each time he has one at the races.
Through his involvement with the New Zealand Metropolitan Trotting Club and as a sponsor around the South Island, Armstrong’s input is immense and he would ideally be the perfect candidate to lead a working party to work with industry leaders to try and enhance the appeal of owning racing horses to those on the outside on the industry.
“I know that owning horses can be fun, and we need to be able to sell that to the wider public,’’ he said.
On a cold and gloomy day at Rangiora yesterday – where Rangiora Harness Racing Club members could only celebrate the fact they had broken the North Canterbury drought – Armstrong made the day for one person who was brave enough to endure the elements.
The lucky punter enjoyed the thrill of having a share in Mach Cruiser, who is owned by Westview Racing, for the day including its start in the feature pace of the day.
And to add to a perfect story, the Robert Dunn trained and Gavin Smith driven gelding, was victorious after a perfect drive from Gavin Smith.
As well as the thrill of the win, and a little cash injection should the horse fill a stake bearing dividend, the lucky winner also picks up a free framed picture of the race should they win courtesy of Race Images.
Just to win was an impressive effort to be fair as Mach Cruiser was having his fourth start in 8 days.
An attendee on the West Coast circuit where he started twice at Westport and once at Reefton he was initially set down for Rangiora but a late decision by John Dunn saw him in the field.
“The nominations were pretty light and it didn’t look like the race was going to get off the ground so I chucked him in.
“If he hadn’t eaten up or anything like that after Reefton he wouldn’t have started, but he hadn’t it all really well.”
Purchased for $5,000 from the North Island, Mach Cruiser has won twice and collected more than $12,000 for the Westview Racing No.14 Syndicate.
“He’s been a great wee horse for us, but we will probably look to move him on sometime soon,’’ Armstrong said.
“Everything has a shelf life and we’ve had a lot of luck by getting a few extra wins out of horses that people were finished with and then turning them over to someone else.’’
And if that’s not positive harness racing ownership, then who knows what is.
Approved By Dean Baring www.harnessbred.com
Driving The Future Of Harness Racing
