It was a night of firsts on a favourite-dominated midweek meeting at Addington last night.
Canterbury-based Australian Brad Peisley kicked things off with his first win on this side of the Tasman when he reined hot favourite What A Minx to a comfortable win in Race 1, the IRT.Your Horse.Our Passion Mobile Pace for the amateur drivers.
The Stephen Boyd-trained pacer was ideally placed in the one-one by Peisley before winning by more than two lengths.
It was Peisley’s first win in eight drives in this country to go with the five wins he had in Australia, and driving a $2 hotpot did come with its pressures.
“I was a little bit nervous beforehand but once you get out there it’s ok,” he told Harness Racing Unhinged’s Nigel Armstrong post race.
Boyd described it as “the perfect drive” with What A Minx winning her fifth race from 36 starts.
Recording an overdue win was the John Murdoch-trained Biggles in the Gold Band Taxis Pace. Driven by Ricky May, Biggles had a breakthrough victory after finishing second five times in just seven career starts.
For the Geraldine-based Murdoch it was his first training success since Essence Of Easton at Waimate in 2021.
“It’s been a while so that was really special,” he said.
Another very popular win was Very Majestic in Race 3.
Fittingly the three-year-old filly, who’s leased, among others, by Armstrong’s Harness Racing Unhinged Syndicate, won the Harness Racing Unhinged Trot. Armstrong’s Facebook page has 12,000 followers and has proved very popular with harness racing fans around the country.
On the back of two trials wins Very Majestic went out a $2.20 favourite and always looked in control. She started well, went to the lead a lap out and then held off the second-placed Penelope Hall by a length.
As commentator Matt Cross pointed out : “It was a very good debut from Very Majestic”
It was also a very good night for the favourites, winning six of the seven races, including Sofia Rose who also won her first race at start number 10, for trainers Brent and Tim White.
The only exception was Louie Vista ($7.70 and $2.20) in the www.theurb.co. nz – the Ultimate Racebook Pace.
Approved By Dean Baring www.harnessbred.com
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