By Matt Markham
Mark Jones is casting the net across the entire South Island this weekend, and hoping to reel a few in.
The Burnham horseman will line up a dozen runners over three days of racing, from Addington tonight to Riverton on Sunday and then to Kaikoura on Monday.
The majority of the attention will of course focus on the Dominion Handicap bound Master Lavros on Monday as he readies himself for Cup Week, but there’s some handy horse flesh to head onto the track before he even steps out of his box.
Tonight at Addington the stable will have four runners including promising three-year-old filly, Northern Velocity who will tackle the first South Island heat of the Sires’ Stakes series for the fillies.
The half-sister to Pembrook Benny was purchased out of the All Stars stable at the end of last season with a view to heading to Australia at the end of her three-year-old season.
“She’s come up nicely, but we will have a better line on her after this week,’’ Jones said.
The daughter of Mach Three has picked a nice race to resume in with only three opponents after the scratching of likely favourite, Arden’s Choice.
Drawn barrier one, Jones will have plenty of options and is confident enough to suggest she’ll be hard to beat and a strong workout at Rangiora last week points towards that too.
“I think she will be hard to beat, but I will say that Piccadilly Princess might give us a fright for speed.
“She’s going to come a long way with the run, I know that much.’’
Other chances for the stable tonight include an in-form Perissa who takes on a strong field of pacers.
A last start winner the mare has shown a liking for tough battles and she might find herself in one tonight.
Louie Finn also looks a strong chance on the back of a tidy performance at Methven after an early gallop.
“I’m not sure what happened at Methven, but he’s going good enough to figure although Cran’s horse (Media Queen) has been trialling very well and looks very hard to beat.’’
Plenty of attention at tonight’s meeting for the stable will also centre around Laura McKay who makes her driving debut on stable old boy, Fair Dinkum Bromac.
At Riverton on Sunday the promising Ice Crusher looks a strong chance to resume with a win.
“He’s come back strong, I think he will go pretty close.
“His trial last week was very good and I’m hoping he will do a good job this season for us.’’
Itz Ivy Hillis, Derringer and Coringa Delight also look good winning hopes at the Riverton meeting.
On Monday Master Lavros will be looking to gain an advantage on his arch-rival Stent.
An impressive last start winner, the big trotter was a solid third last week at the trials and is ticking over nicely ahead of his trip to the seaside.
“Everything is good with him, he’s progressing just the way we want him too.
“Obviously it gets a bit tougher when Stent is there so it will be interesting to see how things pan out.
“But my guy is getting close to his peak so they should have another good battle.’’
Over the weekend the Woodend Beach branch of the Jones stable will gain another heavy hitter when the New Zealand Trotting Cup bound Corzin Terror arrives.
“He’s been sent over by Dean Braun with the view to staying here for an Auckland campaign.’’
Jones has been booked to drive the former Colin and Julie DeFilippi trained pacer.
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