The initial Christchurch Casino NZ Trotting Cup and Haras Des Trotteurs Dominion rankings have been completed.
29 pacers were ranked for the ‘Cup’, while 42 Dominion-bound trotters had their merits weighed up in a three-hour meeting of industry officials yesterday (Tuesday).
Last season’s Auckland Cup winner Have Faith In Me heads the NZ Cup rankings, while defending champion Master Lavros holds mandatory top billing amongst the Dominion aspirants, ahead of Monbet.
Addington Raceway Racing Manager, Brian Rabbitt, offered his insight into the initial rankings. “The trotters were very tough to sort out. Obviously they are strong on numbers but the nature and the variance in form-lines made it quite challenging for the committee. The Cup was more straight-forward but although we have fewer nominations than usual, once we got them into their ranked order we could see the makings of another tremendously competitive ‘Cup’.
“The club (The Met) would love to see increased Australian involvement in both races. The traditional borders within Australasian racing are diminishing and greater Australian representation in 2016 would continue that trend.”
Both the Cup and Dominion have an encouraging numbers of nominations from Australia – four and seven nominations respectively, which is sure to add further interest to the build-up and hopefully the features themselves. Messini (7) in the NZ Cup and Keystone Del (3) in the Dominion are the highest ranked of the Australians.
As the case has been in previous years, the rankings will be updated regularly. The next meeting of the Rankings Committee will be held on 07 September, following the Maurice Holmes Vase meeting – the start of the ‘road to the Cup’.
Christchurch Casino New Zealand Trotting Cup
1 Have Faith In Me
2 Smolda
3 Tiger Tara
4 Locharburn
5 Mossdale Conner
6 Christen Me
7 Messini
8 Lazarus
9 Philadelphia Man
10 Franco Nelson
11 Mighty Flying Mac
12 Itz Bettor To Win
13 Costa Del Magnifico
14 Hug The Wind
15 Titan Banner
16 Franco Ledger
17 No Doctor Needed
18 Alleluia
19 Quick As A Trick
20 Cullect A Guiness
21 Brillant Strike
22 Seel The Deal
23 Expressive Victor
24 Didjamakem Bolt
25 Maverick
26 Lewy Risk
27 Expresso Martini
28 Idealindiamonds
29 Moonrock
Haras des Trotteurs Dominion
1 Master Lavros
2 Monbet
3 Keystone Del
4 Glenferrie Typhoon
5 Stent
6 Alley Way
7 Valmagne
8 Sheemon
9 One Over Da Moon
10 Habibti
11 Sunny Ruby
12 Jags Invasion
13 Quite A Moment
14 Kyvalley Blur
15 Daryl Boko
16 Vincennes
17 Zachary Binx
18 Harriet Of Mot
19 Sun Of Anarchy
20 Overanova
21 Harrysul
22 Scarrymcleary
23 King Denny
24 Le Reveur
25 Monty Python
26 Foray
27 Golden Gate
28 Paramount Dream
29 Waterloo Sunset
30 Amaretto Sun
31 Cool Cobber
32 Arya
33 Belles Son
34 Realmein
35 Pegasus Dream
36 Arran Chief
37 Bordeaux
38 My Tribeca
39 Springbank Eden
40 Sunset Peak
41 Quevert
42 Tornado Valley
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