On the 23rd of December the Dunstan Horse Feeds Waikato Cup was staged at Te Rapa in conjunction with the Waikato Racing Club.
Four heats for this event were held at Te Rapa on the 11th and 26th of November, two heats at each meeting, where kids had to compete successfully in at least two heats to qualify for the cup.
The Cup prelude was run as a novice event, and was taken out by Mikayla Rogers driving Cooper (owned by Dylan Ferguson), second was Kaelyn Strawbridge driving Blue, and third was Shadow driven by Kendra Rogers
The Cup Final provided a very competitive race and an exciting finish in which the crowd got right behind the kids.
Some kids and ponies got a wee bit carried away with galloping and the judge had to work overtime to produce a final result
The eventual winner of the Dunstan Waikato Cup for 2017 was Caramello driven by Archie Hazlett in the famous Pam Gerrard & Mike Moroney colours. In second was Monet driven by Paige O’Brien (sponsored by Stevens & Ferguson Racing) and third was Betsy Boo driven by Katelyn Veacock (Kumeu). fourth was Macintosh driven by Maddy Stratford and fifth place went to Morning Morn driven by Navana McLachlan (Kumeu).
On the day the kids are encouraged to dress their ponies up and the winner of the Clavis Park Best Presented Pony & Driver was Kate Coppins driving Tosca. Runner up was Kendra Rogers driving Shadow.
The winner of the ‘Driver of the Future’ was Paige O’Brien
Below Drivers are pictured with winning pony, Caramello, Sponsor Dave Smith from Dunstan Horse Feeds and Waikato Kidz Kartz President, Peter Ferguson
Approved By Dean Baring www.harnessbred.com
Driving The Future Of Harness Racing
