Tony Herlihy may have been the North Island captain and star of the show at Alexandra Park on Friday night but all three of his training successes has a southern element to them.
Herlihy captained the six-man northern team to victory in the popular Island Of Origin series, reining two winners himself during the six-race series and three overall for the night, all of whom he trained.
The dominance of the northern team meant they had the trophy sewn up with a race to go but Herlihy said the contest was always a good one to involved in.
“There has always been a great North vs South rivalry in harness racing and this adds to the fun of it,” said Herlihy.
“While we are all out there driving our own horses it is still nice for our team to get the result. “And it is good for the punters to have the southern boys here.
It adds depth to the night and when you see the standard of drivers who compete at our major tracks you realise just how much talent we have in the industry.”
But while Herlihy had one official northern job on Friday, his first win of the night was shared with new southern owner Todd Anderson.
Anderson is the owner of The Fascinator, who may have ended her career with her 10th win in the opening race of the night.
“Todd purchased this mare earlier this year and I think that is the third win she has had for him,” said Herlihy.
“But he told me earlier this week he was keen for it to be her last run because essentially he bought her to breed from her. “And I am sure she will do a great job.
She has a lot of breeding behind her, has some great times and is a lovely mare. “So while it will be a shame to see her go you know there will be plenty
keen to buy a foal out of her.”
The Fascinator led early and staved off the late passing lane run of Bettor Dream, who looks close to winning form again after showing great gate speed.
Herlihy’s two other winners both come from the South Island, with Bettabe Perfect and Vice Consul both imports to the north now owned by Merv and Meg Butterworth.
Vice Consul was his typical professional self winning a strong c2-4 race but Herlihy admits he may not be in the stable for that much longer either.
“Merv is talking about sending him to Perth eventually but he might stay a bit longer because he is racing so well.”
Three-year-olds provided two of the class elements to the night, with Motown remaining unbeaten in three starts this campaign with another easy win against the older horses.
And the hose he defeated last start, Kimani showed the expected improvement to win easily in his maiden grade, giving the pair’s owner Rosslands Stud (Kerry Hoggard) a class double for the night.
The other standout win was Any Old Way in the last race when he made it four wins on end for new trainer Jack MacKinnon, who has taken over the talented trotter from Paul Nairn.
Any Old Way sat parked for the last lap and was too good so looks headed for open class.
Approved By Dean Baring www.harnessbred.com
Driving The Future Of Harness Racing
