Perfect Fathers Day-O - Stephen McNally gets 500

“It wouldn’t have been hard to bail out and scratch him, but it was well worth it,” said Stephen McNally after driving his 500^th winner Harry Belafonte, (A Rocknroll Dance) in the mud at Methven yesterday.

McNally settled Harry Belafonte three back on the inside and waited for the passing lane. He then came up the inside to win by a length.

“I managed to get the blinds pulled down. In the end I didn’t worry about pulling the ear plugs. The first go to pull the cords was a miss because I wasn’t able to see too well.”

HARRY BELAFONTE REPLAY

McNally said although the conditions were bad, they were not the worst he’s driven in.

“I’ve come across a couple worse than that. One trip to Westport and one day at Methven.”

McNally doesn’t drive very much these days and prior to this milestone, his last winner was Kahntdoitalone at Akaroa in December 2022.

“I wasn’t too worried about hitting the mark, it was going to happen at some point. I normally just have one or two young horses at home with the idea of getting them going to sell. This horse popped up. He was at my neighbour Kelly Edmond’s. Dad (Ray) has always been keen on having a horse, going to the races and having a yarn to everyone. In the end I decided to get hold of him and race him with Dad and a good mate of mine Cedric Coll. It wasn’t specifically to get that 500^th win. It was more about having a horse with Dad and Cedric really.”

Stephen’s first winner was Fasta La Vista for his father at Kaikoura in November 1999.

Over the twenty seven years he’s driven, he’s won plenty of feature races including the G3 Methven Cup (Cranbourne), G2 Premier Mares Championship (Dibaba), Listed NZ Yearling Sales Two Year Old Trot (One Apollo), Listed Maurice Holmes Vase (Power Of Tara), Listed Winter Cup (Power Of Tara), G1 New Zealand Breeders Stakes (Tact Lizzie), G3 Firestone FFA (Nick Off Holmes), G2 New Zealand Trotting Oaks (Elle Powell) and the G2 Dunedin Four Year Old Championship (Rameses).

“I had a pretty good trot early on and as I got a bit older and had a couple of young kids I decided to step back from the driving and concentrate more on the farrier work which has freed up my weekends. It means I’m able to go and do things with the family at weekends.”

He shoes for Brent and Tim White, Mark Jones, Stonewall Stud and John Hay

119 of his 500 wins have been for Brent White.

“We had a great trot for a few years when he started training full-time and I was driving them all. We had a lot of success.”

His biggest winners have been Nick Off Holmes (12), Cranbourne (8), Rameses (7) and Trouble Rieu (7).

“Probably getting the Group One on Tact Lizzie was the best moment. Another one which wasn’t a win but it stood out, was Power Of Tara in the New Zealand Cup one year. He ran a really good race for fourth. If things had panned out a bit differently he would have been pretty hard to beat.”

170 of his wins have been at Addington, 43 at his home track of Motukarara, 36 at Ashburton and 34 at Forbury Park.

Stephen had plenty of dedicated family support on-course yesterday with everyone rugging up and hoping it was going to be the milestone day.

“Mum (Judith) and Dad have been coming along to the races hoping they’d be there when I got the 500. Jade (Hebden) my partner has been coming along with the kids. Jade helps me work the horses. She’s very capable with them and she got quite a good buzz out of that because she does most of the work with ‘Harry’ at home.”

Stephen’s daughter Indie and his son Bodie were also on course to celebrate the Fathers Day win.

McNally says regardless of reaching the major milestone, he has no plans of giving up his licence.

“The funny thing it that when I do go to the races and have a drive, I still really enjoy it. In the meantime I’m just quite happy to be doing the family thing at the weekend and watching the races rather than travelling to them.”

Harry Belafonte has been around a few stables. He began with Murray Howard before racing the majority of his career for Dean Taylor and he had a stint with Darryn Simpson before joining the McNallys in June.

“I had him on Gavelhouse a week ago with the idea that if he sold that was fine and if he didn’t, we’d give him a few more starts. We’ll look at targeting some low rated races in the meantime but don’t be surprised if you see him pop back on Gavelhouse too.”

For complete race results, click here.

by Bruce Stewart, for Harnesslink