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Outstanding mare I Am Wilma (Father Patrick) maintained her star studded record when she outsprinted her harness racing rivals to take out the Group 1 $60,000 Aldebaran Park Bill Collins Trotters Sprint at Melton on Saturday evening. Former Italian trotter Gandhi Mail was heavily backed and was caught wide early as he attempted to wrest […]
Some of Victoria’s finest reinsmen and women will converge on Horsham next Monday (October 5) for a harness racing tradition stretching back more than three decades. The Noel Smith Memorial Horsham Invitational Drivers Championship returns for its 35th edition, bringing together 10 leading Victorian drivers for a six-heat battle at the Horsham track. And while […]
Kyvalley Dixon (Majestic Son) who chased home Bumper Crop in her harness racing heat over a week ago went one better when she finished too strongly to defeat the latter in the APG VicBred super series two year old trotters fillies final at Melton on Saturday evening. The winner of three of her previous seven […]
Lightly raced but highly promising trotter Alrighty (Skyvalley) continues to impress with a solid harness racing win in the Aldebaran Park Trot at Melton on Saturday evening. The four year old gelding was on the second line but avoided trouble when Farroukh galloped from barrier three when the field was dispatched. Driver Jordan Leedham sent […]
The maiden win of four-year-old pacer Typhoon (Art Major) at Ballarat (July 27) was anything but just another harness racing success. Instead, it marked the culmination of nearly two years of painstaking rehabilitation to give a special horse one last chance. For Victorian horseman Tyrone Abela and the team at Balliang-based Evolution Lodge, the victory […]
Capable mare I Am Wilma (Father Patrick) scored her best win to date with a narrow but determined win In the Prydes Easifood Trotters Free For All at Melton on Saturday evening. In an exceptionally good field harness racing patrons saw the return of rising star Meccano and current Inter Dominion champion Arcee Phoenix who […]
Trotting enthusiasts in the Riverina were given a treat on Tuesday evening with the running of the Nutrien Equine Preludes for two and three year old each having separate events for fillies and colts and geldings. Harness Racing in the Riverina is traditionally an all pacing region and over the years apart from the odd […]
Australia’s greatest harness racing driver Chris Alford will be sidelined for at least the next six weeks. Alford, 57, is recovering from back surgery last Friday for “wear and tear”. “It’s something I’ve needed done for a while,” he said. “My back’s been annoying me for a couple of years now. “It’s probably a combination […]
Aspiring trainer Luke Tabone broke through with his first major Cups success when his six year old gelding Sea Fury (Always B Miki) despite a tough run proved too strong for his rivals in the $12,000 Wangaratta Pacing Cup at Shepparton on Sunday evening. Sea Fury who was only having his third start for Tabone […]
Master Victorian harness racing reinsman Chris Alford showed he’s still got the magic touch, driving five winners at Cranbourne last night (September 21) – the 21st time in his career he’s produced such a haul. It was fitting that the milestone came at Cranbourne, a track that has long been a happy hunting ground for […]
Classy colt Commodus (Father Patrick) served notice that he will take beating in the future classics when he led all the way to take out the Wagon Apollo Three Year Old Trotters Mile at Bendigo on Wednesday evening. After a short early battle with Sam Nien, Commodus was able to find the front by Chris […]
Promising mare Sahara Breeze (Captaintreacherous) continued her upward path with a narrow but decisive win in the Logical Solutions Staff Free For All at Melton on Saturday evening. Coming off the back from two impressive recent wins at Melton and Menangle where she beat a quality field of mares, Sahara Breeze was sent out favourite […]
FOR all his amazing achievements, champion driver Chris Alford will be chasing a first at Menangle on Saturday night. After more than 30 years in the sulky, Alford is yet to win the NSW Oaks. He thinks Gary and Debbie Quinlan’s emerging filly can change that. “I always thought she was a nice filly, but […]
Last month’s Rowe Cup in which Queen Elida (Love You) finished third, proved to be her last race. The champion trotting mare has now quietly slipped out of the racing spotlight. The New Zealand bred mare carved out a great career in Australia, competing at the highest level. This season Queen Elida became the richest […]
Interstate harness racing raiders provided plenty of surprises in the Heats of the New South Wales Oaks at Menangle Park on Saturday thus ensuring a very open event for next week’s $200,000 Group 1 event. Queensland filly Ruby Rules (Ohoka Punter) who was friendless in the betting came with a well timed burst to snatch […]
Evergreen mare Queen Elida (Love You) appreciated the drop in class when she outstayed her harness racing rivals in the Group 3 Lyn McPherson Memorial Breed for Speed Gold Trot for trotting mares at Melton last night. A justifiable favourite on the basis of her previous form the only issue was her awkward draw. In […]
Chris Alford hinted emerging open class pacer Bach (Bettors Delight) wouldn’t be out of place should connections opt to head north for the Queensland Constellations after taking out the opening harness racing event at Melton. The Kyle Marshall trained pacer enjoyed an economical trip behind Yambukian before Alford pulled into the sprint lane and the […]
Champion reinsman Chris Alford will renew his racetrack partnership with globetrotting squaregaiter Aldebaran Zeus (Muscle Hill) when he makes a long-awaited return to Australian harness racing at Melton tonight. The Brent Lilley-trained trotter campaigned in New Zealand and the United States through much of 2023 but is back for his first race on our shores […]
Australia’s most successful harness racing reinsman Chris Alford made the trip to Shepparton last night a successful one, edging ahead in his quest for his first Victorian state driver’s Premiership in three seasons. With an almost unthinkable milestone and Australian record 8000 career wins logged in February, the 55-year-old is still at the top of […]
Two of Australia’s most successful harness racing drivers are about to go from the bright lights of Cambridge to the green green grass of Methven. Chris Alford and Greg Sugars will be Team Australia in the ANZAC 1800+ Series at Mt Harding on Sunday and will go head to head with two hometown heroes in […]
A Bledisloe Cup of harness racing’s been confirmed for Methven next month. Four trans-Tasman driving greats – Ricky May, Maurice McKendry, Greg Sugars and Chris Alford – will battle it out in the Anzac 18,000+ series – at Mt Harding on April 14. “I would have thought it was 100-to-one the chances of getting the […]
Kyle Marshall, one of Victoria’s exciting young harness racing trainers, admits it was a story of both relief and satisfaction for his stable at Melton on Saturday night (Mar 2). “It was so good to get that first one out of the way and he’s pulled up very well,” Marshall, who is based at the […]
Champion jockey Damien Oliver was among the first to congratulate Chris Alford on becoming the first harness racing driver in the southern hemisphere to reach 8,000 career wins this week. The GOAT of the saddle was lavish in his admiration for the GOAT of harness racing’s sulky. “It’s a remarkable effort- 8,000 wins. It’s something […]
Australian squaregaiting globetrotter Aldebaran Zeus (Muscle Hill) is on his way home from the United States and will land back in Victoria later this afternoon. Owner-breeder Duncan McPherson told thetrots.com.au that the multiple Group 1 harness racing winner would travel his final stretch home from Auckland alongside star Kiwi youngster Dont Stop Dreaming and then […]
