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Aspiring Beauty (Royal Aspirations) gave West Melton trainer Michael Cunningham his first winner since Ares (Pay Me Christian) won at Alexandra Park in July 2015. Handled by Sam Thornley, Aspiring Beauty began well and lead before handing up to Ellagater Al. Turning in, Thornley hooked Aspiring Beauty away from the inside running line and she […]
Encouraged by the late Katie Cox and his daughter’s partner Aaron Swain, Murray Alfeld renewed his driving licence this season and got back into the winning groove with Chocolate Angus’s (Royal Aspirations) win at Methven today. Alfeld last held a licence ten years ago and his last winning drive was Sunny Yankee at Banks Peninsula […]
Alan Beecroft has been the real journeyman and on Sunday at Kaikoura, Royal Diedre (Royal Aspirations) provided the Weedon based trainer with his second winner. Alan was introduced to harness racing through his grandfather who’s brother was successful West Melton trainer Peter Yeatman. “I used to go out to the stables with Grandad when I […]
Veteran trainer Fred Fletcher and junior reinsman Sam Thornley combined to win last night’s Darren DeFilippi Memorial at Addington with Royal Gypsy (Royal Aspirations). After a perfect start Thornley made full use of Royal Gypsy’s handicap advantage and took her straight to the top and stayed out of trouble. While some of the opposition made […]
When Son E (Sundon) started at the Winton harness racing track on Thursday he was one of the last Sundons to race in this country. Seeing Sundon’s name in the racebook sparked memories of the fabulous game changing job this great sire did for this country. He was bred by Sir Roy McKenzie in North […]
After a short stint in Canterbury, James Stormont has decided to head back north and link up with Graeme Rogerson’s harness racing stable in the Waikato. “I’ve met a lot of good people and everyone has been super friendly as long as you can get used to the Crusader part of it (laughter),” Stormont said […]
They say good things come in threes, and the trio of Fred Fletcher, Sam Thornley and Royal Aspirations are all synonymous in the success each of them is enjoying in the 2022 harness racing season. Royal Aspirations (Monarchy) is a sire on the rise and the last few months in particular, there’s hardly a New […]
Though there are a few decades between them in age, it doesn’t stop Fred Fletcher and Sam Thornley make a great harness racing combination. The veteran trainer and his junior driver were in the winner’s circle twice at Addington on Thursday night, scoring with both Sunny Louis (Royal Aspirations) and Mikey Maguire (Mach Three). Mikey […]
By Joshua Smith, Harness News Desk A career with horses was always in the stars for Fred Fletcher, but he couldn’t have dreamed where they would take him. From overseeing New Zealand’s most revered standardbred farm to training some of the best racehorses to grace New Zealand’s tracks, there is not much Fletcher hasn’t achieved, […]
