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Speak The Truth could become a Kiwi regular

In an exciting twist, Queensland trainer Shannon Price has revealed next month’s $1mil The Race By Grins could be the first of two NZ raids this year.Price is also looking very seriously at returning for a tilt at the NZ Trotting Cup at Addington in November.“I’m thinking the best for him after the Grins is to come back home and have a long spell and to miss our (Queensland) big races through winter,” she said.“I could bring him back later in the year, when I think he’ll be even more...

Aussie Stars To Plunder Cambridge

The biggest and strongest team of Aussie raiders this century is heading to Cambridge to plunder New Zealand's richest race day.Already, seven Aussie-trained stars, headed by champion trotter Just Believe, are locked in for the huge The Race By Grins meeting on April 12.Just Believe, who cruised to his 10th win from his past 11 starts at Melton last night, will be joined by star mare Queen Elida, glamour European import Callmethebreeze and emerging star Arcee Phoenix in the inaugural $NZ575,000 ...

Queen Elida heading to NZ early

Australian-based top Kiwi horseman Brent Lilley is taking his star trotting mare Queen Elida back “home” earlier than planned. Lilley confirmed the multiple Group One winner is booked on a flight to Auckland next Wednesday, so she can prepare for a lead-up race ahead of the inaugural $575,000 TAB Trot at Cambridge on April 12.Queen Elida will tackle the $60,000 Gr.2 Waikato Flying Mile Trot  at Cambridge on April 4.But first, the five-year-old will chase another Group One victory i...

Just believe on song for TAB Trot

Champion Aussie trotter Just Believe is right where connections want him heading towards next month’s inaugural $575,000 TAB Trot.In what was almost certainly his final lead-up race, the globetrotting eight-year-old cruised to victory in last night’s Scotch Notch Memorial at Melton.Just Believe made it 10 wins (and a second) from just 11 starts since returning from his Swedish campaign in the middle of last year.It was an ideal warm-up with co-trainer and driver Greg Sugars barely moving a m...

Sweepstake winners backing up for 2024

By BARRY LICHTERYou can choose your own ticket number in Cambridge Raceway’s $100,000 TAB Trot Sweepstake - but sorry, lucky number 232 is already gone.That’s because last year’s winners Wayne and Fiona Keoghan snapped up the same number which won them first prize of $50,000 as soon as they heard the club was running the promotion again.Having beaten the odds once before, when they drew Copy That in the 2023 The Race By Grins, the Karapiro couple reckon it’s worth another $100 flutter on...

Speak The Truth and Old Town Road confirmed for The Race By Grins

There are only three slot announcements remaining following confirmation on Thursday that Australian pacer Speak The Truth and last year's runner up in The Race by Grins, Old Town Road have secured spots in the $1 million race. The John Dickie-trained Old Town Road has once again been secured by Hydrowflow while Speak The Truth will run for Hidden Honey. In something of a surprise, Queensland trainer Shannon Price confirmed Miracle Mile placegetter Speak The Truth would head to Cambrid...

Leap To Fame to miss Race By Grins

While the disappointment of Leap To Fame’s withdrawal from the $1mil The Race By Grins stings, New Zealanders may still get a look at him this year.Owner Kevin Seymour confirmed today Leap To Fame would go for a break rather than travel to Cambridge for the April 12 slot race.“He had an extremely tough run last Saturday night. It was a gruelling mile and he went flat out,” Seymour said. “He was still a bit flat today, so he won’t be going to NZ.“It’s all about what’s best for the...

Next stop Cambridge for Miracle Mile winner

Leap To Fame’s appearance in the $1 million The Race by Grins at Cambridge next month just went to another level.His powerhouse $1mil Miracle Mile win means he will cross the ditch not only as the best pacer in this part of the world, but as an all-time great of the sport.Leap To Fame overcame by far the hardest run in the race and a myriad of history to demolish his rivals at Menangle on Saturday night.The five-year-old became the first horse to win Australasia’s premier speed test from suc...

Rock N Roll Doo snares Race By Grins slot

Aussie owner Brendan James hopes it’s a case of second time lucky with high-class Victorian pacer Rock N Roll Doo.James today confirmed he had iced a deal for Rock N Roll Doo to run in the Barrett Homes slot in the $1mil The Race By Grins at Cambridge on April 12.Last year, when Rock N Roll Doo was the toast of Victorian harness racing, he landed the Aussie Lads slot, but lost form, had some issues and the Cambridge trip was aborted.“We’re calling it take-two,” James said. “You know ho...

TAB Trot Sweepstake launched

Waikato Bay of Plenty Harness Inc. are once again giving punters a chance to win big on Night of Champions with the $100,000 TAB Trot Sweepstake. Following the success of last year’s sweepstake the concept is being repeated this time focusing on the TAB Trot. Two thousand tickets are up for grabs at $100 a piece with eight winners to be drawn live on TAB Trackside television during the Flying Mile race meeting at Cambridge Raceway on April 4, 2024. Each winner will be drawn a co...

Arcee Phoenix fourth Aussie confirmed for TAB Trot

Emerging star Arcee Phoenix will add to the class and strength of the Aussie raid on next month’s inaugural $575,000 TAB Trot at Cambridge.Passionate Aussie trotting owner, breeder, sponsor and promoter Duncan McPherson today confirmed Arcee Phoenix would run in his Aldebaran Park slot in the April 12.“We’re thrilled to partner with a young horse on the rise like Arcee Phoenix,” he said. “I tagged him back in August (last year) as the up-and-comer and when we couldn’t get our own guy...

Leap To Fame definitely heading to $1m The Race by Grins

By Adam HamiltonAustralasia's pin-up pacer Leap To Fame is heading to New Zealand.Despite recent speculation the megastar five-year-old could go to a slot race in Perth instead, his owner Kevin Seymour confirmed the $1m The Race By Grins at Cambridge Raceway on April 12 was the target.“You can say he’s going to Cambridge, not Perth,” he said. “We’ve been through a tender process with a number of the slot owners in NZ and will be in a position to say who we are partnering with next week...

Bolt For Brilliance out of TAB Trot

By Michael GuerinBolt For Brilliance’s outstanding career is on hold and that will open up a slot in the $575,000 TAB Trot at Cambridge on April 12.The former Rowe Cup winner and northern trotting hero is still stuggling with a breathing issue and trainer-driver Tony Herlihy says he won’t be racing in time for the new slot trot race.“He is still having the breathing issues that stopped him showing his best during his South Island campaign,” says Herlihy.“He had the operation to help wi...

Self Assured secured for $1m The Race by Grins

Inaugural The Race by Grins winner Self Assured will go again at Cambridge on Friday, April 12.The winner of 30 races and over $2.3m has been confirmed in the $1m slot race for the Hole in the Wall Gang.Self Assured won the first edition of the race in 2022, and was third last year behind Copy That and Old Town Road.He is the third horse to be confirmed for the race, along with Merlin and Australian visitor Better Eclipse.Meanwhile the other big feature on the Night of Champions, the TAB Trot ha...

Coterie announced as headline act for Night of Champions

Coterie, winners of the prestigious Best New Artist award at the 2023 Rolling Stone Aotearoa awards, will headline the Night of Champions afterparty at Cambridge Raceway on Friday April 12. The band of four brothers, who were born in New Zealand and raised in Western Australia, were the first band signed to Six60’s music label Massive Records. The band has over 30 million streams, four NZ Gold records and their breakout hit “Cool It Down” reached platinum status in 2022, they’v...

Chilcott ready to take calls on Sacred Mountain

Trainer Nicky Chilcott is half hoping the phone might ring from a TAB Trot slot holder given the fast times Sacred Mountain is running this season. In winning the Gr.3 Dunstan Horsefeeds Flying Stakes at Cambridge last month Sacred Mountain went a tenth of a second under the New Zealand mares’ record for 2200 metres, the distance of the inaugural $575,000 Trot Slot on April 12.And last Friday night at Alexandra Park, the Muscle Hill mare was arguably even more impressive on the clock in runnin...

Australian invasion set for million dollar slot race

Cambridge is preparing for one of the strongest Australian harness racing invasions New Zealand has seen in decades.And the man who invented the $1 million The Race by Grins is hoping they bring plenty of fans with them.Better Eclipse is the first Australian-trained pacer officially signed for a slot for The Race by Grins on April 12, having secured the Entain/NZ TAB slot yesterday.He joins Merlin as the first two horses signed but is almost certain to be joined by Australia’s best pacer Leap ...

French-bred Trotter Cambridge bound

Buzz French-bred trotter Callmethebreeze is set to add some European flavour to the inaugural TAB Trot at Cambridge Raceway on April 12.Trainer Anton Golino confirmed leviathan owner-breeder Pat Driscoll would use his Haras Des Trotteurs slot in the TAB Trot with Callmethebreeze.It came just hours after the six-year-old upstaged Aussie champion Just Believe in an epic Great Southern Star final at Melton on Saturday night.It’s been hailed as one of the best trotting races in Australia for many ...

Leap To Fame will tackle the The Race by Grins

Hunter Cup hero Leap To Fame will tackle the $1M The Race by Grins.It’s just a matter of which slot holder owners Kevin and Kay Seymour partner with for the April 12 feature at Cambridge.Despite the A$1M Miracle Mile being his most immediate major target, Seymour said he would “spend plenty of time” on finalising a The Race by Grins slot deal over the next week.“We’ve got many, and I mean many, slot owners asking us,” he said.“So, what I’m going to do this week is settle on a doc...

Champion Australian trotter Just Believe takes TAB Trot slot

Champion Australian trotter Just Believe has been secured by Taylor St Racing Syndicate for the inaugural $575,000 TAB Trot (2200m) at Cambridge Raceway on April 12. The Jess Tubbs-trained square gaiter has an impressive resume. He’s a two-time Interdominion champion who just last week became the first Australian-bred trotter to earn over A$1 million in prizemoney after winning the Gr.2 BetaVet Dullard Trot Cup (2240m) at Melton. “We’re thrilled to have the best trotter in Austra...

Leap To Fame being set for The Race by Grins

Australia’s champion pacer Leap To Fame is heading to New Zealand.Leviathan owner Kevin Seymour said it was no longer an if, but a when Leap To Fame crossed the ditch to chase the $1 Million The Race by Grins at Cambridge on April 12.“The race is a target and we are well advanced in talks with slot holders,” he said.“We said a while back he wouldn’t be going to the Perth race and that NZ was the aim.“We’ve got a pretty clear plan in place and it includes taking him to Cambridge.“...

Leap To Fame could tackle The Race by Grins

Newly crowned Inter Dominion champion Leap To Fame has surprisingly emerged as a likely runner in Cambridge’s The Race by Grins.It was long believed Leap To Fame would tackle Perth’s slot race – the Nullarbor – around the same, but owner Kevin Seymour ruled that out today.“He won’t be going to Perth, but we’re looking seriously at NZ,” he said.“We think it’ll be an easier trip and a more suitable race. If he goes to a slot race, it will be Cambridge.”Leap To Fame stamped hi...

Queen Elida and TAB chasing a crown at Cambridge in April

One of the best trotters in Australia is coming home to her country of her birth after Queen Elida was secured for the TAB slot in the TAB Trot at Cambridge in April. The five-year-old mare, who is second favourite for the upcoming Inter Dominion Trotting Championship in Queensland, has established a brilliant career record, winning 30 races to date, including seven at Group 1 level. She is proudly Kiwi-owned by Canterbury trainer Tony Barron, part-breeder Gordon McKenzie and their fa...

TAB Trot slot holders confirmed

Eight slot holders for Australasia’s first slot race for trotters, the TAB Trot, have been confirmed.The inaugural edition of TAB Trot (2200m), which will carry an initial stake of $575,000, will be held at Cambridge Raceway on April 12, 2024.Waikato-Bay of Plenty Harness Inc. have today released the names of the slot holders who will be scouting for runners in the first edition of the ground-breaking race for trotters aged three or older. They are: TAB NZAldebaran Park&nbs...

TAB Trot added to the Grins Night of Champions

Waikato-BOP Harness Racing, Entain Australia and New Zealand (TAB) and Harness Racing New Zealand are excited to announce Australasia’s first slot race for trotters, the TAB Trot (2200m, mobile) worth $655,000.The ground-breaking race will be run alongside The Race by Grins for pacers on the illustrious Night of Champions at Cambridge Raceway on Friday April 12, 2024.“Our vision for the Night of Champions is ambitious,” Cambridge Raceway CEO Dave Branch said. “We want...