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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...

Copy That again shows his class in the $1m Race by Grins

By Michael GuerinFor the little pacer who can Copy That the winning isn’t the hard part.He proved that again in the $1million Race by Grins at Cambridge on Friday night as he led and raced away from Old Town Road to record a paint by numbers victory in New Zealand’s richest harness race.Nothing new in that, Copy That was always going to be the horse to beat after drawing to find his favoured pacemaking role, his little legs spinning in a happy rhythm being when he is most potent.That is how ...

The Race By Grins Preview Show

Join host Brendan Popplewell with Craig Thompson in studio for the $1 million "The Race By Grins" preview show, Nicole Sims reports from Cambridge and we are also joined by all the key players for an inside glimpse at the upcoming "The Race By Grins"...

Better Eclipse flying under radar for $1m race

By Michael GureinBetter Eclipse may bring one of the fastest Australian mile times ever to tomorrow’s $1million race but he is lacking in that most Australian of qualities: hype.The five-year-old pacer and his stablemate Triple Eight are the two Aussie representatives in tomorrow’s harness slot race at Cambridge, both trained by husband and wife team Greg Sugars and Jess Tubbs.Sugars is one of the most respected harness horsemen in Australia and Triple Eight will be driven by Australia’s m...

Telfer promises aggressive tactics in the $1m The Race by Grins

By Michael GuerinPremiership-winning trainer Steve Telfer is promising the $1million Race by Grins won’t be a simple stroll around Cambridge Raceway for favourite Copy That on Friday night.Two-time New Zealand Cup winner Copy That has opened the $2.20 favourite for the harness slot race and has rarely been beaten in front, especially in New Zealand where his open class form has been incredibly consistent for over two years.But while Copy That seems to have drawn ideally at barrier three in the...

Copy That gets perfect draw for The Race By Grins

By Michael GuerinDual New Zealand Cup hero Copy That has been handed the perfect opportunity to put a $1milllion exclamation mark on his career at Cambridge on Friday night.The wonderful pacer is likely to start from the seemingly perfect barrier 3 in The Race by Grins, the $1million slot race which will have eight New Zealand and two Australian visitors for its second running.Copy That drew barrier 4 on Monday night but emergency Smiffys Terror drew barrier two and is unlikely to gain a start s...

The Box Seat Preview Show

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Sweepstake winner keen on Copy That

Wayne Keoghan doesn’t follow the horses. He’d never heard of Copy That before today.But on Friday night, there won’t be one person in the country more focussed on his run in the $1million The Race By Grins at Cambridge.That’s because Keoghan stands to win $50,000 if Copy That takes out the big slot race after drawing the ruling favourite in Cambridge Raceway’s sweepstake.That Keoghan, 57, even bought a ticket was remarkable considering he and his wife Fiona hadn’t been to the races f...

The Race by Grins Barrier Draw to be Live on SENZ radio Monday 6 pm

The all-important barrier draw for the 2023 The Race by Grins will be broadcast live on SENZ on Monday the 10th of April at 6pm.“With the four favoured horses unable to be separated by the bookies, it shows just how crucial this draw is going to be,” said Cambridge Raceway CEO Dave Branch.“The draw will be hosted by Michael Guerin and Greg O’Connor and overseen by RIB CEO Mike Clement. Horse names will be randomly drawn from a hat, and the corresponding connection will be called from the...

Self Assured rewards punters with Cambridge gem

By Michael Guerin, NZ HeraldNatalie Rasmussen was back doing what she does best at Cambridge on Thursday night, and the punters who stuck with Self Assured loved every second of it.Rasmussen, who had not driven in a race this season until Thursday, produced a gem of a drive to get Self Assured home in the $45,000 Flying Mile even after he started from the outside of the front line.The race was the final lead-up to the $1 million The Race next Friday and the defending champion did exactly what he...

Kango confirmed for The Race by Grins - "incredibly exciting"

By Michael GuerinJust a few years ago Arna Donnelly couldn’t have believed she would be where she is now.Where that is is the leading trainer in the Waikato and with her stable star Kango preparing to line up on her home track for $1million in The Race by Grins.Kango became the ninth and likely second-last invite to the race when his connections secured the Dunstan Feeds slot on Wednesday, bringing a real Waikato flavour to the April 14 race.He will not only have Donnelly as his trainer but th...