Young Guns Impress ahead of NZ Cup and Galaxy Heats

The countdown to New Zealand Cup and Galaxy heats are on, and there were a few standouts Thursday night at Addington Raceway who really put their best paws forward. Seve for Daniel Lane is finding some consistent winning form at the right time of year, and is jumping from the 295m sprint boxes the best he ever has as well. Seve ran a very solid 17.06s Thursday night at Addington out jumping the Callum Weir trained Squillionaire before powering away in the straight claiming a four-length victory. The son of Fabregas and Mini’s Fantasy chalked up win 20 from a career of 40 starts which also includes 15 placings. Daniel Lane will make another big push for strike rate trainer of the year with the likes of Seve, Bolty, and Ozzie who continue to perform incredibly consistently. Lane will also look to play a big hand in this year’s NZ Galaxy series with a number of high-grade sprinters.

The remaining Class 5 sprint of the night was taken out by the Ashley Bradshaw trained Ever Rested, who had been chasing the tail of Select Trick and Tricky in recent weeks. Ever Rested found the rail early in behind another Weir-trained runner in Honey Lantree who has a very good early sectional, before pushing underneath on the corner winning by two lengths in a 17.12s for the 295m trip. The quality of sprinters in New Zealand at present is at a very high level in both islands. This year’s Galaxy heats could be some of the most competitive yet with the likes of Bolty, Seve, Select Trick, Zipping Houdini from the south and Buddy Boom and Trojan Hoarse from the north.

Quincy Bale for Craig Roberts has also recaptured his early New Zealand form after a blistering best on night performance. The son of My Bro Fabio and Daithy Allen produced one of his best race day performances, launching himself back into the New Zealand Cup mix. Quincy seared to an early lead and from there he demonstrated why he is a different dog on the lure, his 30.03s run was the best on the night and more importantly takes him back into the open class ranks ahead of the New Zealand Cup heats. He may lack experience on his Class 5 counterparts but there is no questioning the talent he possesses.

After a string of minor placings in the earlier sprints with Squillionaire and Honey Lantree, Callum Weir would be over the moon with the performance of Van Evie in the nights feature open class race over the 520m. Van Evie was not only tasked with box 8 but she also had race favourite and Canterbury Futurity winner Ozzie on her immediate inside. Van Evie was super out of the boxes crossing all seven competitors as she took off down the back straight. Ozzie was the main chaser who got within a length of her on the final bend but her superior strength prevailed as she took out victory by nearly three lengths in a classy 30.14s overall time. Van Evie’s first race in a sole class 5 field was truly impressive as she also puts herself in New Zealand Cup contention, chalking up win 8 from start 18.


  

By Shane Kendall