Club Competition standings at season midpoint
31 December 2022
BPTC’s December race meeting saw a bumper crowd of over 4,000 enjoying this traditional Motukarara summer event on a fine hot day, with 12 competitive races drawing a record turnover for the club.
With so much great racing there’s been considerable movement in the competition leaderboards as we close out 2022. In the training ranks Mark Jones had three winners on the day, with drivers Sam Ottley, Ben Hope, Gerard O’Reilly and John Morrison all notching two wins.
Mark Jones’ big day out at Motukarara has shot him to top of the McMillans Feedbarn Trainer of the Year points competition on 27 points. Greg & Nina Hope also move up the charts to follow on 20. Previous leader Bruce Negus stays in touch on 19, then come Jim Curtin and Dean Taylor on 13. This field is starting to spread out, but there’s still time for plenty of second-half moves as the season progresses.
in the Seahorse Supplements UDR Trainer prize standings, there’s now been plenty of racing for trainers to meet the minimum four starters criteria. Last year’s winner Jim Curtin now leads, with two winners and two placings from just five starters so far. Mark Jones unsurprisingly moves into second place, equal with the All Stars team who didn’t make an appearance in December. Paul Nairn and Jeff Whittaker round out the top five.
It’s taken three meetings this season but two familiar names are back at the top of the Driver of the Year competition sponsored by The Famous Grouse Hotel, Lincoln. John Dunn, who took the lead back in November with a top day at Addington, has a handy lead with 36 points over Blair Orange (29), Ben Hope (22) and Sam Ottley (20). All going well for John and Blair it’ll be a big job for anyone to spoil their quinella.
Ben Hope’s points haul in December extends his lead amongst the juniors. At the half-way mark he has 22 points in the competition sponsored by Lindsay & Judith Blackmore and Fay & Fred Fletcher. This is a familiar position for Ben, who won the comp outright in 2020 and 2021, and shared it with Sarah O’Reilly in 2019. The Thornley family is in pursuit – Gemma on 13 with Olivia and last year’s winner Sam both having 9 points to date.
The Phoebe Stud-sponsored Filly/Mare of the Year competition didn’t change significantly at the top this month. However with the maximum points scored by four fillies/mares on the day and some handy placings by others already on the board, it certainly has become very congested. Tiger Taylor’s two from two at the start of the season means she still leads with 10 points, followed by A Bettor You on 7 then no less than 15 horses on 6 or 5 points. In this competition, repeat wins during the season have a big impact on points positions.
The competition resumes with racing on Sunday 8th January, followed by our March and Easter Monday meetings to conclude the 2022/23 grass track harness racing season.