Club Competition standings after our November meeting
01 December 2023
BPTC’s November race day once again didn’t disappoint in 2023 with a big crowd, competitive fields and the seven-figure turnover we’ve come to expect on this day.
This is the meeting at which our club competitions start to get interesting. In the training ranks Carter Dalgety and Blair Orange scored two wins each, while ten different trainers shared the spoils over the ten-race programme.
In the Junior Drivers competition sponsored by Lindsay & Judith Blackmore and Fay & Fred Fletcher, Sarah O’Reilly’s win on Americano and a later second on Flyaway eased her clear of the field after a double in September. Sarah has 18 points, followed by Ben Hope on 12 – Ben having won on Love Walked In -then Carter on 10 and Sam Thornley on 7 points.
It’s business as usual at the top of the Driver’s comp. sponsored by The Famous Grouse Hotel, Lincoln, with Blair Orange ten points clear of Sarah O’Reilly on 28 points. John Dunn has 13, just ahead of Ben Hope’s 12 and Sheree Tomlinson’s 11. That four juniors are in the top seven drivers to date indicates the liking young drivers have for Motukarara and the fine proving ground it is.
Two wins and three placings so far have been enough for Greg and Nina Hope to sit on top of the Craythorne’s Hotel Halswell Trainer of the Year ladder with 16 points. Winless to date, Robert and Jenna Dunn have nevertheless amassed 1 points, while Robbie Holmes has 11 and John McDermott 8 points.
in the Seahorse Supplements UDR Trainer prize standings, John McDermott’s strike rate sees him leading, having started the minimum of four runners for a win and a second. Robbie Holmes sits second, followed by the Dunns and the Ford/Tomlinson team.
The Phoebe Stud-sponsored Filly/Mare of the Year competition is starting to take shape, With John McDermott’s Flyaway leading after her win and second so far this season. Greg and Nina Hope’s Love Walked in follows one point behind with a win and a third placing, followed by nine horses on 5 points for one win each. That means mares or fillies have won exactly half of the 22 races held by the club at Motukarara so far this grass-track racing season.
The competition resumes with racing on Friday 29th December, sure to be another bumper harness racing day at Motukarara.