20°C 
Addington (NZ)
Väder Auckland
The old adage in harness racing of their being no such thing as a certainty in racing was reinforced yet again tonight at Addington in Christchurch when Speeding Spur overcame the hot favourite Prince Fearless to win the New Zealand Trotting Derby...read on
3 åriga 2.600 m auto Purse: $80 000
| Plc | Bk | Horse | Barrier | Hcap | Stakes | Fav | Time | Margin | Driver | Trainer |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | 6 | Speeding Spur | 6 | fr | 47,826.09 | 2/3 | 3-15.7 | J I Dickie | J W Dickie & J I Dickie | |
| 2 | 3 | Prince Fearless | 3 | fr | 12,173.91 | 1/1 | 3-15.9 | 1.60 | N C Rasmussen | M Purdon & Ms N C Rasmussen |
| 3 | 7 | Habibti Ivy | 7 | fr | 6,086.96 | 3/4 | 3-16.1 | 2.40 | B N Orange | P C Nairn |
| 4 | 10 | Monbet | 10 | fr | 3,043.48 | 4/2 | 3-16.3 | 3.70 | R T May | G P & Mrs N M Hope |
| 5 | 11 | Sky Commander | 11 | fr | 2,173.91 | 6/7 | 3-16.9 | 7.10 | D J Dunn | B R Gray |
| 6 | 2 | Springbank Eden | 2 | fr | 1,739.13 | 8/9 | 3-17.4 | 9.90 | M J Williamson | P M Williamson |
| 7 | 5 | BD Love | 5 | fr | 1,739.13 | 7/6 | 3-17.5 | 10.40 | K M Barron | K M Barron |
| 8 | 1 | Starlight Starbright | 1 | fr | 1,739.13 | 9/8 | 3-19.6 | 21.80 | M A Neilson (J) | R F Allen |
| 9 | 8 | Soney Beatt | 8 | fr | 1,739.13 | 10/10 | 3-19.7 | 22.50 | A J Tomlinson | K B Ford |
| 10 | 4 | Wanna Play | 4 | fr | 1,739.13 | 5/5 | 3-24.4 | 48.50 | Mark Purdon | M Purdon & Ms N C Rasmussen |
Trainer: J W Dickie & J I Dickie
Owner: Woodlands Partnership Syndicate, Kieran Read, Andy Ellis, R J Tayler, D Hewett
Breeder: Woodlands Stud (NZ) Ltd
The old adage in harness racing of their being no such thing as a certainty in racing was reinforced yet again tonight at Addington in Christchurch when Speeding Spur overcame the hot favourite Prince Fearless to win the New Zealand Trotting Derby.
Prince Fearless from barrier three was all the rage with punters with Speeding Spur was allowed to drift to six to one after he drew barrier six.
Habibti Ivy flew the gate from barrier seven and grabbed an early lead before handing up to Prince Fearless after 500 metres.
No sooner had he reached the front, Prince Fearless was attacked by Speeding Spur and Josh Dickie and the two star three year olds went to war for the next 300 metres before Speeding Spur finally made the front.
Josh kept up a steady tempo in front before upping the speed down the back straight the last time.
As they turned for home Mark sprung out of the trail with Prince Fearless but try as he might he couldn't get up to Speeding Spur who went on for a decisive 1 1/4 length victory.
Habibti Ivy fought on well on the inner for third in front of an unlucky Monbet who made up a huge amount of ground to run fourth.
A minor highlight of the race was the run of Sky Commander who ran on well late for a close up fifth in his first outing at this level.
Speeding Spur covered the 2600 metres from the mobile in a new New Zealand record for a three year old of 3:15.7, a mile rate of 2:01.1 with closing sectionals of 57.9 and 28.7
Trainer John Dickie was confident going into tonights race.
" We learnt a lot from our defeat to Prince Fearless at Ashburton."
" He is much better rolling along as he is such a good stayer.
' The plan tonight was to go forward and we never going to die wondering."
"Once he got to the front, I didn't think they would beat him," John said.
Safely through tonight, Speeding Spur will now head home to Clevedon to prepare for a series of races at Alexandra Park.
" The two big races are the Sires Stakes and the Northern Derby so there is plenty to look forward to," John said.
Tonights win was one of the best performances this writer has ever seen from a three year old trotter and the son of Pegasus Spur looks to have a big future.
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