| HORSES |
YEAR: 2021
Akuta produced a Group One victory equally as powerful as his stablemate’s when running away from his fellow two-year-olds in the Garrard’s Sires Stakes Series Final.
Fresh off his brilliant win in last week’s Harness Million Final, the pacer produced an even more impressive victory when overcoming drawing on the outside of the second row.
“He was really good last week and he had to be really good again tonight,” Cullen said.
“Nat could have let him go at the 400m, but she held him up a bit and she said he pretty much jogged it.”
Cosmic Major chased hard behind Akuta to provide Cullen with a stable quinella in a repeat of the pair’s one-two finish in last week’s Harness Million.
Credit : NZ Harness News, 22 May 2021, Jonny Turner
Credit: NZ Harness News
YEAR: 2022
The experience was completely different, but the result was exactly the same when Copy That joined harness racing’s greats as a two-time IRT New Zealand Cup winner at Addington on Tuesday.
Driver Blair Orange brilliantly constructed a carbon copy of the star pacer’s 2021 victory in New Zealand’s greatest race to seal the five-year-old’s place in the harness racing history books as a modern-day great.
Trainer Ray Green watched on from his Auckland living room as his brilliant horse won last year’s New Zealand Cup in front of a Covid-restricted crowd.
This year, the veteran trainer got to soak in every minute of the build up to his horse’s cup defence in front of a packed house at Addington.
Many of them were well-wishers and Green loved every minute of it.
“It is great, there is a real atmosphere here and I think this horse has got a real following now,” the trainer said.
“A lot of people were cheering him on and wishing us well and it is great that he was able to do it for them.”
“The game needs these kind of horses.”
A second New Zealand Cup victory continued the epic journey Green’s wife Debbie has been on with Copy That.
She picked the horse out of a weanling sale for a bargain price five years ago and the pair have been inseparable since.
“Debbie is pretty close to the horse, she loves him,” Green said.
The Greens sold Copy That to stable clients Merv and Meg Butterworth who were also denied the chance to see their star horse win at Addington last year.
But the Victorian couple were on hand to collect their third New Zealand Cup trophy, also having won the great race with Arden Rooney in 2015.
Though it may have looked that way to Cup Day patrons who were back at Addington after a two-year hiatus, it wasn’t just a matter of Copy That turning up and repeating the dose in his cup defence.
Green perfectly plotted the massive task of bringing Copy That back to peak athleticism following a hind injury soon after last year’s win.
And he got his timing absolutely spot on.
“We took a few punts along the way to get him back to his best, like taking him to Australia,” Green said.
Orange was full of praise for Green’s brilliant training performance as he returned Copy That to his best.
Though the reinsman clearly controlled the race tempo, the victory wasn’t handed to Copy That on a platter.
The pacer copped pressure from the bell, before going on to register the third-fastest winning time in New Zealand Cup history - 3:54.00.
“It shows just what a good horse [Copy That] is and Ray has done a fantastic job to get him back from Australia at full fitness, and at the top of his game,” Orange said.
Majestic Cruiser got within three-quarters of a length at the finish, charging home from well off the pace to run second.
The Australian raider got stuck behind tiring horses before the home turn, before launching his brilliant finish.
Spankem took third after trailing the winner throughout, recording his third New Zealand Cup placing.
Spankem held his placing after a protest following some hope-straight bumping with his stablemate Akuta, who was excellent in fourth.
Credit: Johnny Turner HRNZ News 8 Nov 2022
YEAR: 2022
Akuta treated harness racing fans to the ultimate display of power and brute strength when brilliantly winning the Group One New Zealand Derby on Grand Prix Day at Addington.
Settling many lengths off a hot tempo mattered little to the brilliant three-year-old who put away a brave Republican Party in an epic running of the three-year-old colts and geldings classic.
Akuta’s backers faced the sight of the New Zealand Cup fourth placegetter settling many lengths off a hot early pace set up by an early lead battle between Beach Ball and Republican Party.
While it might not have been what favourite punters were hoping to see, Mark Purdon wasn’t concerned that he had the entire field in front of him.
But there also wasn’t much he could do about it.
“The speed was on so we were flat keeping up, but once Blair found the front they came back to us,” Purdon said.
“Once Johnny Dunn came out and the three wide line got going we were able to get around them.”
After tracking the three-wide line, Akuta found the parked position and from there he delivered a crushing blow.
“It was a real staying event and he is just in super form.”
Akuta’s win was the middle leg of an incredible Group One treble for owner Ian Dobson who shares in the ownership of brilliant winners Muscle Mountain and Don’t Stop Dreaming.
Akuta will now head to the spelling paddock for a short break with North Island feature races like the Taylor Mile, the NZ Messenger Championship and The Race in mind.
And he will do so having already proven himself against New Zealand’s best open class pacers.
“I will give him a bit of a break now, he has had a big campaign and he deserves it,” Purdon said.
“He won’t be out for too long, we will want to have him ready for the feature races in Auckland coming up.”
Akuta went agonisingly close to clinching a national record on a record-smashing day, with his 3.05.6 time just 0.2sec outside the all-comers record for 2600m.
Republican Party was six and a half lengths behind Akuta after setting up much of that sizzling pace.
Sand Wave ran a very brave third behind the first two after he was posted three wide from the 800m after Akuta found the parked position.
Credit: By Jonny Turner