we have 5 Slots up for grabs for a BOAY slot race winner.  Races 1-7 . Trying to support the majority of these great runners 

SLOT 1/   The Grim Slot.   The  Jason Grimson trained runners in the first 7 races Menangle culminating with Captain's Mistress in the Chariots of Fire.

SLOT 2/  The McCarthy Slot ..  Australia's leading horseman with 8 runners training or driving in the slot events

SLOT 3/  The NZ bred NZ Winners Slot ..  These great horses ALL won a race in NZ at some stage of their career.  Can they win Menangle too?

SLOT 4/  The Queensland trained Sunshine State Slot...  The runners trained in QLD in first 7 races at Menangle. 

SLOT 5/  The LAST Start Winners Roughie Slot.  All these horses won their last starts and are a good chance again to cause some upsets.

Horse names running in each BOAY Slot will be up shortly in the next post . They will score points from finishing position in their races. 

Gammalite will take Slot 4 . Post your preferred SLOT number on thread here . and see if you can beat the other 4 slot holders home.

results up after each race Saturday night . 

TURN IT UP joined a special group of horses that raced for years on end , racking up $100,000 quietly each season for 5-6. years . 

And last Saturday the young New Zealander new on the scene out-finished him . youngster WHO's DELIGHT taking the win after arriving from Dunn's. But 2nd place Prizemoney was enough to carry him over the magic $1,000,000 earnings, a spot reserved for the true greats of harness history. 

Turn It Up had won an Auckland Cup in his younger more athletic days 😅  for owner Mark Purdon . (he's raced here 5-6 seasons on lease for Natalies sister Vicki Rasmussen once the kiwi's got to quick for him , like stable-mate Self Assured and Co.)

here's a part clipping of a tribute to him this week .   Who's Delight sneaking up the inside of the old Warrior to take the Win . But he tried hard as always. 

Turn It Up reaches magic milestone

02 March 2026 | Jordan Gerrans

 

Shane Graham would have loved to achieve the rare milestone with a victory, but nonetheless, he was chuffed to tick past the magical $1 million mark with veteran speedster Turn It Up on Saturday evening.

Renowned for his lighting gate speed, Turn It Up has been chipping away at reaching the rich prizemoney level in recent months.

The 11-year-old did so finally on Saturday when he went within a head of beating the Grant Dixon-prepared and driven Whos Delight in the Junior Free For All event over 1660 metres.

The popular pacer joins an esteemed list of Sunshine State racehorses who have earned $1 million or more in stakes across their careers.

Turn It Up was welcomed into the ‘millionaire club’ alongside Leap To Fame, Blacks A Fake, Colt Thirty One, Flashing Red, Be Good Johnny, Slipnslide, Fleur De Lil, Washakie and For A Reason, among others.

Trainer and driver Graham has considered retirement for his evergreen gelding in recent times and was hopeful of achieving the prizemoney milestone with a victory and then pacing into retirement.

“For a split second, it looked like it was going to be that way on Saturday night, but the other horse was too good for us,” he said.

“You don't get too many opportunities to train a pacer that's earned $1 million.

“I have had the horse for so long, it was pretty great to get it. He's been at that level for so long now, he's just kept sort of turning up year in, year out.

“He races the best and he is always facing the new kid on the block that is coming through.

Having them there was one of the better things that HRNZ had done in recent times and they have now got rid of them?????

Does it make any sense? NO it does not, unless someone can kindly explain why they have taken them down???

1/ Leap To Fame powers home in Kilmore Cup to defeat NZ best horse Republican Party in a great battle. Carter mixing it hard with the locals at the first corner 🤣👍😂

2/ 18 year old Jye Coney drives 4 winners at Menangle including the FFA driving Grimsons 'HI MANAMEISJEFF ' to a narrow victory over hot favourite, the current Miracle Mile champion Don Hugo in around 1.49. low flying. they bolt 5 lengths clear of the others.  

3/ No room for former NZ horse 'The FALCON' at Grimsons so he sent him to Albion , where Pete McMullen wins the FFA in 1.51 with him for owners 'Grim' and 'Boots'

4/ NZ feature trot winning GUS for Pete,  resumes off 40m handicap and donkeylicks them and is near best trotter in Australasia now.

5/ Pete gets a treble with former NZer FRANCO NEL , from the deep South of New Zealand. now open class winning 12 of 15 at Brisvegas past few months,  and running 1.50 tonight winning by over 3 lengths. watch for him in some features shortly . (a 4 year-old by Vincent ) another ripper.

6/ Ex-pat kiwi Kyle Marshall wins training the Kilmore Popular Alm FFA sprint with SMOKEN ACE , an NZ bred he part owns and driven by Gun J.Herbertson in 1.52.5

some great performances from some great horses.!!!

More to come with the 2026 Hunter Cup and Great Southern Star for trotters next week . bring it on !! 🏆🍻

• Devon Woon (Singapore): Known for his robotic movements, "failed" moonwalk, and dramatic, dance-like gestures at busy intersections, with videos of his work gaining hundreds of thousands of views CNA report.
• Ranjeet Singh (India): Famous as India's "Dancing Cop" in Indore, he has used Michael Jackson-style moves for over a decade to manage chaotic traffic and entertain drivers NDTV report.
• Tony Leapori (USA): A Providence, Rhode Island, officer recognized for over 25 years of directing traffic with rhythmic, dance-like, and sometimes theatrical, movements, often earning him applause and tips from commuters YouTube video.
• Josh Jones (Australia): A 23-year-old Canberra-based traffic controller known for his high-energy, positive, and sometimes, dancing,, approach to managing roadwork traffic qnewsmedia.com.au report. You could put basically anyone who can drive a horse in work or a trail on these horses that Ben hope and crystal hacket  drive and get the same results or even better but I'll give Ben hope some credit he's improved as a driver to above average but crystal hacket junior driver is just pathetic especially on a Trotter and is a below average driver

i must say,the blokes from out the gate have a good sense of humour.

previously i have pointed out how bad a tipster aaron white is whenever cambridge races are on and how the out the gate team reluctantly  kept the faith with whites tips.

A white had a knack for tipping them the one horse in each trotting race that you knew gallops 100% of the time.it was his specuiality for months. Each time saying after the race,well ... will win races if only it trots all the way and the out the gate blokes alway bit their tounge.

well last night ,after the last race justin evans,the commentator commented how his tips had gone poorly all night(hes actually a pretty good tipster normally, at the gallops anyway)

so when justin evans said that,they crossed to the out the gate boys in the studion,

the first bloke saying,well thanks aaron for your  tips tonight,the second bloke said,yes, its not often we can get a 100% strike rate in all the races,even if it is for galloping in every race,then the 3rd bloke commented,well i'm looking forward to the return to our cambridge tipster after tonight.

their sense of humour is what helps make them entertaining

Good example yesterday was Montage at Invercargill. Montage a grinding type who likes the speed on was situated in a perfect position three deep the fence but the driver came off the fence to sit parked on a hot pace then got shuffled back then came three wide again before fading with 400m to go due to working too hard. The horse who took up his spot when he came off the fence was Robins Hustler who had the perfect trip and ran second. 

So they cut the stake of the race 2 weeks ago due to such a small field. .

well,tonights race,had even less,only 3 starters and they left the stake the same..

essentially,the winner of the 3 horse race earned $2750 more than the winner of the 4 horse race.

why,because thats the way hrnz progrmmed it to be.they said the stake is based on the number of acceptors,not the number of starters.

and you see,that of course means any trainer could essentially accept with a horse that they have no intention of starting, to make sure HRNZ pay out the higher stake.you can't blame any trainer for simply being too clever for hrnz.Mind you that doesn't seem too hard the way they programmed it.

So what was going on with the stipes not giving the dalgety trained Roger That any stand down.

surely,for the sake of tranparency the stipes should have told people what the exceptional circumstances were which meant he got off with no penalty .

Don't they know that Dalgety,after roger that won 2 weeks ago,had reported on his website that roger that was not going to run tonight and was going out for a short break.

So whats going on there.Can't the stipes work out that people may ask questions why they decided roger that wasn't to get a scratching penalty?We can giess why,but maybe thats why they are saying.

Hrnz really don't seem too clever sometimes.

You only have to go through the fields and you will see many examples of a change of driver to a more competent driver will indeed get afar better result!

Does anyone actually know why Paul Nairn continues to be the sole driver of Tu Tangata???

We all know that Paul Nairn is an  extremely good trainer of the trotter but to be honest most of us would not rate him as highly when he is in the cart at the races!

His drives on Tu Tangata are less than meritorious and doesnt give the horse the best chance in his races!

Why does he not put Bob Butt or someone else in the cart,  as there is no doubt in Brodies mind that it would improve the horses chances without doubt!

Is there something we dont know about the horse that only Paul knows?

If not what is going to happen with the ATC, as without that sale then ATC will end up in liquidation  you would think?

Not sure of exact figures of amount of their debt but was it approx $80million?

If so then the debt will be increasing by approx 5 million per year from interest costs which is crippling.

How is going to be able to continue like this as costs escalating with interest on interest?

On the other end of the scale a couple of bargain buys at around 2-3K were purchased. Will be interesting to see the numbers when they come out.

Yesterday there was some interesting decisions which i think people could view a little differently.

Paul Nairn got a 10 day suspension when driving the trotter forgiveness in race 2.

i can understand that one.  In his defence you could say,well the horse may have broken had he used more vigour. Maybe thats right as its a horse that just gallops for little reason if pressured,so its a tricky one for nairn when driving.

But he did carry a whip and i think he just didn't quite look to show enough intent between the 200m and the 50m.I guess he got a longer suspension because hes been found guilty of that previously. I can understand why hemay feel a little frustrated he got found guilty,but what choice was there when you look at the video.

Then you have the trevor grant case adjouned for a written decision. His drive at motukarara was on the 1st of april,and maybe the punters who backed him thought they were april fools after watching him in the final 200m. Now his case looked as clear as day so not sure why he defended it. But the decision will be interesting.

Then you had lionel dobbs. He started the day by admitting a whip infringment from a couple of weeks ago and got suspended for 3 days.Then in race 7 he was charged with using the whip in more than a wrist flicking motion in the home straight. Now,mr dobbs doesn't have the greatest success record when it comes to his driving. one 3rd from 118 drives. But there is no doubt he can train a racehorse,just by looking at how well his small stable of gallopers go,especially emanon who has won $323,000.

His horse yesterday,betterthandiva, fought hard all the way to the finish and ran a very creditable 4th.

but as to his drive,I can see why the stipes looked at his drive,but shouldn't they take into account that mr dobbs is a very tall person. Did the way he drove down the straight really warrant the 5 day suspension he got? Personally i don't think so.

Are any harness meetings actually making money?

Why do they not advise us of the money being put on fixed odds on every meeting, compared to the tote pools?

There is no way on earth they are making money on many meetings with what is going through the tote!!!!

Last  night at Auckland there were tote pools on both win and place for the whole of NZ that was less than what a single household would spend on their mortgage or food bill for a week!!

One race had a bit over $400 in the win pool with a couple of minutes to go!

When the stakes are $17k or more this is a total recipe for disaster, but we are told things are positive??

Anyway must still be plenty of Entain money left for another couple of years and we must be in safe hands, so all is good!

Addington Friday mares race 6700 win pool quaddie topped up to 20000....60000 stake

Continues to emphasize how popular those country cups races are, interestingly the Oamaru winner paid  5 80 on the tote, 3.80 fixed.

But maybe the Friday night figures are affected by the tennis semi final, should never under estimate how other events at certain times can influence turnover, maybe some just switched races off with a 5 set epic on other channel.

the bookies have the best chances too short,then the tote just follows the prices of the favorites in. Then if you get matt cross tipping the same horse,they end up paying even less.

been following my wingman,only paying $1.85 to win today. should win,but $1.85.

the best value always seems to come at methven.

my tips for methven are race 2. Mithali for aplace at $4.80,race 4 hes a loch at $41 w $8 p,race 5 just easy$26 w and $6 p and race 11 jrtoilen at $2.90 p.

so i will tip a multi of my wingman/win,mithali/p,hes a loch p,just easy w  and jr tolilken p. For a $1  investment i expect to get $5356.  Maybe i will do just easy for a place multi as well and collect $1236.or throw in hes a loch to win in that first multi to win and get $27,451 for my $1.

don't say i didn't tell you beforehand.

its won each of its 4 trials so far,so looks promising.

its a half brother to minstrel and some other handy horses.

The dam is a mach three mare that it looks like the butts have bred 11 foals from the 16 yer old mare,so she already been a good producer.

king of swing certainly a wonderful racehorse and seemingly very intelligent. 

will be interesting to see how fanfare goes.

king of swing was $5000 plus gst last year in nz,$8000 plus gstin aussie.

aussies obviously expected to pay the higher stud fee even though he's based there. Not sure how that works.

I'd never heard of him prior to that other than when he got a lot of publicity when he paid some surprisingly big prices at last years sales and referenced the next gen promotion as part of the reason for that.

He doesn't look that old in the photo on the hrnz website,so being bored , i  googled him and found he has an interesting background. Everyones background  is interesting and different in their own ways,but this fella  has a different background.

Everyone likes to know a bit about everyone else, so maybe some others may find it interesting.davine has said allwhat i write publically himself before. 

He originates from around wagga wagga and his grandparents raced a couple of average pacers which he followed and then he got a job in  a vets clinic where he got to interact with racehorses and thats where his love of the horse developed. 

he then went into the navy for 6 years where he got promoted and at one point was dealing with asylum seekers. the n40 ownership name comes from n for navy and 40 his service number had 7 digets and they add up to 40. theres a story behind evey name. it reminds me of the fella with the horses with the aardie names,who himself had the nickname aardie after a tv characterwith a big nose,which he had, and called his horses that.

anyways davine seems to be associated with m brennan,the former w.a. trainer and austraklian hockey rep,who now is based in queensland.Lincoln farms indicated on their website they thought that was where debbie lincoln would end up. 

n40 racing had bought a lot of yearlings at the sale in the previous year or two and made big plans in queensland,including some high priced yearlings. It was reported they would be raced from the brennan stable but then again n40 had a major reduction sale of brennan trained n40 horses just a couple of months ago,obviously they had their reasons,just i couldn't see anything about why reported. gamma may know more about whats happening with that stable in queensland.

davine apparently has been involved in syndication of many thoroughbreds and active in slot races and i think he may have even had a share in one of the everest slot winners slot.

Davine is well known for his work in supporting mental health organisations. hes previously said he loast some mates to suicide in the navy and a brother who worked in a harness racing stable.Thats what he publically said in one interview,so hes obviously happy for that being out there and he obviously deserves a lot af credit for the efforts he puts into running organisations set up to help with peoples mental health.He also said when dealing with asylum seekers could be menatlly challenging as well.Handling horses he finds good for his own mental health. He's said to be entrepreneurial and knows how to make a dollar,but just how he does that he hasn't said publically.

anyways,other things are he took his  wifes surname when he got married.

and he knows matt peden.i hadn't realised matt peden was an aussie.Maybe that expalins how mr peden can stay publically upbeat even when he gets criticism.

Anyways,hopefully mr davine continues enjoying his harness journey and has the sticks around with his nz connection.