Dalgetys deliver big time at Ascot Park

[Wandering Eyes]

By Jonny Turner  

It was a day to savour for Team Dalgety at Invercargill yesterday.

Cran and Chrissie Dalgety trained three winners on the day including Republican Party in the feature, the Group 1 Ascot Park Hotel Invercargill Cup and son Carter had four wins in the sulky to launch him to the top of the junior drivers’ premiership.

The combination proved unstoppable in the $100,000 Invercargill Cup when their five-year-old made a brilliant beginning to set up a powerful front-running victory.

The win was something of a carbon copy of the combination’s win with Krug when the feature was run at Group 1 level for the first time two years ago.

Even though he had done it all before with another star pacer trained by his parents, Carter Dalgety was still left lost for words by the victory. 

“I am pinching myself really, this horse deserved a big race and everything worked out good,” Carter said.

“I am a bit speechless, to be honest.”

Carter was quick to credit his father for Republican Party’s electric Invercargill Cup beginning.

Cran made a surprise move to add a shadow roll to the pacer’s gear, something he wasn’t wearing when he ran a brilliant third in the Group 1 New Zealand Cup.

“I have to give the credit to Dad, he made the late call to put the shadow roll on and it worked a treat,” Carter said.

“He began that well, he put himself in a beautiful spot after 200m.”

While Cran was chuffed to add yet another Group 1 title to his glittering harness racing resume, he admitted combining with his son adds another dimension to the victory, compared to those years ago. 

“It is hard to explain, those are the warm fuzzies you get that make all pretty special.”

“You want to see your kids do well and for him to jump into this profession and follow in the family’s footsteps it is a great thrill.”

The Dalgety combination also took out the SBSR Sires’ Stakes Southern Solstice with Magician before notching another special win with Wallflower in the Canada Stakes.

The feature race is named after the late Canada Broad, the daughter of Southern Harness Racing boss Jason Broad, who passed away earlier this year after bravely battling cancer.

“You try to get a horse good enough to compete in a race like this, and you don’t think about winning it,” Cran said. 

“When we were able to win it, with Jason there, it was very special.”

With Carter Dalgety also winning with the Tom Bamford-trained Ebury Street in the Craig Heyrick at Harcourts Real Estate Mobile Pace his four wins took him to 61 for the year, and to the top of the junior drivers’ premiership, three clear of closest challenger Sam Thornley.

Muscle Mountain produced another of the star turns on Group 1 Ascot Park Hotel Invercargill Cup Day.

The star trotter sat off the speed before being lit up at the 800m as he won in another all-family affair for Greg, Nina and Ben Hope.

Ben Hope drove a patient race with the favourite, partially due to some cat-and-mouse mid-race tactics in front of him, but it played right into Muscle Mountain’s hands.  

“I just thought being a long-distance race and we were off a bit of a handicap, so I thought I would let him settle early,” Ben said. 

“He is a lovely horse and while I respected the field, if he is on song he is as good as any of them and he proved it today.”

While Muscle Mountain had won bigger races than the Group 3 Brendan Franks Farrier David Moss Stakes, Hope admitted the big Ascot Park crowd and the great atmosphere on-course made the win special. 

“To win a nice race down here with a horse of this calibre is definitely a special moment.”

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