The Avon City Ford New Brighton Cup, first run in 1950, has produced five NZ Cup winners over the years – the most recent being Terror To Love in 2012. This year’s field of six is headed by the impressive The Lazarus Effect, favoured to go back-to-back off barrier one. The Bob Butt-trained and driven 5YO was superb winning the Allied Security Maurice Holmes Vase a fortnight ago and has the addition of blinkers this week to make him even sharper. Mo’unga and Renegade, second and third respectively in that race, look the most likely dangers again, while Tact McLeod was first-up in the same race off a 2025 Miracle Mile placing and should improve significantly from his sixth. The other two runners are last year’s TAB Junior Free-For-All winner Franco Sinatra, who won a recent trial, and Borrisokane, who was terrific first-up when a close second behind Dreams Are Free in the Kurow Cup.
The ITM Ordeal Trotting Cup offers a similar incentive, with the winner guaranteed a spot in the $400,000 Renwick Farms Dominion. Last-start Basil Dean winner Bring On The Muscle returns off 10 metres after leading from the mobile last time. The Clark Barron-trained 5YO defeated race rival Midnight Dash (10m) by three-quarters of a length, though the latter was held up late and rattled home strongly. This will be his fifth start in the race, the most recent of which was a second behind Oscar Bonovena last year. Resuming off the same mark are the classy mare Eurostyle, who won an Addington trial last week, and former Dominion placegetter Mighty Logan, who has only missed a placing once in six previous fresh-up runs.
The most intriguing runner in the field is last-start Garrard’s NZ Trotting Derby winner Habibti Pat. That victory came back in late November last year, with the Greg and Ben Hope-trained 4YO mare winning both of her trials in preparation for her race track return. She starts off the front in her first attempt against the Free For All trotters and has the services of regular driver Blair Orange.
On the undercard for ITM Race Night, the Rangiora ITM Mobile Pace for 2YOs brings together Group 1 winners Travel Agent and Tour Party against the very smart Chiggsy and impressive first-up winner Faith Not Fear. The latter was on debut a fortnight ago and could not have been more impressive for driver Samantha Ottley, and holds an advantage under the preferential draw system for this race.
The Ian Dobson Memorial Johnny Globe 3YO Classic shapes as another cracking contest, with last-start Rising Stars winner Franco Ankara (1) drawing favourably. It won’t be straightforward, however, with no fewer than six of the seven runners boasting winning form within their last two starts – including unlucky Rising Stars Final runner-up Franco Lomu (7) and Group 1 Sires Stakes winner Freeze Frame (5), who last saluted in the Champion Stakes at Ashburton.