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Auckland Cup Night 10 Races National Winter Style Stakes Rowe Cup Auckland Cup Northern Trotting Derby22022 | AUCKLAND & ROWE CUP NIGHT FORM GUIDE3AUCKLAND & ROWE CUP NIGHT FORM GUIDE | 2022 FOUR MINUTES BY MICHAEL GUERIN In the scheme of a life time it is a blink.. FOUR MINUTES. After years of rearing, training, nurturing and countless hours of tender loving care that is all the lucky few get. FOUR MINUTES The few who have won more battles than they have lost, who have scaled the heights, find themselves gathered in sight of the summit. Those who win burn their names in to our memories. Or their nicknames. Cardy, Cullen, Homer and Quinny They become the chosen few, the horses who won’t be forgotten. But first they have to win. FOUR MINUTES. Four minutes in which manners, luck, skill, speed and ultimately courage come together. Magic Minutes. Of course it used to be the rarified air of just the pacing warriors, didn’t it? But the new King of Trotting has changed all that and now our elite trotters only get four minutes too. This Friday night for the FIRST TIME EVER we do it back to back. TWO CUPS: ROWE AND AUCKLAND. Under the Friday Night Lights at Alexandra Park. Two Cups, two hot favourites. Too easy? Oh, this stuff is very rarely easy. And so it shouldn’t be. That is why THEY race. And why WE watch. Because GREATNESS isn’t GIVEN away. It has to be earned. And you only get FOUR MINUTES42022 | AUCKLAND & ROWE CUP NIGHT FORM GUIDE BY MICHAEL GUERIN IS HARDER THAN DIAMONDS HARD ENOUGH5AUCKLAND & ROWE CUP NIGHT FORM GUIDE | 2022 Trainer Andrew Neal isn’t making excuses for Harder Than Diamonds’s last start shocker that has thrown a spanner into the market for Friday night’s $40,000 Magness Benrow Northern Mares Classic at Alexandra Park. “She was terrible last start, I was devastated,” says Neal, who trains the classy mare in partnership with wife Lyn. “We couldn’t believe how badly she went and we knew something must have been wrong because we know how good she is. “Her work before she dropped out last start she was working with (Auckland Cup contender) Cranbourne and working every bit as good as him.” But Harder Than Diamonds didn’t race up to that form and finished ninth, which saw the Neals getting bloods taken from the mare not once but twice. “The first blood test that showed she wasn’t right,” says Neal. “Then we got another one taken a week later because we had to actually pay $2500 to get her into this race and wanted the second blood test before we did that. “It came back suggesting she is much better and she worked with Cranbourne again on Saturday and worked really well. “So I am sure you will see a lot better mare this week.” The race has not come up strong for a $40,000 event and for all the career peaks of Mimi E Coco and Manhattan, the best performances of Harder Than Diamonds could be enough to see her bounce back into the winner’s circle. Last November she was good enough to come from behind Major Jellis and beat him over a mile while three starts ago she came back to win fresh up at Alexandra Park downing the talented Cya Art. “We think she is a pretty good mare, right up there with the best mares we have had, with the obvious exception of Flight South.” Harder Than Diamonds is from the same family as Flight South, the Neal’s best horse and one that ensures Auckland Cup night will always be special to them. Flight South won the great race in 2000 and beat a stunning line up including Yulestar, Holmes D G, Breeny’s Fella, Happy Asset, Under Cover Lover, Facta Non Verba and Courage Under Fire, who galloped away and lost all chance for Brian Hancock. Flight South was the rank outsider and paid $108.85 in what is still one of the greatest upsets in harness racing history.62022 | AUCKLAND & ROWE CUP NIGHT FORM GUIDE NAIRN GUNNING FOR FOURTH DERBY Prominent trotting trainer Paul Nairn will be gunning for his fourth Gr.1 Northern Trotting Derby (2700m) at Alexandra Park on Friday night. The Leeston horseman will line-up Masterly and El Conqueror in the Breckon Farms-sponsored race and if victorious they will join Nairn’s previous victors Above The Stars (1995), Enthusiast (2000), and Kahdon (2010m). Masterly heads into the race as the leading contender for the stable with his disqualification two starts back the only blemish on what would otherwise be a picket fence form line. He pleased Nairn last week when winning his opening northern assignment, the Gr.2 NZ Sires’ Stakes Trotters Championship (2200m) and has come through the race well, according to Nairn. “He has got quite a bit of natural ability and he went really well last start,” Nairn said. “We know he can handle the track now. There is a bit of trial and error involved, but we got things right last week. “We have just got to try and keep him like that and hopefully he will be right there again.” BY JOSHUA SMITH7AUCKLAND & ROWE CUP NIGHT FORM GUIDE | 2022 The son of Love You has drawn gate seven on the front line but Nairn isn’t overly perturbed about the draw. “It’s a bit further and over 2700m they tend to go quite hard. It is not an overly big field so it should work out hopefully,” he said. Nairn is also upbeat about the chances of El Conqueror, who finished fifth behind his stablemate last week. “I thought he went very well after his early gallop last week. He went super,” Nairn said. “All going well he should be right in the thick of it too.” TAB bookmakers have installed Masterly as a $2.50 second favourite behind Highgrove at $2.10, with El Conqueror the fourth fancied runner at $14. Nairn is also looking forward to the Gr.1 Reharvest 2022 Rowe Cup (3200m) later in the night where he will line-up enigmatic trotter Matua Tana. “He pulled a shoe off going up in behind the gate (last start) and wasn’t happy at all,” said Nairn, who will also take the reins on Friday night. “We will scrub that one out and hopefully back to a stand he will be on his best behaviour. “He has got a good motor on him with that good French blood, and the two-miles might suit him hopefully.”82022 | AUCKLAND & ROWE CUP NIGHT FORM GUIDE EDMONDS, THE MAN OF THE HOUR IN ROWE CUP Craig Edmonds will have a foot in two camps in the Gr.1 Reharvest 2022 Rowe Cup (3200m) at Alexandra Park on Friday night. While he co-trains up and coming trotter Five Wise Men with his daughter Aimee, he is also the constant companion of star trotter Sundees Son, who heads into the race as a dominant $1.35 favourite with TAB bookmakers. The Robert and Jenna Dunn- trained gelding has been the most dominant trotter of the modern era and Edmonds said it has been great to have been associated with the horse from a young age. “I have been with him since he was a three-year-old,” Edmonds said. BY JOSHUA SMITH“We have had more ups than downs with him. He is pretty sound and has got better with age. “I have played around with his gear over the years. He has always had the ability, so it is good to see it come out consistently.” The seven-year-old gelding continued his dominance at Alexandra Park last week when winning the Gr.1 ANZAC Cup (2200m). “John (Dunn, driver) said he felt good and he sprinted up the straight well,” Edmonds said. “He seems pretty well in himself; he has worked well at the beach this week.” While expecting another bold showing from Sundees Son, Edmonds is hoping for a top-four result with his own trotter Five Wise Men. “I don’t think it (3200m) will worry him,” Edmonds said. “We will look after him in the race and hopefully he will be running on. Hopefully he will be in the top four.” The four-year-old gelding bypassed last week’s ANZAC Cup in favour of a workout at Pukekohe on Saturday. “Maurice McKendry drove him and said he felt good,” Edmonds said. “We just didn’t want to be too hard on him this season, that is why we didn’t start him last week. “A $100,000 race is very tempting, but I felt two races in a short space of time would be too much as I thought they would go hard (in the ANZAC Cup), but it turns out they didn’t.” While Five Wise Men was the dominant three-year-old of last season, Edmonds said it was always going to be a big step up against a quality crop of open-class trotters this term. “He is still growing a lot, that is why we have got it in the back of our minds that we don’t want to be too hard on him,” Edmonds said. “He is a really big horse and it was a big step up this year. He just picked the wrong year to step up. “There are a few nice ones like Bolt For Brilliance and Muscle Mountain. In other years there would usually only be one. “He will get there and Tim (Williams) has driven him well and has looked after him. “He will have a spell after Friday and that should put him in good stead for six- or eight- months’ time.” 9AUCKLAND & ROWE CUP NIGHT FORM GUIDE | 2022 I I have been with him since he was a three-year-old, We have had more ups than downs with him. He is pretty sound and has got better with age. I have played around with his gear over the years. He has always had the ability, so it is good to see it come out consistently.Next >