Ascot Park was awash with red, white but not so much blue when Republican Party trumped his rivals in the group 1 Invercargill Cup yesterday.
The combination of Cran, Chrissie and Carter Dalgety proved unstoppable when their 5-year-old made a brilliant beginning to set up a powerful front-running victory at Ascot Park.
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 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 was not wearing when he ran a brilliant third in the New Zealand Cup.
"I have a 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 win to his glittering harness racing resume, he admitted combining with his son added another dimension to the victory.
"It is hard to explain. Those are the warm fuzzies you get that make it all pretty special.
"You want to see your kids do well and for him to jump into this profession and follow in the family footsteps it is a great thrill."
The Dalgety combination also claimed the 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.
Canada died from cancer this year.
"You try to get a horse good enough to compete in a race like this, and you don’t think about winning it.
"When we were able to win it, with Jason there, it was very special."
