By Jonny Turner
Kentuckiana Lodge locked in their New Zealand Cup Carnival plans with three outstanding wins on a magical Monday of harness racing at Ashburton.
Two-year-old star Tour Party started the winning wave for trainers Cran and Chrissie Dalgety when he smashed a national record to take out his heat of the Sires Stakes Series.
Next came Suva Baby, who locked in her Group One Sires Stakes assignment with a thoroughly deserved heat victory.
Kentuckiana made doubly sure of the final leg of their winning treble when Cherish Me dug in to hold out her close relation and stablemate All Of Me in Monday’s Nevele R Fillies Series heat.
There was no doubt Suva Baby had claimed victory and not just because she’d put a margin on her rivals at the winning post.
Her big and passionate ownership group roared their filly home as she ran to an overdue maiden victory to book her place in the Group One Sires Stakes Fillies Final.
“What a way to lose her tag of being the best maiden filly in the country,” Cran said.
“She’s just a lovely racehorse this one, she’s got speed and determination and she continues to improve with every start she has.”
Suva Baby is raced by a great group of owners, some have been with Kentuckiana Lodge for years and others are younger and newer to the stable and harness racing ownership.
“It has been great to see the group come together,” Cran said.
“A few of Carter’s mates have jumped in and they’ve had great fun but it went to another level today.”
“There is no doubt they’ll be making their presence felt on Show Day.”
Cherish Me worked hard in the running of her Nevele R Fillies Series heat but her class and courage shone through when she dug in to win.
The victory backed up another excellent effort at Addington to continue a nearly perfect build up to her first Group One assignment.
“We were really proud of her effort today, because she was there to be run down and she just wouldn’t let them past.”
“She’s got all the breeding and attributes as we know, but to have the determination to go with it makes her the complete package.”
“All Of Me was great too, she’s peaking at the right time heading into Cup Week.”
“They’re two beautiful fillies and we are so thrilled the Kennys have entrusted us with them.”
Tour Party did what Tour Party does when running to victory in his Sires Stakes Heat.
The most impressive part came when the classy colt stopped the clock in 1-57.6, smashing the national 1700m record for two-year-old boys.
“He was there to qualify for the Sires Stakes Final and he’s done that and more.”
“He’s in a great space and he’s thriving on the racing.”
“We’d like to think we could squeeze a little more improvement from him for the Group One on Cup Day.”
“In saying that, he won’t have to run a lot faster than he did today so we will go in with high hopes.”
There were several other Kentuckiana Lodge runners who raced with merit at Ashburton on Monday.
Among them was Muscle Blueprint who made a promising start to his career in the two-year-old trot.
