The Harcourts Daffodil Raceday is a Smokefree afternoon of thoroughbred racing fun. Wearing yellow will show your support for the Cancer Society's Daffodil fund raising.
Come along to celebrate the fantastic work of the Cancer Society and contribute to a great cause. There will be the opportunity to make a gold coin donation to the Cancer Society volunteers at the meeting.
The race meeting has attracted very strong nominations including over 30 individual runners from the local Chris Gibbs and Michelle Bradley team who have the form runners to win another bag of five winners.
A race growing in stature is the Tavistock at Cambridge Stud three-year-old open race over 1000 metres. Last year the race was won by Prom Queen from Global Thinking who both went on to win black type races. This year it includes some very smart runners like Not Usual Current, Star Performance, Melt, Happi Ella, Wisdom Patch and Nulla Secundis.
The best of the group could be Melt who was most impressive winning her first two starts and then finishing second in a Group 1 race over 1200 metres at Awapuni.
The MWIS Lawyers for rating 82 class has attracted an outstanding field with the top-class stayers in Excalibur, Richie McHorse, Danzdanzdance and Comin'through returning and competing against the in-form runners of Hello It's Me, Rockabyebaby and Padraig.
Given Danzdanzdance's record in Sydney last year and her perfect first up record of two wins from two starts this four-year-old Mastercraftsman mare will be a major chance over the 1400 metres.
To help you select a bet in each race at the races and help the Cancer Society Northland, one rider has been picked by the Club to wear the Cancer Society yellow silks. If that rider's horse wins the race the NZ Racing Board will donate $500 for each win to the Cancer Society Northland.
Here are the picks by race with the rider in brackets. You know spring is close by with this quality selection of horses as winning chances. Let's hope we see the yellow Daffodil silks crossing the line first.
R1 Keep The Cash(Fawcett): R2 Major Tom(Fawcett) : R3 Amazing Az(D Johnson) : R4 Final Suggestion(Spratt): R5 Vinevale(Grylls): R6 Danzdazdance (D Johnson): R7 Melt(Spratt): R8 Toy Kingdom(Elliot): R9 O'Guy: (Spratt).
The feature fundraising event is the Harcourts Daffodil Raceday High Tea.
The social afternoon of fun at the Harcourts Daffodil Raceday High Tea will include fashions from Whangārei Menswear and Suit Hire, and Polwarth Design, being paraded to keep you updated with the latest trends, spot prize giveaways and lots of activities including fund raising auctions.
The celebrity sporting ambassador for the day will be Anita McLaren, a Commonwealth gold and bronze medallist for the NZ Black Sticks. Jeff and Ruby Vinicombe were the winners of the High Tea promotion and will join Anita's table at the event.
Harcourts and the Club are pleased to have joined the national NZ Racing Board Daffodil promotion to help grow the contribution of the racing industry to the regional Cancer Societies. Funds raised at the Ruakaka meeting are directed to the Cancer Society Northland, who will assist with the promotion on the day. Part of the fundraising will be an auction of donated prizes.
The auction will be open to the public on the day and includes an exciting range of offers including but not limited to golf at Kauri Cliffs, a Black Caps-signed jersey donated by Tim Southee from the 2018 England series, accommodation package and a Tandem Kiwi Parasail. The first race is at 12.35pm.