Taranaki on Saturday was a game of numbers. Noel Harris won his ninth Taranaki Cup, Mark du Plessis clocked up his 500th New Zealand winner, Girl Of My Dreams, who is trained by Leo Molloy.
Few jockeys of the modern era have won a black-type race nine times.
Noel Harris started his run on two of the best gallopers of the 1970s and 1980s, Kiwi and Commissionaire.
On Saturday, Harris kicked home Capone for Matamata horsewoman Danica Guy.
Mark du Plessis told some interesting stories about his time in his native Zimbabwe when he first arrived in New Zealand, but they were always slightly censored because his parents were still back there then.
They are now in New Zealand, a country the entire family are proud to call home. "Winning 500 races in New Zealand is no easier than anywhere else," said du Plessis, who has ridden extensively in Asia.
Du Plessis won the first race at Ellerslie yesterday on the impressive Petty Cury.