Racing: Dawn Parade an unknown quantity in feature at Tauranga and harness racing to get stakes increase

Dawn Parade. Photo / Supplied

If you don’t know what to make of Dawn Parade heading into the feature race at Tauranga today you are not alone because trainer Tony Pike doesn’t either.

The big galloper meets just four opponents in the R89 over 1200m and would only have to race up to his last-start win at Te Rapa to be the horse to beat, even carrying the adjusted topweight.

But Pike says he doesn’t know if the Dr Jekyll or Mr Hyde version of Dawn Parade turns up today.

“He is a very, very hard horse to read,” says the Cambridge trainer.

“He sometimes goes great and other times doesn’t try too hard, it is a simple as that,” says Pike.

“He is not a horse who has any major physical issues, sometimes his heart just isn’t in it but when it is, he goes very well.

“So we are hoping for the Te Rapa version today.”

Fresh-up last time Dawn Parade thrashed the likes of Justaskme and Butler and his big body should allow him to lug his 58.5kgs today if his mind is on the job.

A rejuvenated Millefiori is the favourite and has the huge advantage of apprentice Jess Allen’s 4kg claim and while she is dropping back from 1400m at Ruakaka last Saturday to 1200m, today’s slog may well feel more like the longer distance.

While lack of numbers mean there are few winning chances in the main race at Tauranga the Opunake Cup at New Plymouth is a far more complex puzzle, with the compressed handicap lumping almost the entire field together with 0.5kgs in weight difference.

It looks set to be run at a decent winter tempo so the stayers and get back horses might come into play late but Michael McNab’s booking for Wessex, and the fact he even wants to ride at 53kgs in the middle of winter, are good pointers to her chances.

Harness on the up

Two-year-old racing will be a focal point of big stakes increases announced by Harness Racing New Zealand.

HRNZ will add over $5million to stakes starting August 1, with a fair spread across the country and racing classes.

At the bottom the minimum stake will rise to $10,500 while the New Zealand Cup goes up to $750,000 and HRNZ will inject $100,000 in The Race by Grins, reducing the host club’s exposure and enabling them to support a possible trot slot race.

One of the more radical additions will be up to $1.5million of support over two years for two-year-old racing, which is a pet project of Entain boss Dean Shannon as he has earmarked juvenile racing as a potential growth area.

Two-year-olds will now get an $8000 for their owner and $4000 for breeder for their first win with the aim of not only creating more racing opportunities but getting younger horses racing sooner as well as retaining them in the country.

Almost all harness news is met with some level of complaint, that habit one of the biggest issues the code faces, but you have to go looking pretty hard to find the negatives in this latest series of announcements.