Racing: Auckland Trotting Cup a taste of victory for boys in Deep South

Kirk Larsen after winning the Trillion Trust Auckland Cup, race 9

For Kirk Larsen the Auckland Trotting Cup wasn't about winning a race, it was a triumph for his way of life.

Larsen enjoyed his greatest moment of a lifetime in racing when Howard Bromac out-toughed Alta Serena and Napoleon in the $250,000 classic at Alexandra Park on Saturday, earning the right to be called New Zealand's most complete open-class pacer at present.

But while Larsen enjoyed his moment in the sunshine after the daytime cup, what was even more important than the money is the fact the victory was achieved on his terms.

Larsen trains in Southland, which after decades of being a premier harness racing powerhouse is in danger of becoming little more than a nursery to be pillaged by the city slickers.

While outstanding southern pacers were able to star in open class in the 1970s and 80s, in the past 20 years the much higher stakes available in Auckland and the export market have meant few of Southland's young guns reach full maturity in their home province.

That has left many of Southland's leading trainers as little more than glorified equine kindergarten teachers, even forcing some of them to move north to Canterbury to keep up but Larsen says that is not how he wants to live.

"I am not interested in training just so I can sell all our good horses," he said after Saturday's win.

"And I think this win proves that you can train an open class horse down home and still win the big races.

"So that means a lot to me because we want to be training at the highest level."

Larsen says with the structured calendar of carnivals throughout Australasia and improved transportation conditions a good horse can be trained from anywhere.

"A horse like Howard we can set a plan at the start of the season and know that he will be at Addington in November, home on the grass for a week after that and then off to Auckland for December.

"Then all going well he will be off to Melbourne and this season Tasmania for the Interdominions.

"With that much travelling it doesn't really matter where you start from."

Larsen says the additional expense of having stable foreman Brad Morris campaigning Howard Bromac, Albert Patron and Pam Bromac in the north for the last month is offset by the cheaper training expenses incurred in Southland.

"I can train a horse for $25 a day whereas a lot of guys up here have to charge $40."

And then of course there is the pride factor, with Larsen a Southlander who doesn't want to be forced away from the home of Speights and snow.

It is with typical southern modesty he sums up Saturday's victory which came after Howard Bromac had survived an early skip, pacing roughly and then having to work wide to have the race sewn up at the 150m.

"He is definitely stronger than last season but the open class horses are a bit down on what they were," he says with refreshing realism.

"We know that if Elsu was still racing we would be racing for second or hoping he was unlucky.

"But now there are no superstars and we have our chance."

Howard Bromac has taken that chance not only because he is matured from last season but because Larsen campaigned him extensively in Australia earlier in his career, help-ing him mature into a well-rounded pacer.

He says he still has one more ace up his sleeve as he heads back to Australia for the richest challenge of his career.

Like almost every other open class pacer in New Zealand, Howard Bromac will struggle to win the Interdominions unless he can show gate speed to stay handy on the smaller tracks and Larsen says he knows how to eke some out of the six-year-old.

"I have been to Australia enough times to know that you can't expect to win the big races if you keep getting back in the field but I think I can work on that.

"I have deliberately never put blinds on him so he would settle but once we get the Hunter Cup [February 11] out of the way I might look at adding them to his gear.

"That will stir him up and I think he will really be able to leave the gate. Then he will get his chance in the Inters."

Alta Serena will also chase more Aussie gold in the Hunter Cup and Interdominions after another gutsy second, her chances not helped by being attacked down the back straight by Bobs Blue Boy.

That may have taken some sting out of her final sprint together with her busy fortnight leading into Saturday's race, which saw her race maybe a length below her best. At the top level that is the difference between glory and frustration.

Napoleon was a solid third, aided by the moderate time, while Bobs Blue Boy was unlucky after getting tangled in the starting tapes.

He also lost valuable ground on the last bend, a problem which may haunt him again on the tight Australian tracks.

Tribute was a solid fifth but Lord Vader's Australian ambitions are over after he finished just sixth while White Arrow must also be in doubt for those carnivals after warming up looking terrible and racing accordingly.