Racing: Young gun trainer takes Anzac Cup with Lemond

Lemond at Alexandra Park.

A young gun had plenty of help from a racing legend to register his first group one training success at Alexandra Park last night.

Waikato trainer Ross Paynter was only training his 50th career win when Lemond took out the $100,000 Anzac Cup and it doubled as his first group one victory.

While Paynter has been respected as a talented horseman for much of his career he has predominantly worked for others, including training in partnership with Sean McCaffrey, the former trainer of Lemond before he left for Australia.

Since taking over his own team Paynter has consistently trained winners, many of them trotters, but with the stable star has had a bit of help from one of the greats of New Zealand harness racing in Charlie Hunter, who owns Lemond with his family.

Hunter was the trainer of the great Young Quinn in the 1970s, a pioneer of exporting New Zealand horses to North America and is one of the most respected figures in New Zealand harness racing.

But while Hunter is behind the scenes, doing some of the work with the five-year-old trotter, last night's group one goes fairly and squarely to Paynter and with his skills with the trotters it won't be his last.

Lemond held out Enghien after trailing, aided by Bordeaux running up the track when in front down the back straight, allowing Lemond to surge to the lead.

The trail was also the place to be in the $100,000 Taylor Mile, from where A G's White Socks burst to his second group one win in a month, having earlier taken the Easter Cup at Addington.

He sat behind leader Let It Ride and then held out Eamon Maguire and Star Galleria, with all the gun four-year-olds to meet again in next Friday's Messenger, while Lemond and his trotting rivals will do battle again in the Rowe Cup next week.

Earlier in the night Princess Tiffany remained unbeaten in the Caduceus Club Classic for juvenile pacing fillies while Winterfell was dominant in the Sires' Stakes Trot for the three-year-old trotters.