All Eyes On The Cup

10 November 2008
Media Release

All Eyes On The Cup

All eyes turn to Christchurch tomorrow (Tuesday 11 November) with 25,000 people expected to pack Addington to lap up the excitement of New Zealand’s first ever million-dollar harness race.

The $1.2 million Christchurch Casino NZ Trotting Cup is the world’s richest standing start free-for-all race and has attracted a stellar cast to suit.

A battle is set to erupt between last year’s runner-up Monkey King ($3.50) and current favourite Changeover ($2.80), with Gotta Go Cullen ($8) and Baileys Dream ($7) sure to keep things interesting.

Trackside will broadcast the full day’s coverage live, with Sky Sport joining in from 3.30pm and TV3 relaying coverage surrounding the big race, which hits the track at 5.15pm.

Adding to the atmosphere will be the final of the $200,000 NRM Sires’ Stakes Series, where this season’s unbeaten team of Stunin Cullen and driver Anthony Butt line up at 3.55pm.

In other races, last season’s Trotter of the Year Sovereignty will be the draw card in Race One, while Harness Horse of the Year Auckland Reactor is set to light up the crowd in Race Nine.

The impressive stallion is still unbeaten in 12 starts and is expected to deal to his rivals as he builds up to a show down with the open class pacers in Friday’s Woodland’s New Zealand Free-For-All.

New Zealand Cup Week facts:

• At $1.2 million, the NZ Trotting Cup is the richest harness race in New Zealand history and the richest standing start Free-For-All race in the world.

• New Zealand Cup Day sees the biggest on-course attendance and turnover in the country, with crowds of 25,000 regularly attending.

• Cup week contributes $10 million to the Christchurch economy, with $1.1 million spent on fashion items alone.

• More than 51,000 people will flood Riccarton and Addington raceways during the week.

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