Strathalbyn Harness Racing Club will host the two richest qualifying races on the South Australian Country Cups circuit, the $20,000 Strathalbyn Pacing Cup and the $20,000 Strathalbyn Trotters Cup, to be run this Saturday night at Globe Derby Park.
Both features have attracted capacity fields with the best pacers and trotters in commission in the State vying for the $12,400 winner’s cheques.
The Pacing Cup is a wide open affair with the Kapunda Cup winner Dhaulagiri, the inaugural The Nullabor winner Betterzippit, the Kapunda Cup placegetters Artillery and Bellezza Nera and the ultra-consistent Lord Zarias among the leading fancies.
Ryan Hryhorec, the premier trainer of square-gaiters in SA, holds the key to the Trotters Cup with four runners engaged.
Is That A Bid, a former Vicbred champion and a recent winner first-up at Globe Derby Park, looks the pick of the quartet, despite having to concede a 30 metre handicap to most of his rivals.
His co-backmarkers Meadow Valley Star, the winner of the Kapunda and Hamilton Trotting Cups, and the talented Phoebe Onyx, and last year’s Strathalbyn Cup winner Aldebaran Dexta, who will begin from a 20 metre handicap, represent the main dangers to Is That A Bid.
The main supporting event on the program is the $10,000 NC Equipro Pace Final, featuring horses that qualified through heats conducted at Kapunda and Globe Derby Park. In a strong show of industry support, every trainer represented in the Final will receive a product from NC Equine, the Adelaide-based manufacturer of equine supplements and care products.
NC Equine is also providing showbags for every participant on the Pony Trot race on the night.
Trainers with horses competing on the night will be able to enjoy complimentary food and drinks from the Strathalbyn Harness Racing Club.
