Canterbury trainer Michael House has confirmed he’ll be basing a team at Ascot Park for the revised Southern winter circuit which starts on Saturday 30th May.
House says he’s got fifty horses that will be ready to race when racing gets underway again at the end of the month. He’s looking at racing this team at Alexandra Park, Cambridge, Addington and Ascot Park.
House says he’s got twenty horses base in Auckland that are fit and ready to go and he’s committed to his Auckland staff until the 1st August.
He’s also committed to heading south and racing a team of about a dozen at Ascot Park.
“You guys have ten days racing in a row and I’m half thinking that I might bring down another half dozen horses out of Auckland,” he says.
House says the highest rating horse he’s bringing south is a 67 ranked trotter. The has a number of other trotters ready to make the trip as well as two maiden pacers and a handful of pacers rated between 58- 53.
One horse he’s bringing south is Art Major colt Jaw Breaker who last raced at the Northern Southland meeting in early March running second to Croesus.
The plan is to send stable employee Megan McIntyre down for two days a week to help with gearing up on race day.
“She’ll just go for a few days and then come home.”
House says he has the horses and the transport organised but would like a local horseperson to look after the team while they’re down here.
“If I could find a trainer that hasn’t got a lot on and wants a couple of months work I’d employ them. I’ve got to have a local that takes a bit of ownership. Someone to feed up and do the weekends.”
The horses will be based at Ascot Park using the courses stable block which cater of fourteen horses.
“I heard about the stakes so I rang Jason (Broad) and got the barn organised. I’m not going to trial any horses I’m just going to race them fortnightly and space their runs.”
Bruce Stewart