Just $95.00 separated the province's two leading trotters at the end of the season.
The Tony Stratford trained War Machine started fifteen times for five wins and earned $43,995 while Smokey Mac trained by Brett Gray faced the starter fourteen times for six wins and banked $43,900 for his owners.
If you’re picking a winner in this category there are so many angles to take. How many times did they meet? At what level did they race? What were the circumstances of the race? And there are many other factors.
For the record War Machine and Smokey Mac met seven times as follows:
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Harness Jewels Four Year Old Ruby: War Machine 4th and Smokey Mac 8th.
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Group Three 4 and 5 Year Old Trotters Championship at Addington: War Machine 5th Smokey Mac 10th
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Wairio: Smokey Mac 1st War Machine 3rd
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Northern Southland: Smokey Mac 4th War Machine 9th
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Invercargill: Smokey Mac 1st War Machine 3rd
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Roxburgh: War Machine 1st Smokey Mac 5th
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Gore: Smokey Mac 2nd War Machine 10th
War Machine
And if you’re picking Southland Trotter of the Year you’ll have to throw in two year old Full Noise who, in his debut season won first up against older horses before running second in his only other start in the Two Year Old Ruby at Cambridge. He won $25,278 in just two starts and handled the jump in class like a trotter going places.
Also on the trotting front Southland based driver Sheree Tomlinson pulled off a moderate upset in the season’s biggest trot of the year the Dominion Handicap, when she reined Amaretto Son to win the Group One feature at Addington.
Tomlinson is once again the province's leading junior driver.
Bruce Stewart
Southland Harness Racing