His third win of the week came on Tuesday at Addington behind Party Crusa who won by a nose ahead of the race favourite. With no doubt a number of drives on Sunday at the Rangiora HRC meeting, the odds are in Ricky's favour to reach his 2000th win.

The driver with the most wins between Streamline Updates is yet again Dexter Dunn. The junior driver reached five wins between the Forbury Park meeting on Thursday and Tuesday's NZ Metropolitan TC meeting, all for employer Cran Dalgety. A triple was scored in Dunedin and a double in Christchurch, along with four placings. Dexter now sits on 179 season wins. He has seven drives at Forbury Park this Friday night with many expected on Sunday at Rangiora also.

Junior Driver Robert Argue won his first race on Tuesday at the Manukau TC meeting. The 17-year-old, who had only driven in seven races previously, took the reins for his father Stephen with Pureora Mac. In a field of only six, Pureora Mac closed as fourth favourite on the tote, causing an upset when Stephen pushed him to win by a neck.

2009 Drivers Premiership

Driver Wins Stakes UDR

Dexter Dunn 179 $1,807,222 0.2487

David Butcher 86 $2,272,414 0.2641

Mark Jones 85 $1,080,172 0.1838

Peter Ferguson 83 $988,491 0.2219

David Butt 80 $1,030,203 0.2691

Trainers

It was another great week for Cran Dalgety as he trained five winners since our last Streamline Update. A triple on Thursday night at Forbury Park was scored with Wild Storm and Fiji Babee, both which were sired by Presidential Ball. The third win came with Hilarious Life. On Tuesday at Addington his first race of the day was with Australasian Breeders Crown contender Smiling Shard. A comfortable win saw the juvenile automatically qualify for the Semi Finals in Victoria. His second win of the day was only two races later with Anvils Never Easy. These five wins take Cran’s season total to 64, surpassing his previous personal best of 62.

Husband and wife training duo, David and Catherine Butt also had a successful week with four winners. They gained two wins on Thursday night at Forbury Park, first with Isabella Anvil who won by a comfortable two-and-a-quarter lengths. Second up was Dickie Nee in the next race. The following night at Addington saw another double scored with Telemecanique then Artois. Their son, junior driver Robert Butt, drove the first three winners with David taking to the sulky himself with Artois. With 98 wins, the couple are just two shy of reaching 100 season wins.

The biggest win on the tote this week came for Sandra Mounce in Race 6 on Friday night at Addington when Lightning Play (whom she trains and owns) closed at $86.10 and $17.40. Driver Jo Herbert took the race out by a neck with two other outsiders following in second and third. Absolutlea and Innes Lad rounded off a huge trifecta of $15,934.50.

2009 Trainers Premiership

Trainer Wins Stakes UDR

Mark Purdon & Grant Payne 110 $3,357,728 0.4124

David & Catherine Butt 98 $809,634 0.2889

Michelle Wallis 66 $594,429 0.1946

Cran Dalgety 64 $864,365 0.3094

Steven Reid & Graeme Rogerson 58 $1,186,924 0.2817

Junior Drivers

With only two races to go before qualifying ends, the competition is heating up as the junior drivers vie for a spot in the 2009 Championship. Last Friday night saw two crucial races run, one for the North Island juniors at Alexandra Park and one for the South Islanders at Addington Raceway.

Anna Stormont picked up maximum points with her win behind Lucky Nova at the Auckland TC meeting. This bumped her up into fourth position with 32 points, overtaking Joshua Dickie. Anna, who also competed in 2007, is set to be the only female driver in the championship. Jared Lamb came home second, with Peter Hilliard in third. Both drivers earned enough points to bump them up to just outside the top six. However Jared will not be competing on Friday, leaving Peter as the only driver still able to reach the top six.

In Christchurch, Robert Butt won with Telemecanique taking him to sixth place with 22 points, equalling Nathan Williamson’s total. However with Robert now having two wins, he sits one position ahead of Nathan. Only six points separate Brett Cusdin in fourth position and Regan Todd in ninth. A win on Friday night is vital for these five young drivers, if they wish to compete in the Championship.

Both Hayden Cullen and Dexter Dunn will qualify at the top of their tables, despite the outcome of Friday night’s races. It will be a second chance for both drivers who competed in last year’s competition which was taken out by Shane Walkinshaw. 2009 will be the third year running since the Championship was rejuvenated in 2007. If they are to qualify, Robert Butt and Nathan Williamson will be the only two who have competed every year.

Final two race fields (Friday 26 June):

Forbury Park TC, Forbury Park, Dunedin

Race 3 (6.36pm) www.standardbredsonline.com Junior Drivers Pace

$7,000, 1 to 2 Wins, 2700m

No Form Horse Wins Driver Trainer

1 490X15 3 F Sarah’s Excuse 2 (1) Nathan Williamson KN Larsen

2 439974 6 G Living Blue Boy 2 Kyle Cameron MG Larter

3 X80098 5 G Lilley’s Lively Lad (E3) 2 AL Stratford

4 60X009 4 G Barberino (E2) 2 Matthew Williamson BR Negus

5 060838 6 G Storm On The Way 2 Scratched

6 722443 3 F Asset Rich 1 Brett Cusdin Purdon & Payne

7 842722 4 M Songs O’Spring 2 Tim Williams BD McLellan

8 080031 4 G Have A Cigar 1 Mitchell Kerr PF Kerr

9 13043 4 G UK Connection 1 Robert Butt DJ & CM Butt

10 176680 5 G Langham Gold 1 Carl Hanna SG Lock

11 715034 3 F Uno Alice 2 (1) Dexter Dunn KB Ford

12 775006 4 G The Guardsman (E4) 1 W MacDonald

13 848243 4 G Sea King 1 Jordan Compain AFH Hunter

14 60P421 3 C Gate Bender 2 (1) Chris Butt NR McGrath

15 9X0048 4 G Life’s Cool 1 Scratched

16 0X0960 5 G Our Riki (E1) 2 Samantha Ottley BR Negus

U1 183172 3 G Barrack 2 (1) Regan Todd BD McLellan

U2 8X0200 5 G Justa Jackella 2 Shane Walkinshaw GD Smith

Thames HRC, Alexandra Park, Auckland

Race 5 (7.55pm) Tairua Mobile Pace

$10,000, 4YO & Older, 1 Win, 2700m

No Form Horse Wins Driver Trainer

830009 6 G Holmes The Charmer 2 (1) Peter Hilliard IJM Brownlee

833286 4 G The Guardian 1 Joshua Dickie JW Dickie

084888 4 G Roman Centurion 1 Emmett Brosnan AR McCollum

800252 4 G Day In Calcutta 1 Hayden Cullen K Judson

80X345 6 G Cowdrey 1 Roydon Downey PT Blanchard

080000 4 M Sophie Brydon 1 Andrew Sharpe BL Newberry

472107 6 G Point Me Holme 1 David Branch MJ Wallis

880274 4 G Baileys Spirit 2 (1) Simon McMullan Reid & Rogerson

9 X6790X 4 G Unsolved 2 (1) Hayley Morgan DB Gale

10 525979 4 G Artiliem 1 Brady Jones MJ Wallis

11 923645 6 G Raikkonen 1 Anna Stormont WP Fleming

12 996948 5 G You Can’t Be Serious 1 Kelly Blakemore K Hollander

13 250074 4 H Soaring Falcon 1 Zac Butcher JT Peary

Current Standings:

North Island

Driver Starts Wins 2nds 3rds 4ths 5ths Points UDR

Hayden Cullen 16 2 4 6 1 0 54 0.3889

Simon Lawson 17 4 3 0 0 1 44 0.3333

Zac Butcher 19 1 3 2 3 3 37 0.1754

Anna Stormont 17 2 1 2 3 1 32 0.1895

Joshua Dickie 19 2 1 2 2 1 30 0.1696

David Branch 13 2 0 1 1 1 20 0.1795

Jared Lamb 6 1 2 0 0 1 18 0.3519

Peter Hilliard 6 1 1 1 0 0 15 0.3148

Gary Gillies 8 0 1 1 1 3 13 0.1111

South Island

Driver Starts Wins 2nds 3rds 4ths 5ths Points UDR

Dexter Dunn 21 6 3 2 0 2 65 0.3968

Tim Williams 18 1 3 3 3 1 38 0.2037

Shane Walkinshaw 13 3 2 0 1 2 35 0.3162

Mitchell Kerr 16 2 1 1 2 3 29 0.1806

Brett Cusdin 5 3 0 1 0 0 24 0.6667

Robert Butt 10 2 1 1 0 0 22 0.2889

Nathan Williamson 13 1 1 2 1 2 22 0.1709

Chris Butt 15 1 2 0 2 0 21 0.1407

Regan Todd 18 2 0 1 0 1 18 0.1296

Brooke HENDERSON