Dalgety Claims Junior Drivers Championship After dramatic Turn in methven series
Methven, New Zealand – Carter Dalgety secured victory in the New Zealand Junior Drivers Championships at Methven on Sunday, overcoming a nine-point deficit to claim the title after a challenging race for North Island competitor Monika Ranger.
Ranger had a strong start to the series, winning one race and placing second in another during the opening two nights at Cambridge and Addington. Though, her chances were significantly hampered when her horse galloped in the fifth heat, resulting in both a tenth-place finish and subsequent disqualification.
Dalgety capitalized on Ranger’s misfortune,winning the fifth leg of the series wiht Hey Tonight,establishing a lead he maintained despite finishing second-to-last in the final heat. He becomes the first male to win the series in eight years.
The Junior Driver’s Championships is an annual contest featuring 12 of New Zealand’s leading young harness reinspeople, with horses assigned by ballot. It differs from the Junior Driver’s premiership, which is resolute by total wins throughout the season.
dalgety’s win caps a successful 12 months, which already includes Group 1 victories with Republican Party in the Auckland Cup, All Of Me in the Dunstan Sires’ Stakes Final, and Fugitive in the Breckon Farms Cardigan Bay Stakes.
Elsewhere at Methven,Esmeralda won the Green Mile and Mighty Logan took the open class trot.
Trainer stephen Marsh is also enjoying a successful spring, having secured wins in the New Zealand 1000 Guineas and Windsor Park Soliloquy Stakes with Well Written, the Sarten Memorial with swiss Prince, and the Hawkes Bay Guineas with Magic Carpet. He currently leads the trainer’s black type race for the season with seven wins,including elite level victories for Ardalio,Ammirati,El Vencedor,and part-owned Ammirati.
