Australasian Grand Circuit
Stories:  Trotters 2002/2003 Season
    
A Special "Moment" for Trotting Grand Circuit   2002/2003Results   Points
Take A Moment NZ - Grand Circuit Champion
 
 
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Take A Moment NZ had the Grand Circuit Championship in its keeping long before the Inter Dominion series at Addington. But the Grand Final proved to be far from a pushover, eclipsing the Pacing final that night for drama and atmosphere.

Experienced Christchurch journalist Jeff Scott wrote: “this has been one of the greatest trotting spectacles ever witnessed at Addington.”

Statistically, the trotting gait is not supposed to upstage the pacers on this Night of Nights. But it happened at Adelaide’s 1997 Inter Dominion and again in Sydney four years later.

There are horse enthusiasts in many countries who agree that a trotter in full flight is the most majestic gait in the horse world. And we are increasingly coming to accept there is something special from an Inter Dominion Grand Final for the squaregaiters.

When Take A Moment NZ won the $100,000 Bill Collins Mile at Moonee Valley in December, it elevated the horse into ninth place on the list of all-time winners – a list dominated by Kiwi-breds.

Australasia’s top 10 all-time earners as at that week were: 1- Lyell Creek NZ $2,151,185. 2– Pride Of Petite USA $811,816. 3- Scotch Notch $670,755. 4- Knight Pistol $612,203. 5- Special Force NZ $598,264. 6– Idle Scott NZ. $585,863. 7– Tussle $562,175. 8- Buster Hanover NZ 557,147. 9– Take A Moment NZ $555,616. 10 – Diamond Field NZ $536,607.

Stakemoney tables do no justice for horses that competed in earlier years. This, along with the comparatively short period on the racetrack by Maori’s Idol, does little justice for the finest-ever member of this gait to have graced the scene in Australia.

At the top end of the spectrum, the outstanding Kiwi Lyell Creek NZ has had his bankroll boosted considerably by successful campaigns in Europe and North America.

 

Take A Moment NZ

Lyell Creek NZ was trained in Australasia by Tim Butt and driven by brother Anthony, the same stable that races Take A Moment NZ.  

Following its win in the Bill Collins Mile timed in a new track record of 1:57.7, the Butts were emphatic this now seven-year-old was a faster horse than Lyell Creek NZ had been, with the latter being an exceptionally good horse racing off handicaps. A few days after establishing a new record for Melbourne, Take A Moment NZ won the $100,000 Australian Trotting Grand Prix.

The $70,000 for the winner rocketed the horse into fourth place on the stakemoney list with $625,616. In the following weeks this would be boosted significantly as the horse would sweep all before it.

 

 

 

Australian Trotters Grand Circuit commenced 1999/2000 season. (include only for All Time Files)

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