Jason was born in Winton, with 3 other brothers and sisters before moving to Tapanui in 1978 where his parents had the local dairy.
He became interested initially in the thoroughbred code, when his brother Warren was a jockey based at Wingatui, Dunedin.
Having helped out local thoroughbred trainers this led to riding trackwork before school.
He has been involved in harness racing since 1987 in an assistant role to long time Secretaries, Peter Burns and Russell Freeman.
On Russell’s retirement in 2016 taking over the General Managers position for Southern Harness Racing.
Jason has two adult children, Canada and Hope who are making successful careers in the Canterbury region.
Other interests outside of racing include, darts, squash, gardening and socialising with friends.
He is involved in 4 harness racing syndicates, there have been 37 wins to date with Ivana Legacy (a$1500 syndicate buy) contributing to 11 of those wins.
A born and bred Southlander Julie has travelled the world extensively and worked in England for four years in the mid 1990’s. On her return she worked at Ryal Bush Transport and then the former local television station CUE TV as the producer and presenter of the weekly ‘Southland Harness Racing Show’.
From a well known harness family she has been a breeder, owner, trainer and held a trials drivers licence for a few years in the early 2000’s. She graduated from the Harness Cadets Scheme as the top cadet and then entered into a training partnership with her father ‘Ron’ from 2002 until both gave up their licences in 2019, this partnership resulted in 23 winners and 26 placings.
Nowadays Julie breeds from two mares ‘Run To Vegas’ and ‘Sevenspanishangels’, her husband Brendan is a local Farrier and her children Ella (13) and Laura (12) are also horse lovers with both having been involved in pony club and latterly the local Kidz Kartz movement. She also has a stepson Griffin (20) who is in his final year of study in Otago.
Julie has been employed at Southern Harness for 6 years as the Club & Finance Manager, with 13 harness clubs and the Ascot Park Consortium to manage, along with the HRNZ stakes, club and venue funding this is a varied and very busy role.
Any downtime is spent with family and friends, cycling, holidaying in Central Otago in the caravan or travelling overseas.
Nicole is well known in the southern racing scene having come from a great harness racing family.
She has been involved in many facets of the industry, including as an owner and breeder and a (sometimes reluctant) stablehand. Nicole is also on the Southland Harness Awards committee, where she is the producer (and former presenter) of the annual awards evening.
Nicole lives in Edendale with her husband Shane and two children Maddison & Morgan, who thus far have shown no interest in harness racing.
Nicole is an avid lawn bowler and plays for the Edendale Magpies, alongside her husband and daughter. Sport is high on the family’s interest list and trips are often centred around sporting events. Every two years you’ll see Nicole at the Masters Games in Dunedin, though the social aspect is now taking precedent over the competitive one.
Nicole started with Southern Harness Racing in February 2022, succeeding the long-standing Office Manager Nichola Hikawai. The role appealed to Nicole as harness racing is in the blood. Nicole has an office management and compliance background, with interest in graphic design and hopes to be able to add an extra dimension to the SHR team.
Lindsay is our Promotions Officer and the man to talk to regarding sponsorship, hospitality rooms and tents at race meetings.
He is contracted to Southern Harness Racing as well as a number of other organisations such as Bluff Promotions and the Southland Sports Car Club.
Those roles have seen him involved in many events such as the Bluff Oyster & Food Festival, Stabi-Craft Fishing Tournament, Summer Sounds concerts and motorsport events such as the New Zealand Grand Prix.
In the past he has worked in many diverse promotional roles including a stint with Auckland based Imaggio Events.
Lindsay was a regular race goer many years ago and returned to the sport when contracted by Southern Harness several years ago.
Away from work he enjoys provincial rugby and time with family.
Penny lives at Otama near Gore and operates a family based dairy farming business with her husband John and their four children. The next generation of 14 grandchildren are also entering into the mix now in various ways.
Penny began her association with horse racing when she and John married. John was in partnership with his father Colin in the farm and ran the ‘Hokonui Stud’ breeding stud. Colin trained a capable racing team, Penny’s earliest job was jogging the team and driving the Land Rover for mobile barrier practice or pulling the strand for a standing start. Helping with the stud work and the many varied aspects of horse management was a great learning experience that Penny really enjoyed (but maybe not the middle of the night foaling’s). Penny’s first horse was ‘Pomahaka’ who John bought in 1978 from Blake Eskdale as a reliable drive at the races. Colin took a share to train him, and Penny was the third partner and chief race day supporter. ‘Pomahaka’ held a Southland record and weighed in at most starts for the season.
When Robin Swain joined the team, Penny took a sideways promotion which gave her time to become involved with the local school Board of Trustees. Though challenging that was a great time with lots of progress and unexpected change. She enjoyed the work including the position of chairperson and it was a very sound lesson in administration and systems development. For quite a while Penny was heavily involved in the family business so the horse breeding and racing by necessity took a back seat. With Colin’s passing, a racing partnership was formed with her brother-in-law Kenny to buy Colin’s bloodstock and Penny was able to re-establish and enjoy her renewed links with horse racing and breeding.
Penny currently serves on the committee of the Gore Harness Racing Club and holds the role of Junior Vice President and Honorary Treasurer. She enjoys being involved with racing administration and acknowledges that recently we have all been put through the ringer of industry change and the associated pressures of the last few years. That pressure will continue as we strive for the betterment of our industry. As a board member she is passionate to continually evaluate and be innovative to do the very best to ensure Southland and Otago remain strong provinces in terms of breeding, owning, training and racing our talented horses. As part of that team Penny looks forward to seeing you all at the races and wishes you the best of luck for your racing endeavours.
Murray has been an avid animal lover all his life, his association with horses began when he was a child and has only increased over time. Currently Murray has 8 broodmares, their progeny are either retained for racing/future breeding purposes or sold at the annual NZ Bloodstock Yearling Sales.
About 7 years ago Murray set up a property at Oreti Beach where he prepares his yearlings for the sales and pre trains his race horses before they are sent onto Trainers.
Murray is a Partner at Cruickshank Pryde Barristers and Solicitors in Invercargill, he manages to fit in 2-3 hours per day before and after work to spend at his beach property working and feeding his horses. At present he has 7 race horses in work along with 4 weanlings being prepared for the Yearling Sales in February.
Racehorses bred and raced by Murray that standout are ‘Shezacullengirl’, ‘Havtime’, ‘Machs Back’, ‘Betterthanbrie’ and ‘Donthavtime’.
Murray has also been instrumental, via Cruickshank Pryde, in donating to the NZ Horse Ambulance Trust and various race sponsorships. He is on the Committee of the Invercargill Harness Racing Club and holds the position of Junior Vice President.
I have always been passionate about the outdoors and working with animals, which naturally led me to a deep involvement in harness racing. My professional background is in accounting where I am working as a self-employed accountant subcontracting to a local firm - this flexibility has allowed me to dedicate more time to the sport I love.
My journey in harness racing began over ten years ago with a share in a syndicate. Since then, my involvement has steadily grown—from assisting Robin Swain on race days to working regularly at Kirstin Green’s stables since late 2023. I currently have ownership in several horses, from yearlings to racehorses, and have recently taken my first steps into breeding.
Since joining the Invercargill Harness Racing Club Committee in 2022, I have become increasingly involved each year. I am excited to bring my passion, experience, and financial expertise to the Southern Harness Racing Board to help support and grow the industry in our region.
