Dash for Cash

Bruce Stewart Contributor

Norwood harness racing trainer Murray Howard has made a rare visit to the deep south and it paid off, as Dasher (Bacardi Lindy) got the cash today in the 1609 mobile trot at the Riverton Trotting Club meeting at Winton.

The win was the trainer’s fiftieth in a forty year career.

From barrier four Howard opened the throttle and speared away to a big margin early, before holding on to win by three quarters of a length from Another Demon.

Dasher winning at Winton (Bruce Stewart Photo)

“That’s all you can basically do with her a lot of the time. Sometimes she can relax but today she just kept rolling. Normally she’ll go for the first 200 then she’ll drop the bit and then you can take a trail if you want to. Today she just wanted to go so I let her. She likes the short distances,” Howard said.
The winning time was 2-00.6.

With Dasher specialising in short distance mobile racing, Howard says it’s very hard to get suitable races for her.

“She goes away from a stand when she’s by herself but when she’s got other horses around her she gets all fidgety and nervous.”

Dasher returning with Murray Howard (Bruce Stewart Photo)

Howard’s first winner was Linda Ellen (Tiger Wave) at Greymouth in March 1985.

“She got to open class and raced against the likes of Yankee Loch which won a Rowe Cup. If I had her now and knew what I know now I think she would have won a lot more.”

Howard’s biggest win as an owner came in the 2018 G3 Summer Trotting FFA with Benchmark driven by Dexter Dunn.

Benchmark a full brother to Dasher, won three races here whilst trained by Cran Dalgety and a further five races in Australia before returning to win the Summer Trotting FFA.

Howard trained on his own account for a number of years before heading to Dalgety’s.

“I’ve been there for about fifteen years. I travelled a lot with his horses to Australia so a lot of the time I didn’t have a horse in work. I’m nearing retirement so I’ll have a bit more time now to poke around with my ones at home.”

Perhaps Howard’s most interesting winner was Pleasant Franco which won on the Winton course in March 1991 in the hands of Graham Bond. As a broodmare she had a significant influence on New Zealand harness racing breeding, leaving Christian Cullen. Pleasant Franco’s first foal Kate’s First won an Auckland Cup.