By Matt Markham
A fifth placing, beaten by more than seven lengths, can’t often be hailed as a great result, but on Sunday at Rangiora it could.
After dominating the first three quarters of the New Zealand Amateur Drivers Association Championships, it was the perfect result for John McDermott and ensured that he was crowned the 2016 champion.
The Canterbury based amateur and successful trainer had laid it all on the line in the opening stages of the series winning the first three heats of competition to see him head into the final race with one hand firmly on the prize.
McDermott’s only concern was getting his drive, Midfrew Tarpediem, into a position high enough to secure him the victory, all the while hoping that his nearest rival, Sheryl Wigg wasn’t able to win with her drive, Franco Caliph.
But to add a little spice to things, Wigg was successful with the Dean Taylor trained pacer – a result which came as no surprise to McDermott.
“I’ve been lucky enough to drive Franco Caliph before and I knew he would be quite hard to beat because he just goes out there and does the business,” he said.
“So my challenge was to get my drive as high up the finishing order as possible.”
Rated 10/10 in betting, Midfrew Tarpediem wasn’t being given much hope by punters, but McDermott cut all possible corners and managed to run home strongly into fifth place.
“He found the line really well, we didn’t have a lot of luck in running but I knew he was going to run on pretty strongly.”
McDermott had actually been told prior to going out onto the track that he needed to beat just the solitary horse home to secure himself the win, but thankfully he never heeded to that advice.
As it turned out with Wigg winning the race, he actually needed to beat four horses home.
“I was always out there to drive to finish in the highest possible spot, where I needed to finish actually wasn’t on my mind too much.”
It was fitting that McDermott was the one who got his hands on the trophy after his early demolition job on the series.
He won the opening two heats at Cambridge last week with Sheza Springfield and Shantalia Knight and then produced a bold front-running drive on Franco Exeter to win the third heat in the opening race at Rangiora on Sunday.
“Everything just fell into place and I was lucky to get on some horses who were very competitive.”
McDermott finished on 47 points with Wigg a few points back on 43 in second place.
The North Island horsewoman has every right to feel a little hard done by as in almost any competition around the world consisting of four heats a win and three placings would be enough to claim top spot.
But she was unlucky to run into a rampant McDermott who may now get the opportunity to travel abroad and compete in American next year.
“It’s the same series that Danny Blakemore won in Florida this year.
“If it goes ahead I understand that I will be going, which would be a great thrill.”
The series victory tidied up a great month for McDermott who also produced a winner on Premier Day at Addington.
He found himself in the winners’ circle when Shesa Tricky Bridge won the Super Series final after a string of consistent performances.
“It has been a good month, but winning this is definitely a real highlight in my career that’s for sure.”
Final Points: John McDermott – 47, Sheryl Wigg – 43, Gavin Cook – 36, Jeff Darby – 34, Sue Blake -29, Richard Sissons – 23, Miranda Hallett – 22, Alan Edge – 20, Gerry Cronin – 19, Tim Vince – 18, Tremain Thorby – 17, John Kreichbaumer – 15, Wayne Lowe – 11.
Approved By Dean Baring www.harnessbred.com
Driving The Future Of Harness Racing
