Amass leads the Morrison charge for Winter Rewards
Matt Markham - Raceform • July 25th, 2025 9:00 AM • 3 min read
John Morrison is hoping the use of one of the little hidden gems of Canterbury harness racing can play a role in Winter Rewards success with two of his pacers at Addington on Friday night.
Once famed for its massive annual Gymkhana and also as the base from which Bee Bee Cee won the 1994 New Zealand Trotting Cup, the Chertsey Racecourse doesn’t quite attract the attention it once did, but is still a staple for many trainers on a winter’s Saturday morning.
“We love taking a few out there for a bit of bowl around and to get them off the place for a workout,” Morrison told RaceForm.
After a bit of freshen-up at home following their last two starts, Morrison made the trip out to the workouts there on Saturday with Amass and Ocean Of Tears, among others from his barn, and both ticked the box for their trainer ahead of this week.
“They both went good, nice enough and have come through it well.”
Amass is the leading contender of the stable’s chances on Friday night, the former Southlander really starting to find his groove for his new trainer – particularly in the last two starts which have netted a win and a second.
“He’s getting better with the racing. He ran a great second last time out and then, when we got him out of the box the next day, his foot had blown out with an abscess so we backed off him for a bit. He’s well past that now though and came back up to it pretty quickly.”
Drawn wide on Friday night, Morrison has a decision to make early given he’s got plenty of gate speed for the 2600m mobile.
“It’s a little tricky over that distance, but we can leave the gate if we want to and while he’s capable, he’s probably better known for his grinding than his push-button speed.
“His last two runs have been in better fields than this though, so he’s got to be a good show no matter what unfolds.”
Ocean Of Tears perhaps hasn’t lived right up to her early billing and Morrison has a few question marks over the extra distance.
“She’s yet to show me she is capable of really rounding it out in one of those, but if they run along in front and she does absolutely no work, she’s good enough to run a bit of a cheeky race.”
Dark Ghana will give the Ashburton horseman a good chance of further success too in a Trotting Rewards final for his father, Chris.
“He’s just not been trotting the bends all that well, I think there was still a bit left when he galloped last time though. At his best, he’d be very hard to beat in that race, so hopefully we can get around that bend a bit better.”
On Sunday, Morrison will take his latest project horse, Rocky In Paradise, into Addington looking for a change in fortunes. The maiden trotter has got it wrong more times than he’s got it right in races but comes off the unruly this week.
“I figure he’s better off not chasing them early and actually going with them, he can begin quite quickly. I think he’ll win a race, but he’s not one you can tip with a whole lot of confidence.”
