Classy mare ready to resume at Addington
Matt Markham - Raceform • March 28th, 2025 1:30 PM • 3 min read
A searching trial victory at Rangiora last week was all Derek Jones needed to see to know talented trotting mare Eurostyle was ready to return to battle this week.
And while the well-regarded horseman, who trains in partnership with his wife Adele, knows it’s never quite as simple as stepping out and winning, he’s confident in the fact he’s taking a horse to the races who is as ready as possible without having had a run under the belt.
“She’s spot on for where I want her to be, pretty ready,” Jones told RaceForm. “Whether that’s enough to win this week, and I think it might be, we’ll just have to see because there’s some pretty race-hardened horses there to take on.”
Eurostyle turned a few heads with a dashing trial win last week when sent on a mission by driver Jonny Cox to find the front and leave some nice horses in her wake as she won comfortably in good time.
“That was exactly what she needed and she’s really come on since then too, her work at home has been sensational, so it’s all down to her really.”
Cox will be replaced by his partner and Eurostyle’s regular driver Kim Butt this week, with the pair set to take on a number of horses dropping out of the Fred Shaw Memorial NZ Trotting Championships a fortnight ago, including Midnight Dash, Mystic Max and Mr Love.
It’s the first step on a path to chasing feature mares’ riches in the coming weeks, with Jones keen to stay away from the real top-liners for a few months yet.
“She’ll go through the few mares’ races that are coming up and then we’ll likely send her to the paddock before bringing her back up for the big races later on in the year.
“We think she’s more than good enough but we don’t want to throw her in until she’s ready.”
The camp also lines up another talented trotter in Muscle Sass earlier in the night and there’s expectation that she’ll show sharp improvement from her initially disappointing fresh-up run.
“We’ll put that down to a combination of different things, they ran almost as quickly as the open class trotters that night and she just got too far back from them.
“I’ve been really happy with the way she’s come through that run and I expect her to show real improvement this week in what looks to be a much better assignment.”
A daughter of Muscle Hill, Muscle Sass has five wins next to her name from her 29 starts and there have been occasions where her trainers have happily gone on record to suggest she’s not that far behind Eurostyle in terms of natural ability.
“She can trot, but she probably needs things to go her way a bit more than the other horse.
“When she catches the tape she can really begin, and I think being out a bit wider this week from the inside will help her as she can come in a bit later and get moving.”
Jones is closing in on a personal milestone in his training career with 45 wins from limited opportunities over the years.
Twenty-eight of those wins have come in partnership with his wife, and with a couple of talented trotters at their disposal, the 50-win mark looks high on the cards in the coming 12 months.
Photograph at the top of the page: Seven-win mare Eurostyle will begin a new campaign at Addington Raceway on Friday night. Credit: RaceForm
