Competitive Hatrick NZ Futurity Heats
Peter Fenemor • June 19th, 2025 4:35 PM • 4 min read
Group 1 heat racing highlights Friday evening’s racing at the Hatrick Raceway where three-520m heats will decide the finalists for the following Friday’s $30,000 New Zealand Futurity.
The New Zealand Futurity brings together the leading restricted age greyhounds with both sexes, along with Kiwi and Australian bred chasers coming together to crown just who is the best of classic aged greyhound.
The first two finishers in each heat will be joined by the quickest two third placegetters for the decider.
Unsurprisingly the heats are dominated by Lisa Cole prepared greyhounds. The Cole kennels completed Tuesday’s straight track meeting with 692 winners secured for the current season.
Cole has three open class graded contenders in the first heat (Race 6). Big Time Maestro ($16 & $4.75 – TAB Futures) delivered a personal best 30.08 520m win last Friday.
Big Time Toby ($14 & $4.25) has compiled a tidy 520m record at the venue, while kennelmate Hey Driver ($16 & $4.75) secures the one-trap to begin his campaign from.
Leading the charge for the visiting trainers in this heat are two Dylan Voyce Canterbury trained runners.
Perfect Harry ($10 & $3.25) completed his preparation for this task when delivering his 30.58 Addington 520m win last week. He has previously won over 520m here in 30.56.
The track debuting Valderrama ($51 & $13.50) has contested two Addington Group 1 525m finals including her recent bold New Zealand Oaks third placing.
Heat 2 (Race 7) is an extremely competitive-looking heat containing numerous qualifying prospects.
Cole mentored Big Time Zip ($21 & $6) to her recent New Zealand Oaks victory, and she is nicely placed in trap-two here to advance through to the final.
Kennelmate Boom Dynamite ($6 & $2.25) is a proven chaser at this level of racing who holds a sharp 29.56 best 520m time, as is So Strict ($41 & $11), although she has to navigate her way into the first turn from the eight-trap.
The Matt Roberts conditioned Romantic Rebel ($4.50 & $1.88) has been installed as the series favourite. The Canterbury trained chaser is proven around this circuit as seen by his tidy 29.70 best 520m clock here and he is likely to relish exiting from the one-trap.
Stuck Throttle ($9 & $3) has matched his paws against the best throughout the country during the season in the classic age races for his conditioner Garry Cleeve. The NZ Derby runner-up will be sighted racing in the TAB 3 rug for his track debut assignment.
The third heat (Race 8) sees the presence of the Cole trained Auckland Cup winner More Magic ($6 & $2.25) attempting to claim another Group 1 title. He brings the field best 29.79 520m time into this heat.
Kennelmate Big Time Favour ($31 & $8.50) was the NZ Oaks runner-up, although this noted railer will have to do everything right after jumping from trap-seven. Actually, she could potentially provide her kennelmate, the trap-eight drawn outsider Cephalopod ($81 & $21) with a clear early racing passage.
Zestful ($6 & $2.25) from the Cleeve kennels commands respect as he continues to deliver competitive races in quality fields. He has won his only previous 520m (30.21) assignment in the River City and he will be sighted racing in the TAB 3 rug here.
Minnie Lu ($51 & $13.50) is a promising up-and-coming chaser for Voyce, and she can make it an interesting race for a long way if she uses her known early pace from trap-two here.
Click here for the full TAB Markets for tomorrow's racing at Hatrick:
