Matt Cross: Race Caller previews the 2025 NZ Trotting Cup at Addington Raceway

Just as punters hoped, showers have cleared in Christchurch in time to fling open the gates at Addington Raceway before the 122nd running of the New Zealand Trotting Cup. 

The grey start's made way for some blue skies and enough sun to fry off rain that fell this morning. 

Race caller Matt Cross told John MacDonald the track's in good order. 

He says the afternoon forecast is pretty good, so by the time the Cup comes around this evening, we should be in pretty fine form in terms of the weather. 

The Trotting Cup is the richest harness race in the Southern Hemisphere, with a million dollars on offer, and Cross says that while he might be a bit biased, he thinks it’s the greatest harness race in the Southern Hemisphere too.  

It’s the history that makes it special, he told MacDonald, and every year this is the race people talk about. 

“It’s the pinnacle. It’s the race that not only defines horses, but it defines people as well in terms of where they sit in the pecking order within the industry.” 

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Episode Transcript

Speaker 1 (00:06):
You're listening to the Canterbury Mornings podcast with John McDonald
from News Talks THEREB.

Speaker 2 (00:13):
Yeah, good morning John, Great to be chatting to you again.
A Cup day has come around pretty quickly. I think
this year that the last twelve months has kind of
gone quicker than it has before. I guess that happens
when you get a little bit older. But look, it
is still as exciting as it ever ever has been
and we've got a great.

Speaker 3 (00:31):
Day head now. We had a bit of rain earlier
this morning. What impact is it going to have on
the day's events.

Speaker 2 (00:36):
It shouldn't be too much of a worry, to be fair.
Look in the afternoon forecast pretty good, so by the
time the Cup comes around at seven minutes to six,
we should be in pretty fine form. In terms of
the weather. It wasn't really torrential, so it shouldn't really
have too much of an effect on anything.

Speaker 3 (00:54):
Right, garden though, Oh you're good for the gardener. Is
it too much to say that this is our equivalent
of the Melbourne Cup.

Speaker 2 (01:01):
Yeah, for sure it is. It's Melbourne Cup's on a
totally different scale, but in terms of it being our
greatest race, like the Melbourne Cup, is for Australia. Absolutely
it is. We've got a million dollars on offer. It's
the richest harness race in the Southern Hemisphere. And I'm
probably a little bit biased, but I think it's the
greatest harness race in the Southern Hemisphere. And we have

(01:22):
the greatest horse in the Southern Hemisphere who's in christ
Church today the Queensland will leap to fame who's won
five million dollars, which in itself is a record for
a horse in this part of the world as well.
So how lucky are we to be able to have
him on track and had him as the favorite for
other grace today?

Speaker 3 (01:38):
All right, Yeah, I was going to ask you, and
I'll come back to your tips. What makes this race
so special in your rise, It's the history.

Speaker 2 (01:47):
It's the history of it going right back to the
first ever one Monte Carlo back in the early nineteen hundreds.
Every year, this is the race that people talk about
when people get interviewed when they're young and harness racing.
What race do you want to win every time? Without fail?
It's the New Zealand Cup, the pinnacle. It's the race

(02:08):
that not only defines horses, but it defines people as
well in terms of where they sit in the pecking
order within the industry. When you think of people like
Ricky May who's won the race seven times, Mark Purdin,
he's won it sex. Both of them are driving in
the race today. It's just the history around it, the
hype around it, and when you're amongst it on the

(02:30):
track on the day when the New Zealand Cup comes around,
it's just a totally different feeling. The intensity goes up.
There's just nothing that matches it. We've got some wonderful
races on the undercart and we've got some great races
throughout the year and have a very good stake on them.
But this race just stands itself out by a country mile. Now.

Speaker 3 (02:47):
A lot of people, well most people experience the race
at ground level, or the racing at ground level. What's
it like where you are though, up in the gods
pretty good.

Speaker 2 (02:56):
I get to see anything I want really. At home,
when you're watching on the TV, you're dictated to by
whatever the director and the outside broadcast truck is happy
to show you. I can look at every aspect of
the course. I've got a great pair of Japanese binoculars.
I can probably look down at people's tables and see
what their bits are. They're that good, to be fair,

(03:18):
but yeah, it's great. You can really soak in the
whole atmosphere in saying that, when you're at home on
the TV, I think our coverage nowadays is at a
totally different level to what it used to be. Pretty
much through the technology that we're able to use, we
can put a drone up in the sky and give
you that kind of aspect at home, So whether you're
on track or if you're at home, you can sort

(03:40):
of feel like you're there anyway, all right.

Speaker 3 (03:41):
I said that there are nine hundred pounts of strawberries,
a ton of lamb and more than a thousand bottles
of bubbles on ice. What's your eating regime on a
big day like today?

Speaker 2 (03:50):
I just think normally, really, I'm not a breakfast man,
to be fair, I never have breakfast. I have a
week coffee in the morning, coffee with a bit of
cream on top, and we get our lunch supplied today.
We don't normally during the year, but everyone in the
KREUW gets their lunch supplied on New Zealand Cup Day
and yeah, I'll just get myself through the day. I
don't go getting into anything too heavy or too sugary,

(04:13):
and I stay away from the fizzy drinks. Just a
nice wee bottle of water to get me through, and
to be fair, the day goes that fast you probably
don't really think about eating too much anyway. Then when
I get home, I'll park up and track the dressing
down on and go back to normal.

Speaker 3 (04:27):
Brilliant, of course it's cut weak. What's your involvement across
the week?

Speaker 2 (04:32):
Yeah, so we keep things off pretty much last Friday
night at Addington. We've got the World Driving Championship here
at the moment, which is a huge deal, and I
guess it's kind of been overshadowed by the fact that
we've got New Zealand Cup Day today. But we had
the World Drivers Championship, so we've got ten drivers from
all around the world, ten of the very best to
have been here in New Zealand. I've got twenty heats

(04:53):
across four or five days. I've had nineteen of those heats.
The final heat comes up today. The series has been
wrapped up by James McDonald from Canada. He's too far
in front for anybody to beat him, but that's a
huge deal. So the final heat that today, So we
had a big night there on Friday for them. Saturday
just gone at Record and Park. They had their first
big day obviously we had today. We're back to Record

(05:15):
and tomorrow. We've got a huge dad racing danadash Burton
on Thursday. Back to Addington on Friday for the showdown
meeting and then it all comes to a head on
the galloping New Zealand Cup day on Saturday at Record
and Park. So it's sort of nine days of straight
intense work, but it's sort of what you work towards
for the entire year. You know, everything that you kind

(05:37):
of do, everything that everybody does kind of points toward
this week being the pinnacle.

Speaker 3 (05:41):
All right, you've alluded to it. But who what's your pick?
Who is your pick for taking out the cup tonight?

Speaker 2 (05:46):
Well, my head tells me leap to fame for sure.
He's just such an incredible animal. You don't win five
million dollars without being a freak. He's a champion. We
don't say that too much, but he's a champion. We
have got some New Zealand hopes here though, Republican Party,
I think is probably the best of those. He's trained
in christ Church by Crown and Chrissy Delgetty. They have

(06:08):
never won the New Zealand Cup and I know that
in some ways it's been a bit of a frustration
for them that they haven't been able to and today
they get a great chance to try and do that.
And we've got some other wonderful, wonderful horses from both
New Zealand and Australia that are here today. I think
we have seven or eight Australian horses that have come
over for all of our races here today, which is great.

(06:30):
We went through a period there of sort of seven
or eight years where we had no Australians come over.
So to have the best against the best today, there's
going to be a great buzz. But I think whatever
beats leap to fame today and our feature race will
be winning it.

Speaker 3 (06:43):
All right, I'll let you go. The races start shortly.
But one final question. Do you bet yourself?

Speaker 2 (06:48):
No? I don't. I don't bet. I used to, and
I think that it probably as a race caller, it
it depends on who you are. I know some of
the guys who do call they do bet, but I
think for me personally, it's been my best interests not
to avoid any sort of frustration. I guess why you
while kind of calling, and I just think, Yeah, I
don't have any interest in beating. I think I've got

(07:12):
a job to do and to be able to do
that to the best of my abilities, I think I
probably shouldn't be betting, So no, I don't. I have
an interest in a few horses that I follow, and
I obviously have a fair idea about how the punting
side of it works. But to answer your question, no,
brilliant all.

Speaker 3 (07:28):
I enjoy the day and the rest of the week.
Great chatting to you, mate, I appreciate.

Speaker 2 (07:32):
It, fantastic. As always, we better.

Speaker 1 (07:35):
Crack into it for more from Caterbory Mornings with John McDonald.
Listen live to news Talks It'd be christ Church from
nine am weekdays, or follow the podcast on iHeartRadio.