{"id":292,"date":"2025-04-19T16:29:57","date_gmt":"2025-04-19T06:29:57","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/copythat.net.au\/index.php\/2025\/04\/19\/nz-messenger-championship-group-l-copy\/"},"modified":"2025-05-08T16:15:47","modified_gmt":"2025-05-08T06:15:47","slug":"dunstan-horsefeeds","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/copythat.net.au\/index.php\/2025\/04\/19\/dunstan-horsefeeds\/","title":{"rendered":"Dunstan Horsefeeds – NZ record"},"content":{"rendered":"\n
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\n PHOTO: Chanelle Lawson <\/div>\n \n <\/div>\n \n <\/div>\n\n
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NZ record from a 70 metre handicap<\/h3> <\/div>\n<\/div>\n\n
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2700 metre stand, Cambridge October 28, 2022<\/h6> <\/div>\n<\/div>\n <\/div>\n <\/div>\n <\/div>\n
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Trainer Ray Green had an usual reaction to Copy That\u2019s staggering win from a 70 metre handicap at Cambridge.<\/p>\n

Green knew his horse\u2019s 3:16 clocking for the standing 2700 metres was a New Zealand record, slicing 1.2 seconds off Triple Eight\u2019s old mark, an effort that saw the crowd give the horse a standing ovation on his way back to the stables.<\/p>\n

But the enormity of Copy That\u2019s feat – he\u2019s the first pacer to overcome such a long mark in at least 42 years – really only became apparent when Green was told the horse\u2019s sectional times.<\/p>\n

Incredibly, Copy That paced his last 2200 metres in 2:38.3, only six tenths of a second outside the track record for the distance.<\/p>\n

And he ran his last mile in a white hot 1:52.7. Compare that to the Cambridge track record for a flying mile of 1:51.6, jointly held by Adore Me and South Coast Arden, just a second quicker than Copy That who ran 1100 metres before reaching his last mile.<\/p>\n

\u201cI hope he hasn\u2019t gone too well,\u201d Green said. \u201cI was hoping we didn\u2019t have to do something like that. I just hope he pulls up ok.<\/p>\n

\u201cBut we\u2019ve got some time up our sleeve, it\u2019s 10 days \u2019til the cup.\u201d<\/p>\n

It wasn\u2019t surprising driver Zachary Butcher reported to Green that Copy That was feeling it near the finish – he ran from the mile to the 800 in 56.8, then ripped home in 55.9 and 27.8.<\/p>\n

While it might have looked like Copy That was struggling to make up the leeway on his main rival, Hot And Treacherous, who had a 20 metre start, Butcher said the horse knew what he was doing.<\/p>\n

\u201cThe horse was thinking for me and we got a bit of a breather when we caught the field.\u201d<\/p>\n

It was Butcher\u2019s first drive on Copy That in a race for three years and three weeks but he said the horse always had a great will to win.<\/p>\n

\u201cThe last time I drove him he was a green, two-win horse but now he has great manners. He doesn\u2019t overdo it and, when you\u2019re going into a two-mile race, you need to be relaxed, you can\u2019t be getting too keen.\u201d<\/p> <\/div>\n<\/div>\n <\/div>\n <\/div>\n <\/div>\n

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