Knight charges to upset feature

While the weather at the Rangiora Harness Racing Club's meeting yesterday was upsetting, the biggest upset of the day came in the feature race, the Nat Hall Memorial Handicap Pace.

Outsider Knight N Charge ground his way up the passing lane to win at massive odds of $62 to one.

Trained just out of Ashburton by Graham Laing and driven by his daughter, Angela, Knight N Charge's victory was a popular one.

After stepping away nicely from the inside draw on the 10-metre mark, Laing found herself and Knight N Charge back on the fence, while the pace was kept on by race leader Soky's Gain and John Dunn.

When others started to tire, Knight N Charge and Laing kept plugging up the inside and found their way to the front just short of the post to get up and win by a neck.

When a false start was declared at the first attempt to race, Laing thought that could have been the end of Knight N Charge's day, because the Knight Rainbow gelding has been below par from stand starts in the past.

"He flew the tape the first time, so when they called us back, I wasn't too confident, but he got away nicely the second time as well, and we got a nice trip from there," Laing said.

"He deserves to win a race like this though. He has run some really good races without getting much luck, so it's a great result."

Laing has held a raceday licence since the 1991-92 season and her win yesterday with Knight N Charge took her career tally to 28.

While not seen in the sulky often, Laing has established herself as one of the South Island's top female drivers, and the win yesterday was just reward for months of patience and determination.

"I don't really drive much outside of Dad's ones, so every win is special. We have about six racehorses in work at the moment, as well as a few we are breaking in, so that's enough to keep us busy."

Yesterday was the 84th start for Knight N Charge. He now has six wins to go along with the 16 minor placings and more than $78,000 he has earned.

- © Fairfax NZ News