KEY POINTS:
As punters and race goers around the country prepare for three Auckland Cups in three days, starting at Ellerslie tomorrow, Ellerslie Ambassador Bridgette O'Sullivan led horses down Broadway in Newmarket as part of a promotion street show.
A bit further down the Southern Motorway a slightly more laid-back
race meeting will be making history.
It is 49 years since a harness racing meeting was held at Pukekohe Park, usually home to horsepower of a different kind, either thoroughbred racing or the V8 supercars.
With the Franklin region having been a stronghold for harness racing for decades, the return of a race meeting to the local area should be a big deal.
For trainers such as Fraser the $12,000 Hewes Metals Franklin Country Cup is the big deal.
While the event will hardly register a blip on the racing radar, for the 56-year-old Morrinsville trainer it will be the highlight of his Auckland Cup week, his own personal Auckland Cup.
Fraser will line-up his plain-looking 4-year-old pacer Forever Loyal in the race and admits he has only an outside chance.
Which is more chance that Fraser had of training a cup winner a few years ago.
He is, and always has been, one of racing's battlers.
At the start of the 1990s he trained his biggest ever team and had a top horse called Stabilizer, who used to be an Alexandra Park regular.
Then life got tough.
So tough that in 2000 he lined up 47 horses for one sole placing. An entire year's work for little more than $2000 in stakes.
Then life got tougher.
"I had a series of little strokes, then a major one, which put me in hospital for a month."
When he came out Fraser tried a less-stressful lifestyle, picking fruit in Hawkes Bay.
But like so many racing people he could not stay away.
"I guess you could say it is in my blood."
These days, walking a bit slower than he used to, he trains just six horses, adding another cast-off to his stable this week.
"It is hard sometimes but you do the best you can to get by."
But help is on its way.
"My daughter Jenny has started helping me out with the horses," he says, summing up the importance of family in keeping so many people's racing dreams alive.
Last week was a typical one for Fraser this season, driving to Manawatu and then Stratford to race Forever Loyal and a non-winning stablemate on the central district circuit, where long hours and smaller stakes are a trainer's lot.
Their total return for four days on the road wouldn't have even paid for the petrol.
But Fraser's voice still raises an octave when you mention Forever Loyal.
He has won three races this season, including the Otaki Cup, another feature at a small-time grass track meeting.
He is Fraser's stable star, 450kg of hope that will trundle out on to Pukekohe Park today with at least a slim chance of repaying Fraser's faith.
If Forever Loyal becomes the horse Fraser hopes he will, his trainer would love to get back to Alexandra Park, the real deal where the lights are brighter and the stake money bigger.
But that won't come in time for this Friday so when they run the Auckland Trotting Cup, he, like so many other lesser-known trainers, will be watching from afar.
"I'd love to get back there, I like racing in the big-time."
But for today he remains one of the other faces of cup week, those thousands of racing people who toil in the shadows rather then the few who party in the spotlight.
THE WEEK'S HIGHLIGHTS
Today
* The heroes of the three racing codes parade through Broadway, Newmarket, to give fans a chance to see the big names in the industry. Also on show will be the SkyCity Auckland Cup.
* Harness racing returns to Pukekohe for the first time in nearly 50 years. Racing starts at 3pm, and the last of the eight races is at 6.18pm. The feature race is the $12,000 Hewes Metals Gold Country Cup over 2600m. Young racegoers can enjoy Kidz Karts races and there will be a jazz band for older fans. A racegoers' bus leaves Alexandra Park at 1.30pm.
Tomorrow
* Auckland Cup Day, Ellerslie Racecourse. Main race is the $700,000 SkyCity Auckland Cup.
Thursday
Greyhound racing, Manukau Sports Bowl.
Friday
* Karaka yearling sales, and harness racing at Alexandra Park.
Saturday
* Diamond Day at Ellerslie Racecourse, with fashion police rounding up suspects to win a $25,999 diamond ring.Compiled by Phoebe Falconer
