By MICHAEL GUERIN
Northern trainers are doing their best to ignore winter - and harness fans are reaping the benefits.
It used to be that winter was a harness racing wasteland, occupied only by horses not talented enough to win any other time of the year.
Not anymore.
While Alexandra Park will pay host to one of New Zealand's most talented pacers in Agua Caliente tomorrow night he is not alone among the open-class guns in racing trim.
Because Easter Cup winner Facta Non Verba is set to join him.
The 5-year-old heads to Cambridge on Saturday for a searching workout aimed at having him ready for the Winter Cup next Friday.
The Mike Berger-trained gelding has not raced since winning the $100,000 Easter Cup on April 22 but Berger says he is almost ready to go.
"He had nearly two weeks off after the Easter Cup but has come back up very quickly and I would like to think he will be ready for next Friday," he said.
Berger will be using next week's race as a trial for a Queensland campaign, where Facta Non Verba will contest $200,000 worth of races while most of his open-class rivals are still jogging back into shape.
"He might as well be racing in winter and there are good opportunities for him there," said Berger.
Facta Non Verba won't be the only Waikato harness hero campaigning in Aussie.
Talented 3-year-old trotter Classic Wizzer Dee is already in Sydney, where he will contest the New South Wales Derby next week.
Owner Marty Naylor has taken the gelding across the Tasman for trainer John Dickie, buoyed by the news champion Kiwi filly Enthusiast won't be there.
"People don't realise how good Enthusiast is. She is a champion and while we haven't beaten her this season he was going good races behind her and deserves a crack at the good races in Aussie," said Naylor.
Classic Wizzer Dee will head to Victoria for their Derby next month.
* Anthony Butt could be forgiven for not sleeping last night.
The dominant big-race driver of the season was beaming after getting reacquainted with champion trotter Lyell Creek yesterday.
Lyell Creek was given his head for the first time this campaign and thrilled his connections.
"We just let him bowl along a little bit and he felt as good as he looks, which is great," said Butt. "We couldn't be happier with him."
The other good news for the Lyell Creek team is a steady supply of mobile and free-for-all races for him next season, including a race especially staged to attract him to his old home track of Kaikoura.
"The way things are shaping up he won't have to race off a backmark until the Dominion."
Racing: Bonus open-class clash likely
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