Neville Vaughan is off 40m in a seven-horse field over 2700m.
He won from that handicap over the same distance last Friday night. He was driven by Tony Herlihy in the absence of Dickie, who was on holiday. Dickie has driven Neville Vaughan in his other two wins at Alexandra Park and another at Palmerston North in April.
Neville Vaughan has been based at the Cambridge stable of John Dickie after being sent north by Christchurch trainer Kevin Townley early in May.
"It looks as though I picked the right time to send him north with the small fields," Townley said.
The son of Britewell and Jenola Bay is owned by Townley's wife, Margaret, Greg and Nick Katsoulis and Louis Farac, of Auckland. The same owners raced a brother of Neville Vaughan, Uncle Petrika, who won several races in New Zealand and Australia in 2003 when trained by Townley. Uncle Petrika was then sold to clients of the Victoria stable of Lance Justice and won the 2007 Interdominion Trotting Final in Adelaide in 2007.
Townley nominated his other trotter, Burano, for the Franklin meeting but decided on a start at Addington last night.
"I will take him [Burano] north in the next couple of weeks. There are three more suitable races for both horses in the coming weeks," Townley said.
Dickie is driving Bobbiemack and Elysium for his employer Tony Herlihy tonight. Herlihy, who drove five winners last Friday night, remained in Queensland after driving Courage To Rule to finish fourth in the Four-Year-old Championship won by Lanercost at Albion Park last Saturday. Herlihy is due back home at Papakura on Monday.
Bobbiemack (race 6) has been placed in two of his three starts in a fresh campaign.
Amanda Grieve, a junior driver with the Herlihy stable, has the drive on the Herlihy-trained Sly Cullen (race 3).
• Anvils Delight has returned an elevated level of bicarbonate after finishing second at Alexandra Park last Friday night states the Racing Integrity Unit. Anvils Delight, trained by Phil Burrows at Fernside, is engaged in race 6 tonight.
• The New Zealand Metropolitan Trotting Club is assessing alternative structures to the public grandstand for the New Zealand Cup meeting at Addington in November.
The grandstand sustained extensive structural damage in the February earthquake and is off limits after being declared unsafe. It is the subject of negotiations between the NZMTC and an insurance company.
"The public stand could be demolished prior to Cup day," Shane Gloury, the chief executive of the the NZMTC, said.
"We have been working on contingency plans involving the use of marquees and other temporary structures to accommodate patrons." The club is expecting the usual crowd of about 25,000 for New Zealand Trotting Cup day on Tuesday, November 8.
Gloury said there was ample accommodation and entertainment available in Christchurch.
"There are 220 accommodation providers operating in Christchurch and the Christchurch Casino has been back operating since May," he said.
He said the meeting will take on greater significance this year.
"New Zealand Cup and show week is very important for Christchurch in 2011 as the city rebuilds and moves on from the tragic events from earlier this year."
