Cran Dalgety campaigning for Republican Party victory in New Zealand Cup
Adam Hamilton • October 30th, 2025 10:13 AM
Now it’s time to have their biggest day at Addington on November 11.
That’s $NZ1mil NZ Trotting Cup Day, the biggest and most iconic race of any code in New Zealand.
Many say it's the biggest harness race Down Under.
For Dalgety, who was bred into the game with a legendary trainer as his father (Jim), he has tried to win the NZ Cup for 35 years, but had to be content with two seconds and three thirds.
Nearing the twilight of his career, now is his time.
Now is also Republican Party’s time.
The former top-class youngster has been on a meticulous and masterful two-year journey in open class to get to November 11.
The last nine months have been laser-focused, including deliberately bypassing major Australian races he would have been very competitive in like the $A1 million Miracle Mile and $A1 million Brisbane Inter Dominion final.
Before that, Dalgety did take Republican Party to Australia a couple of times.
“The Australian open-class horses have been better for the past couple of years, so we had to go and take them as part of his development,” Dalgety said.
“He went to Sydney when he was four for a few runs and wasn’t quite up to it, but when we went back earlier this year we took a lot of heart from his two runs.
“It showed how far he’d come and I’ve got no doubt those two runs, and the trip over, helped bring him on even further.”
Republican Party’s best run, and the best of his career until then, was a close and unlucky third to Swayzee and Leap To Fame in the great Hunter Cup at Melton on February 1.
Many felt he may have won wit a bit more luck at a crucial stage.
“We tossed-up whether to go on to Sydney for the Miracle Mile, but just felt Leap To Fame and Swayzee were at the peak of their powers and we were best going home and making some longer term plans.
“It’s when we got home we identified the NZ Cup as the best chance to try and beat the best. The standing start suits him, he runs the 3200m better than most and it’s in our own backyard, so they have to travel to beat us.
“We really worked backwards from there and thought we were best skipping the Inter Dominion and focusing everything on a break then a build-up at home towards the NZ Cup.”
The result? A near faultless preparation and a version of Republican Party we have never seen before.
Since a luckless first-up fifth at Addington on September 26, Republican Party has become THE dominant open-class pacer in NZ.
He underlined that with an arrogant, dare I say it, almost Leap To Fame-like dominance to win last Monday’s Group 2 Ashburton Flying Stakes, which has historically been the ultimate guide to the NZ Cup.
But conquering the Kiwis is only part of this Cup jigsaw.
The Aussies are coming in force, headed by Leap To Fame, but supported by older half-brother Swayzee, who is going for a record-equalling third successive NZ Cup win.
Then there’s the emerging and largely untapped Kingman, too, if he makes the trip.
“It’s like you win one war, then the next one is waiting for you,” Dalgety laughed.
“We always knew that would be the case. We got excited there for a while when there were doubts over Leap To Fame coming, but being serious, we want him here. The race and the game needs him here.
“It’s no different to when I was starting out training and took my good horses like Desperate Comment, over to Melbourne to try and win their biggest races.
“This is what the game is all about. The rivalry has such history and winning the Cup would mean so much more if we did by beating the best of the Aussies as well.”
Dalgety stopped short of saying he was confident, but admits to being content.
“The horse has clearly gone to a new level this campaign,” he said. “We saw it early in his work and now he’s taking it into his races.
“Even I was a bit surprised just how easily he beat them at Ashburton.
“If you take a line through that Hunter Cup, when he got close to those big boys, I know he’s a better horse now.
“I think we’re in it with a fighting chance. Leap To Fame is a champion, one of the best we’ve ever seen, but he has been beaten a few times lately.
“Whether it’s a human or a horse, champions have a window when they’re unstoppable, and then it changes.
“We sort of expected Leap To Fame to be able to overcome anything and win for a while, but maybe, just maybe that’s not the case anymore. I’d like to think Republican Party is the up-and-comer nipping at his heels.
“If we can get some luck and Leap To Fame doesn’t have everything go right, then we’re going well enough to take advantage of that.
“Put it this way. If we somehow found the front before him and he challenged for the lead in the middle stages, we’d hold him out now and go for the win rather than a soft run to try and run second.
“That’s the difference between now and say six or nine months ago.”
While Dalgety has waited a long and distinguished career for his best chance yet to win the NZ Cup, his 22-year-old son, Carter, one of Australasia’s top young drivers, gets his chance much sooner.
“I’ve served a 35-year apprenticeship for this opportunity,” Cran laughed.
This will be Carter’s fourth NZ Cup drive, all for his father and mother (Chrissie), who train in partnership.
It’s also his third consecutive drive on Republican Party in the race, having finished fifth to Swayzee in 2023 and third to the same pacer last year.
“Winning it (the NZ Cup) myself would be amazing because it’s the one race all Kiwis, even if they don’t follow racing, know about,” Cran said. “But to share my first win with Carter would be the stuff dreams are made of.”
- Courtesy of Harness Racing Update
