Adelaide Direct's 1917 New Zealand Trotting Cup ....at Bendigo Wednesday night.

A significant part of Bendigo District's trotting history will be at Lord's Raceway this Wednesday.
The 1917 New Zealand Trotting Cup, won by Adelaide Direct

Adelaide Direct
Australia’s First Winner of the New Zealand Trotting Cup
The very best. That’s how the New Zealand Trotting Cup, run annually in November at Addington, Christchurch, is regarded. Pacing stars that have won the race include the world’s first pacing millionaire Cardigan Bay, the immortal Johnny Globe and his son Lordship and three time winners Indianapolis and Terror To Love. More recent winners include Adore Me, Flashing Red and Christian Cullen.
Since the race commenced in 1904 very few Australian pacers have won New Zealand’s most prestigious race.
Only one horse managed this between the first in 1904 and Steel Jaw’s victory in 1983. Bendigo district mare, Adelaide Direct, was the first Australian winner in 1917.

Adelaide Direct, foaled in 1906 was a product of the imported stallion Directway, and an Honest Harry mare. Directway US, stood at Robert Matchett’s Adelaide Hill Stud at Huntly on the outskirts of Bendigo. . The unnamed Honest Harry mare was owned by Parker’s Plains (Baringhup near Maldon) horseman Stan Lewis.
Lewis raced her first with James Kennedy. Her first win was at Marong in November 1911, followed by 2 wins on the same card at Charlton.
She was then trained by Frank Ridley at Fitzroy, winning at country meetings as well as at Richmond, the main Melbourne track before being returned to Lewis.
A leading New Zealand trainer Manny Edwards, at the time training in Australia leased the mare in 1914, and took her to New Zealand, where she raced for three seasons before winning the 1917 New Zealand Cup worth 2,200 sovereigns. At that time she held the Australasian records for both one and two miles.
Adelaide Direct was returned to Baringhup where she was bred from. Her descendants have bred on. The most recent winner from her family was Shes So Cool at Northam in WA in 2013.

Race 6 is the Adelaide Direct Pace for C5-6class.http://www.harness.org.au/fields.cfm?mc=BN200515#6