Lyell Creek (foaled 30 November 1993) is one of New Zealand's best

Standardbred The Standardbred is an American horse breed best known for its ability in harness racing, where members of the breed compete at either a trot or pace. Developed in North America, the Standardbred is recognized worldwide, and the breed can trace i ...

trotters. Also known as "Creek The Freak", he had 113 starts for 56 wins, 15 seconds and 11 thirds, including an Australasian record 15 Group One wins. His fastest mile rate was 1.52.4 and he won $2,950,224 in stake money, which is an Australasian record for a trotter. Lyell Creek won the 2000 Inter Dominion Trotting Championship Grand Final at Moonee Valley in Melbourne, taking home $295,000 for his efforts. He also won New Zealand's two biggest trotting races, the

Dominion Handicap The Dominion is a race held at the Addington Raceway each year in Christchurch, New Zealand for standardbred horses. The race is run in November over a distance of 3200 m on the Friday of New Zealand Cup week. It is on the same day as the ...

and the

Rowe Cup The Rowe Cup is a race held annually at Alexandra Park, Auckland, New Zealand for standardbred horses. The Rowe Cup is run over a distance of 3200 m. Along with the Dominion Handicap raced at Addington Raceway it is one of the major harness ...

, both on three occasions. In the 1999-00 season Lyell Creek won the

Inter Dominion Trotting Championship :''for winners of the pacing event see: Inter Dominion Pacing Championship'' The Inter Dominion Trotting Championship Grand Final was a race for trotters within the overall Inter Dominion series. The series is held each year, and is a harness raci ...

and

becoming the first horse to win the three races in the same season.Premier Stables - Tim Butt Racing
, Retrieved 7 February 2016 At the Inter Dominion carnival in Melbourne he won four Group One races including the Australasian Trotters Championship, Dullard Cup and Millennium Mile where he produced a remarkable winning performance after being trapped wide on the track. It was his sixteenth consecutive win. He won 20 consecutive races until being beaten in the New Zealand Trotting Free For All on Show Day in 2000. The defeat came one start after he had broken the New Zealand record for a trotting mile at Ashburton by winning in 1:55.6. Before racing in the Northern Hemisphere he won his second Rowe Cup and the Bill Collins Mile in Melbourne. On 1 October 2000 he became the first horse to win consecutive Banks Peninsula Trotting Cups. In the 2000 edition he started off 30 metres but won by four and a quarter lengths over Jay Bee Ar with the same distance back to One Kenny. He also raced in Europe and campaigned extensively in North America and raced against some of the best trotters in the world including Sweden's Victory Tilly. Highlights of his North American racing included a win in the Su Mac Lad, a close second in the Titan Cup and a second in the Classic Series Final and in Europe he finished third in the Copenhagen Cup. He started in the

Elitloppet Elitloppet (literally: "The Elite Race") or Solvallas Internationella Elitlopp is an annual, invitational Group One harness event that has taken place at Solvalla Racetrack in Stockholm, Sweden, since 1952. The competition is regarded as one of ...

in 2001 but did not advance to the final won by

Varenne Varenne (foaled in Copparo, Italy, 19 May 1995) is a dark bay racing trotter by Waikiki Beach out of Ialmaz by Zebu. Varenne is considered to be the best trotter of all time. No other trotter has won so many of the most important races in the ...

. A notable achievement of Lyell Creek was that he won 34 of his 37 starts before his extensive Northern Hemisphere campaign, with his only defeats being his debut (over a year before his second start), when pulled-up at his fourth start and when running third in the 2000 NZ Trotting Free-For-All. After returning to New Zealand Lyell Creek won his third Rowe Cup winning by 7 3/4 lengths. Then aged 11 he won the New Zealand Trotting Free For All at Addington in November 2004 setting a national record for 2600 metres and the Dominion Handicap. He last raced in 2005.Lyell Creek farewell feature
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Reference list

{{reflist, 2 New Zealand standardbred racehorses Rowe Cup winners Dominion Handicap winners Inter Dominion Trotting winners 1993 racehorse births

See also

Reference list