Australia’s Gary Hall Jr. got off to a flying start in the 2025 World Driving Championship (WDC) as he won the first two races on the opening card and finished second in the other on Sunday, Nov. 2 at Kaikoura Trotting Club in Kaikoura, New Zealand.
Hall took the opening two races with live drives and was a narrow second in the third. He came away with 44 points from a maximum of 49 and leads Italy’s Giampaolo Minnucci, who won the third contest race and has 29 points. Third is Pierre Vercruysse of France on 21 points.
Canada’s James MacDonald, the 2017 WDC champion, finished day one with 17 points, sitting joint-sixth with New Zealand’s Blair Orange. His first two charges broke behind the gate, the latter of which rallied for an unlikely third-place finish, and he was fourth in the third round off a pocket trip. MacDonald’s trip to New Zealand started auspiciously though, as he won the first dash on the card, a non-contest race, up the passing lane with Judine for Robert and Jenna Dunn.
The WDC will return to Kaikoura for day two, starting at noon on Monday, Nov. 3 local time (6 p.m. EST on Sunday, Nov. 2).
The standings after the first day of the WDC are as follows:
1. Gary Hall Jr. - Australia - 44
2. Giampaolo Minnucci - Italy - 29
3. Pierre Vercruysse - France - 21
4. Brett Beckwith - USA - 18
5. Santtu Raitala - Finland - 18
6. James MacDonald - Canada - 17
7. Blair Orange - New Zealand - 17
8. Mats Djuse - Sweden - 9
9. Michael Nimczyk - Germany - 7
10. Jaap van Rijn - The Netherlands - 5
The remaining schedule of the WDC is below.
- Second Leg (Kaikoura): Sunday, Nov. 2, 6 p.m. EST / Monday, Nov. 3, 12 p.m. NZDT
- Third Leg (Cambridge): Tuesday, Nov. 4, 10:30 p.m. EST / Wednesday, Nov. 5, 4:30 p.m. NZDT
- Fourth Leg (Addington): Thursday, Nov. 6, 10:30 p.m. EST / Friday, Nov. 7, 4:30 p.m. NZDT
- Fifth Leg (Winton): Saturday, Nov. 8, 6 p.m. EST / Sunday, Nov. 9, 12 p.m. NZDT
- Sixth and final leg (Addington; New Zealand Cup Day): Monday, Nov. 10, 6 p.m. EST / Tuesday, Nov. 11, 12 p.m. NZDT
Recaps and replays of the WDC day-one races are below.
WDC Race 1
Australia’s Gary Hall Jr. took the first lead in the 2025 World Driving Championship, pushing to command on the first trip in front of the stands with Hoof It Hagrid, who held off late challengers by three-quarters of a length to win the 1,900-metre contest with a 2:01.4 mile rate. Rachmaninov, piloted by France’s Pierre Vercruysse, was home second over Granny Rose and Italy’s Giampaolo Minnucci. Canada’s James MacDonald finished eighth of nine after his drive, Switch On, broke behind the gate.
WDC Race 2
Gary Hall Jr. struck again in the second WDC contest, giving Australia the maximum point total through two races. He set Midnight Diamond up with a second-over spot turning for the backstretch, and as the first-up Judy J inherited the lead, Midnight Diamond took off, surging past that rival and sprinting away to an impressive six-length victory with a mile rate of 1:57.3. Judy J, driven by Brett Beckwith of the United States, finished second. MacDonald finished a remarkable third behind Holly Highlander, who broke before the start but caught the field and swung wide on the final turn before charging for the show spot.
WDC Race 3
Scrunch thundered down the outside after swinging three-wide from third-over on the final turn to take the third WDC race for Italy’s Giampaolo Minnucci at a mile rate of 1:56.1 over 1,900 metres. Spirit Downunder was a hard-fought second by a neck for Hall, followed by Ohoka Cobra and New Zealand’s Blair Orange. Caloriefree came up empty off a pocket trip and finished fourth for MacDonald.
(Standardbred Canada)