The Day The Earth Moved Forward for Greg & Nina Hope

Luca’s maiden win at Methven on January 25, 2026 continued a remarkable trotting story for Woodend Beach trainers Greg and Nina Hope, one that began some 20 years earlier with a shrewd broodmare purchase.

That journey started when the Hopes purchased Deidre Darling (Sundon – Deidre’s Pride) through the ‘marketplace’ forum attached to the old Harness Racing Weekly, where she had been offered for sale by Fred Fletcher. Deidre’s Pride had been a high-class race mare, winning 21 races and more than $230,000 for Roydon Lodge principal Sir Roy McKenzie. She left six winners from just seven foals, headed by her first foal Deidre Don, a 10-win performer.

Deidre Darling herself won just once from a brief six-start career, and the Hopes were well aware they were purchasing a broodmare rather than a racetrack prospect.

A strong believer in the straight-out trotter, the husband-and-wife team sent their new mare to Earl and were rewarded at the first attempt with Donaldson.

“He was a very honest horse, just below the best here, but we won seven races with numerous placings before we sold him to Australia,” Greg Hope recalled.

Donaldson ultimately retired with 10 wins and $122,000 in earnings.

Foal number two, McConway (by Thanksgiving), added two further victories, but it was foal number three that truly changed everything for the Hopes — the outstanding Love You gelding Monbet.

A multiple Group 1 winner, Monbet claimed 23 wins from just 37 starts and quickly rose to the very top of the New Zealand trotting ranks, banking $772,000 for the stable.

Injury would eventually curtail his racing career, but there is little doubt he would have joined the exclusive ‘trotters millionaire’ club had he remained sound.

Foal number four, Baxter, was another quality trotter, winning 12 races and more than $114,000. Tragedy struck soon after, however, when the Hopes lost Deidre Darling while attempting to foal a full sibling to Monbet.

Around that same time, the racing lease of The Earth Moved became available. With her breeding closely related to their deceased broodmare, Greg and Nina did not hesitate.

The Earth Moved is out of Dear Deidre, herself a two-win mare and a full sister to Deidre Darling.

“When we took over the lease she had only won once, and in the space of six months we were able to win another five races along with several placings,” Hope said. “It wasn’t a hard decision to exercise her right of purchase, and as they say, the rest is history.”

With their best-ever trotter being by Love You, the decision on how to breed The Earth Moved was straightforward. The result was Crazy N Love, a five-win mare who now resides in the Hope broodmare band. Her first foal, Brook’s Spirit, by Hope’s own stallion Carlton (Dream Vacation – Another Love), is a qualified but unraced three-year-old.

Sent back to Love You, the mare produced Mr Love, now a winner of 11 races and more than $294,000. He continues to perform at the highest level, finishing the most recent season with placings in both the Dominion Handicap and the Rowe Cup.

Another Love You daughter, Torvi, won four races before also joining the Hope broodmare band. She delivered a Carlton filly as her first foal late last year.

Breaking the pattern, foal number four Freya is by Volstead and has carved out a strong racing career of her own, winning five races and earning $112,000 to date.

Foal number five, Luca, became the fifth winner from The Earth Moved’s first five foals with his Methven maiden success, and fittingly provided the first New Zealand winner for the colonial sire Carlton.

Farrah, also by Carlton, remains unraced, leaving the Hopes with four daughters of The Earth Moved retained at home. With that in mind, the decision was made to let the mare move on.

The Earth Moved has since produced a colt by Habibi Inta for her new owners Alan Edge and Cheryl Wigg, and was most recently served by Tactical Approach.

For Greg and Nina Hope and their family, a single moment in time truly changed everything. From that point forward, their trotting fortunes have flourished — and there is no sign of that momentum slowing.

They are now giving Carlton every possible opportunity at stud, and fittingly, he too is out of a Love You mare. No prizes for guessing who their favourite stallion might be.