Down Under star pacer Casana N (shown here with Australia driver Deni Roberts), makes his U.S debut at Hawthorne Saturday. (Ken Casellas Photo)

By Mike Paradise for the I.H.H.A.

 Perry Smith’s Round Here Buzz, fresh off ending the stranglehold of Hawthorne’s Open event for the last two months by Australian bred pacers, faces a new Down Under threat Saturday evening.

 He’s the New Zealand bred Carana N from the barn of veteran Illinois trainer Ronnie Roberts and he’s making his U.S.A debut after rising to the top in Western Australia has a standout “standing start” specialist.

 For those unfamiliar with harness racing in Australia, most races unfold in the familiar way of a mobile start with a vehicle involved, however there also are races where the entire field starts from a standing position and the now 8-year-old gelding exceled at, and that may be an understatement.

 In the past two racing seasons Carana has been victorious in exactly half of his starts in Australia (13 for 26) and garnished over $105,000, and the vast majority of the Bettor Delight’s gelding success came from a “standing start.”

 One of Carana’s notable triumphs occurred in a Gloucester Park handicap last summer in Perth, Australia when he started 20 meters (approximately 32 feet) behind the rest of the field. At that time the horse had 11 wins and 6 seconds in 26 races, all but two of those career outings came in standing starts.

 “Standing starts” do suit Carana,” his regular driver Deni Roberts told the Gloucester publicity department. “That means that he doesn’t have to do too much early, whereas in mobile racing, he gets a bit revvy. Obviously, he will soon get too high of a grade and have to return to mobile racing.”

 Later last summer the New Zealander started 30 yards (about 98 feet) behind the field in another Gloucester handicap and proved best

 While the horse had yet to win a mobile racing event at that time, his driver was confident he would perform well in them. “As long as I drive him quietly, nice and cold.”

 Later in the season Carara N did get his initial win in a mobile race and ended his Aussie based 2024 season with 6 first place finishes and 3 seconds in an even dozen outings.

 In 2022 Casana’s original New Zealand owners were going to retire the gelding after he pulled up in a distressed condition. The horse had won 2 of 9 starts in New Zealand with a little over $10,000 in earnings

 “They couldn’t quite get Carana going in New Zealand. He suffered from a fibrillation,” Roberts told the Gloucester staff. The horse was sold to Western Australia connections and was shipped his new home where he blossomed as a “standing start” pacer.

 “The quicker they go, the better it is for him,” said Roberts, sometimes referred to as the Duchess of Harness Racing, in an Australia interview. “He’s got a really good turn of foot, and he can produce it off a hot speed.”

 While Carana is the likely favorite in his U.S. for new proprietors Castaldo Racing Stable and Horsecents LLC, he is not a “sure thing” Saturday night when he leaves from post four in a six-horse field for driver Kyle Wilfong.

 Consider that the Down Under pacer hasn’t gong postward in almost two months and is in new surroundings; he’s on a different racetrack with a different racing surface; he has had past filtration problems, he’s racing in much colder weather than he’s used to; (a high of 99 is expected today in Perth, Australia), and he’s been racing at longer distances than one mile (a mile and 5/8’s to 2-plus miles).

 All that being aid, the import won’t be near his 5-1 morning line odds which would make him the fifth choice in the six-horse field.

 The first five posts in Hawthorne’s Open will be manned by Odds On Alpha Male (Brandon Bates), Tookadiveoffdipper (Casey Leonard), Montana Chief A (Todd Warren), and Mustang Beach (Travis Seekman).