Tony McEvoy is looking forward to the day Secret Blaze gets into a staying race run at a solid tempo. But McEvoy does not see that happening on Wednesday when Secret Blaze runs in the Listed Bagot Handicap (2800m) at Flemington. Secret Blaze will be racing for the sixth time… Read More »
Having already bagged a Group One win at the Ellerslie carnival, James McDonald is looking for another aboard Australian sprinter Winter Bride in the Railway. The premier Sydney jockey returned home to New Zealand for Christmas and rode True Enough to win the Zabeel Classic on Thursday. Winter Bride is… Read More »
Gold Coast trainer Michael Costa believes things have finally fallen into place for Malahide as she heads for her biggest pay day on her home track. A last-start Eagle Farm winner, Malahide will be among the favourites for Saturday’s $250,000 Magic Millions Fillies and Mares Rising Stars Handicap (1300m). The… Read More »
The start of the new year will herald the doubling of the percentage taken from prize money to be allocated to equine welfare initiatives in Victoria. From Wednesday, two per cent of prize money distributed by Racing Victoria will be directed at those initiatives and programs of equine welfare, first… Read More »
Progressive sprinter Halvorsen has given Robbie Griffiths milestone victories as the trainer recovers from surgery for a brain aneurysm. Griffiths underwent the operation in August with doctors only allowing the Cranbourne-based trainer to resume restricted duties from November before letting him increase his workload. At Griffiths’ first official day back… Read More »
Top South Australian jockey Todd Pannell hopes to pick up several extra rides when he makes a return to his former base in Queensland to partner Russian Romeo at the Gold Coast. Last-start Morphettville winner Russian Romeo will be a leading contender in Saturday’s $250,000 Rising Stars colts and gelding… Read More »
The Queensland Racing Integrity Commission says careful consideration will be needed before determining an application by disqualified jockey Danny Nikolic for a riding licence in Queensland. QRIC Boss Ross Barnett confirmed Nikolic filed an application before Christmas. “As per usual procedure, careful consideration will be made before a decision is… Read More »
Mike Smith has ridden a record-breaking 217th Grade One winner on Omaha Beach in the Malibu Stakes at Santa Anita. Smith surpassed the mark set by retired Hall of Fame jockey Jerry Bailey to set a new mark for United States thoroughbred racing. “Jerry is someone that comes from my… Read More »
Cox Plate-winning trainer Yoshito Yahagi has ended the year on a high with two-year-old Contrail taking out the Group One Hopeful Stakes at Nakayama. His win on Saturday came a week after the Yahagi-trained Lys Gracieux added the Grade One Arima Kinen to her Cox Plate. The Hopeful Stakes over… Read More »
Victorian trainer Shane Nichols is hoping it will be a case of second time lucky at the barrier draw for Tahitian Dancer in the Magic Millions Fillies and Mares race. Nichols is best known for Group One winner I Am A Star but Tahitian Dancer is starting to edge closer… Read More »
Rachel King will spend much of the next month on the sidelines serving two suspensions incurred at separate holiday race meetings at Randwick. King was outed on Saturday for careless riding on winning mount Aquitaine for Godolphin. Her ban begins after she serves a suspension from Thursday which begins on… Read More »
Eagle Farm trainer Robert Heathcote is the first to admit he rarely has much luck at the Gold Coast but he feels that could change with Deep Image in the Magic Millions Cup. Deep Image has only been with Heathcote for one campaign but has graduated from winning in benchmark… Read More »
King Of Hastings will not be among final acceptors for the Group Three Standish Handicap having made his way from Melbourne to Sydney en route to the Gold Coast. The Anthony Freedman-trained three-year-old left his Flemington stable on Friday evening, travelling overnight to Sydney where he will housed by Richard… Read More »
Pam O’Neill, a legendary trail blazer for women riders in Australia, will be honoured with a $150,000 feature race named after her at the Brisbane winter carnival O’Neill fought a decade-long battle with racing authorities to get a licence to ride against men. She was a regular in women only… Read More »
Tony McEvoy is investigating different scenarios for a trip to Dubai with Group One winning sprinter Hey Doc. McEvoy, who trains in partnership with his son Calvin, said the Group One Al Quoz Sprint over the straight 1200m on World Cup night, March 28, was a possibility for Hey Doc…. Read More »
A race meeting at Werribee has been cancelled because of extreme heat forecast in Victoria. Monday’s meeting had already been brought forward to start in the morning to try to avoid the high temperatures but the forecast has been revised to reach 39 degrees at 11am and a high of… Read More »
The Gold Coast Turf Club believes the $1.5 million race day ahead of the Magic Millions can be the final piece in its push for regular metropolitan standard meetings. Saturday’s meeting is the major lead-up to the Magic Millions day at the track a week later and in recent years… Read More »
Two of Britain’s leading National Hunt trainers, Paul Nicholls and Nicky Henderson, have been recognised with OBEs in the New Year Honours list. The two have been responsible for many of the modern-day winners of all Britain’s highest-profile jumps races. Nicholls, 11-times champion trainer to Henderson’s five titles, exceeded 3000… Read More »
It seems all roads out of Sydney lead to the Gold Coast with champion trainer Chris Waller finalising his team for Magic Millions day. His runners will include Madam Rouge, winner of Saturday’s Listed Christmas Classic (1200m) at Randwick, and stablemate Invincibella who ran home for an eye-catching sixth. Both… Read More »
Mornington trainer Shane Nichols’ punt on getting a run in the Nudgee Quality (1200m) with Tahitian Dancer paid off when the mare flashed home to win the Listed race at Eagle Farm on Saturday. Tahitian Dancer ($11) got up on the fence to beat Multaja ($4.40) by a short neck… Read More »
