Not by design, the Greg Eurell-trained Victoria Star goes into the Listed Winter Championship Series Final at Flemington having not raced for five weeks. But Eurell is hopeful that proves and advantage rather than a hindrance to the lightly raced six-year-old gelding in Saturday’s 1600m race which has been a… Read More »
Victorian racehorse owners living in COVID-19 hotspots will be banned from attending race meetings. Owners were allowed back on course last week, but following Victorian Premier Daniel Andrews’ lockdown of those hotspots from 11.59pm on Wednesday night, Racing Victoria has also stopped those owners from the track. Racing Victoria chief… Read More »
Multiple Group One-winning jockey Ron Stewart makes a return to race riding at Eagle Farm following a fall from a ladder at his home in March. Stewart, 36, has been among Queensland’s leading jockeys since returning from international commitments four years ago. Sydney’s champion apprentice in 2002-03, Stewart has ridden… Read More »
Rosehill trainer Gerald Ryan admits he has thrown promising filly Zero To Hundred into the “deep end” in the Listed Tattersall’s 2YO Club Stakes (1400m) on Saturday. Ryan has won at least 20 winter carnival feature races in the past 25 years, but Zero To Hundred would be his first… Read More »
Melbourne’s flagship spring races including the Melbourne Cup will retain their rich purses while minimum prize money in Victoria will return to pre-COVID levels from the start of the new season. But 12 stakes races during this year’s Victorian spring carnival, including three Group Ones, will have a prize money… Read More »
Country-based Victorian trainer Noel Richards has made a long overdue return to the winners enclosure with the win of Niamh Chinn Oir at Ballarat. The victory on Tuesday was Richards’ first since Captain Shillalae won at Dunkeld in November 1996. Jockey Christine Puls had the ride on Niamh Chinn Oir… Read More »
A NSW metropolitan jockey who was sent for COVID-19 testing after displaying flu like symptoms has tested negative to the virus, Racing NSW’s chief steward has confirmed. The jockey last competed at Saturday’s Rosehill meeting and was sent for testing on Tuesday morning after showing flu like symptoms. It prompted… Read More »
Trainer Nick Ryan has no reservations in tackling a stakes race with Sircconi a week after the gelding placed at his first attempt at a middle distance. Sircconi stepped up to 2000m at Caulfield, finishing second to Mirimar, and drops to 1600m on Saturday when he runs in the Listed… Read More »
Moonee Valley Racing Club chief executive Michael Browell has not given up hope of having some form of crowd on course for the 100th running of the Cox Plate. Browell was upbeat with how coronavirus numbers had been tracking in Melbourne earlier this month before a dramatic turnaround in recent… Read More »
Danzero, a Golden Slipper winner who went on to find further fame as a stallion, has died at the age of 28. The 1994 Slipper hero died peacefully in his paddock at Rosemont Stud in Victoria where he had been domiciled for almost a decade. A son of the all-conquering… Read More »
Grahame Begg is looking to reverse the result of a stakes race from 12 months ago when Romancer runs at Flemington. Romancer is nominated to contest the Listed VRC-CRV Winter Championship Series Final having finished second in the race last year. The Begg-trained galloper split Rekjavik and Holbien last year… Read More »
A bout of colic has claimed the life of young stallion Fighting Sun. Standing at Sun Stud, Fighting Sun was retired as a two-year-old as the result of a serious leg injury after winning his only two starts for Gai Waterhouse. Fighting Son had been high up in markets for… Read More »
A form reference belonging to the 2019 WS Cox Plate winner has propelled Japanese mare Chrono Genesis to the top of markets for this year’s race. Four-year-old mare Chrono Genesis earned an automatic Cox Plate start when she blitzed a Group One field in the Takarazuka Kinen. In the absence… Read More »
Trainer Matthew Williams is hoping the results of a lung wash will shed some light on the disappointing performance of Harbour Views at Caulfield. Harbour Views was sent out the $2.05 favourite on Saturday, but finished fourth behind Mirimar over 2000m. Racing Victoria stewards reported Harbour Views lame in the… Read More »
After more than 60 years in racing as a jockey and a successful trainer, Pat Hyland has retired. Ill-health has forced Hyland to step away from a training partnership with his son Chris to spend time on his farm in rural Victoria. Inducted into the Australian Racing Hall of Fame… Read More »
Jockey James McDonald has confirmed he will appeal a three-week suspension over a running and handling charge. McDonald was found guilty of failing to take all reasonable and permissible measures to win or obtain the best possible placing on Threeood in a race at Randwick on June 20. Theeood started… Read More »
Magical made a triumphant return to action as she added another Group One to her record in the Pretty Polly Stakes at the Curragh. The five-year-old was last seen when winning the Champion Stakes at Ascot last October, with the mare subsequently due to head to the Breeders’ Cup before… Read More »
Aidan O’Brien has not ruled out Irish Derby winner Santiago turning out again quickly in the English Derby. Due to calendar changes following the coronavirus shutdown, the Derby at Epsom on Saturday comes after both the Royal meeting and the Curragh Classic this year, when it would normally be the… Read More »
Way To Paris registered the first Group One win of his career at the age of seven in the Grand Prix de Saint-Cloud. The popular grey, trained by Andrea Marcialis, has a series of creditable runs at the highest level to his name, but had previously always found one or… Read More »
Australian racing continues to stem the tide of promising horses heading offshore with the owners of Brandenburg knocking back lucrative international offers. While Randwick Guineas winner Shadow Hero has been sold to Hong Kong, the connections of Brandenburg join those of stakes winners Kinane and Front Page to turn down… Read More »
