Thoroughbred racing and breeding giant Coolmore has enjoyed success around the world including with Sydney’s richest race, but a Melbourne Cup remains elusive. “This is the race that everybody wants to win,” Coolmore’s Australian boss Tom Magnier admitted. The Irish-based Coolmore operation has four hopes as it vies to add… Read More »
Former Irish jockey John Allen’s life will turn full circle when he is legged aboard the Joseph O’Brien-trained Downdraft in the Melbourne Cup. Allen started his career with O’Brien’s grandfather Joe Crowley at Owning Hill near Piltown in County Kilkenny, the same yard O’Brien now operates. That was, Allen estimates,… Read More »
No international horse has won the Melbourne Cup twice, and Frankie Dettori has not won the race at all. But both Cross Counter, to be ridden by William Buick, and the flamboyant Dettori aboard Master Of Reality, will bid to rewrite the record books at Flemington on Tuesday. And they… Read More »
English trainer Charlie Fellowes vividly remembers the fleeting moment he thought he was going to win the Melbourne Cup 12 months ago. It wasn’t to be, with Prince Of Arran third after briefly hitting the front in the straight before being overhauled by fellow English-trained horses Cross Counter and Marmelo…. Read More »
Englishman Duncan Smith grew up watching black-and-white film replays of Phar Lap’s 1930 Melbourne Cup win, never imagining he would one day have his own runner in the great race. Smith has made his first trip to Australia to be trackside at Flemington on Tuesday cheering on Raymond Tusk in… Read More »
For a few hairy moments last week, Hugh Bowman thought he might be without a Melbourne Cup ride this year. The champion jockey had been booked to reunite with 2018 runner-up Marmelo until Racing Victoria officials on Wednesday controversially ordered the horse’s withdrawal, saying CT scans showed he was unfit… Read More »
Trainer Paul Preusker says his job is done with local hope Surprise Baby ahead of the Melbourne Cup. His focus now is keeping the stayer safe ahead of Tuesday’s $8 million Melbourne Cup at Flemington with the fitness work all complete. Surprise Baby is one of only three runners in… Read More »
Three-time Melbourne Cup-winning jockey Kerrin McEvoy reckons it’s only a matter of time before champion trainer Chris Waller wins Australia’s most famous race. And McEvoy hopes that is as soon as Tuesday when he rides the Waller-trained import Finche in this year’s $8 million Melbourne Cup (3200m) at Flemington. McEvoy… Read More »
Third generation horseman Ben Hayes has arguably his best chance yet to join father David and grandfather Colin on the honour roll of Melbourne Cup winning trainers. The younger Hayes works in partnership with his father and cousin Tom Dabernig with the trio chasing an inaugural Cup winner as a… Read More »
The final race of the Breeders’ Cup meeting has been marred by a fatal injury to Mongolian Groom. Celebrations for the win by Vino Rosso in the Breeders’ Cup Classic were overshadowed when Mongolian Groom broke down in the straight with a hind leg injury. The horse was taken to… Read More »
The ebullient Gai Waterhouse is a notable omission from this year’s Melbourne Cup build-up after Hush Writer failed in a last-ditch bid to book a start. It is the first time in five years, and just the third in a decade, that one of Australia’s most popular trainers has not… Read More »
Restricting the international runners in the $8 million Melbourne Cup to invitees only would be a backwards step, two prominent Australian racehorse owners say. Five-time Melbourne Cup-winning trainer Lee Freedman says the race has become “the anywhere else other than Australia Cup”, arguing international competitors should be invited to participate…. Read More »
Vino Rosso has won the $6 million Classic at the Breeders’ Cup by 4-1/4 lengths, upsetting 5-2 favourite McKinzie in a race marred by a serious injury to one of the runners. Mongolian Groom was pulled up in the straight as the rest of the field charged to the finish… Read More »
The rich Queensland summer carnival begins to ramp up when several of the likely stars make their public reappearance at the Doomben trials. The summer carnival starts with the Group Three George Moore Stakes at Doomben on November 23 and ends with the Sunshine Coast Cup in late January. The… Read More »
Promising Queensland apprentice Nick Keal’s struggles with his weight continue with the 21-year-old suspended for trying to cheat the scales at Eagle Farm. Keal was firstly fined $500 after stewards found he had attempted to deceive the clerk of the scales by changing his boots after weighing out for a… Read More »
Joseph O’Brien has become the youngest trainer to saddle a Breeders’ Cup winner with Iridessa storming home in the Filly & Mare Turf at Santa Anita. In 2011, O’Brien became the youngest jockey to win a Breeders’ Cup race aboard St. Nicholas Abbey and has joined Freddie Head as the… Read More »
Sydney jockey Josh Parr has been suspended for 11 meetings for careless riding aboard beaten Victoria Derby favourite Shadow Hero. Shadow Hero finished fifth in Saturday’s 2500m Group One for three-year-olds at Flemington and stewards later charged Parr with careless riding approaching the 2000m mark in the $2 million race…. Read More »
Piereta has outclassed the $1 million Redzel Stakes field to bank a mega bonus for his Rosehill win. Sent out the $2.40 favourite, the Greg Hickman-trained sprinter went the long way home to score by a length over Trekking ($5.50) who lunged late with Le Romain ($26) a short-head third…. Read More »
Trainer Chris Waller and jockey Glen Boss have combined to win Sydney’s second richest race two weeks after claiming the biggest cheque on offer. Under the kind of ride it seems only Boss can deliver, Kolding has come through the pack to win Saturday’s $7.5 million Golden Eagle (1500m) for… Read More »
A crowd of more than 20,000 has embraced the inaugural $7.5 million Golden Eagle at Rosehill. Racing NSW chief executive Peter V’landys said the meeting had been a big success and a boost for Sydney’s west. Local trainer Chris Waller won the 1500m-race for four-year-olds with Kolding ridden by Glen… Read More »
