Ascot racecourse has announced the Queen’s Vase at next week’s Royal meeting will be run in memory of Sir Henry Cecil, who died on Tuesday. With 75 victories, Cecil was won more races at the Royal meeting than any other trainer and he won the Queen’s Vase eight times. The… Read More »
Mike de Kock has unveiled an audacious plan for King’s Stand Stakes favourite Shea Shea to step up in trip for next month’s July Cup. The multiple South African champion trainer has been training the six-year-old uphill in an attempt to familiarise the Al Quoz Sprint winner with Ascot’s stiff… Read More »
Dawn Approach appears all set to take his chance in the St James’s Palace Stakes at Royal Ascot next week after pleasing trainer Jim Bolger in a piece of work on Thursday morning. Last season’s champion juvenile kept his unbeaten record intact with a breathtaking display in the 2000 Guineas… Read More »
Sir Henry Cecil’s widow Jane has sent out the first winners for the stable since the 10-time champion trainer’s death earlier this week. Fittingly the first win came courtesy of Morpheus, a half-brother of Frankel, the brilliant horse that had lit up Cecil’s twilight years. Cecil died on Tuesday at… Read More »
Sydney trainers will need to start 25 per cent of their stable at city racetracks as well as win a minimum number of races to keep their metropolitan status under new Australian Turf Club criteria. The ATC has released performance standards which trainers with stables at Randwick, Rosehill and Warwick… Read More »
The Hong Kong Jockey Club is exploring the possibility of importing new batches of horse feed after a spate of positive swabs. Seventeen horses have tested positive to zilpaterol, a cattle-feed supplement, but there are concerns more than half of Hong Kong’s racehorse population could be affected by the contaminated… Read More »
Rain has forced program changes to Victorian racing this week but Moonee Valley’s track manager says Saturday’s city meeting is in no danger of being washed out. Moonee Valley was rated in the slow range on Thursday but if an expected 10mm to 15mm of rain arrives in the next… Read More »
Making a mistake at the start of a race is usually a negative, but for trainer Lee Curtis and his untapped gelding Turbulent Jet it was a turning point. After the three-year-old finished sixth on debut at Canberra in March when he raced on the speed, Curtis took him to… Read More »
Doug Harrison has every reason to be looking forward to heading to Moonee Valley on Saturday. The Cranbourne trainer has a stunning strike rate at the Melbourne track this season, preparing seven winners from just 16 runners. “It’s been a good run. I’m calling it Happy Valley,” Harrison said. Harrison… Read More »
Leading New Zealand racehorse buyer David Ellis has been taken out of a coma in a Gold Coast hospital after being admitted for severe pneumonia. Ellis, who runs Te Akau Racing, was in Queensland for last week’s Magic Millions mixed horse sale when he contracted the illness. He was placed… Read More »
Cox Plate invitations have been given to 20 highly rated overseas racehorses, the Moonee Valley Racing Club announced on Thursday. In a bid to make the weight-for-age race an international event, the MVRC has targeted the best-credentialled horses across seven countries. They include the Aidan O’Brien-trained Camelot and Magician as… Read More »
Benny’s Buttons beat only one horse home at his last start but jockey Michael Cahill has dismissed it as a guide to his Eye Liner Stakes chances. Cahill defended the effort of Benny’s Buttons when he ran 14th in the Chief De Beers Quality (1110m) at Doomben on May 25…. Read More »
Paul Nolan wants Saturday’s Ipswich Cup to become a battle of attrition. Nolan will start Secret Garden and he believes her best chance of winning depends on how much pressure the Peter Moody-trained Voila Ici, the $3.50 favourite, is exposed to from rival runners. “With 16 runners they should string… Read More »
The changing face of racehorse ownership has prompted David Payne to take a fresh approach to his sport. Where once trainers relied on owners to bring horses into the stable, the Rosehill trainer is increasingly backing his own judgement by buying horses himself and retaining an ownership interest. “You can’t… Read More »
A win by Lady Gazerra in the Queen Of The Valley Matchmaker at Muswellbrook on Friday would prove a fitting salute for the late Jaime Mackay. Lady Gazerra is owned and bred by Mackay’s wife, Jennifer Mackay. He was a leading Australian polo player. “It’s been a shattering couple of… Read More »
A private funeral for Sir Henry Cecil will be held in Newmarket on Monday week, it has been announced. The legendary trainer died on Tuesday morning, aged 70, following a long battle with stomach cancer. While his funeral will be a family-only occasion, a further celebration of Cecil’s life is… Read More »
Dawn Approach has emerged a surprise contender for Tuesday’s St James’s Palace Stakes at Royal Ascot. Godolphin’s 2000 Guineas hero was originally thought to be an unlikely runner in the mile race after finishing last in the Derby at Epsom earlier this month. However, trainer Jim Bolger reports his Classic… Read More »
Seventeen horses from the stables of three Hong Kong trainers have tested positive for the banned drug zilpaterol, a substance used to produce muscle growth in livestock, the Hong Kong Jockey Club said on Wednesday. Thirteen of the horses have been withdrawn from Wednesday’s public holiday races following testing that… Read More »
Trainer Mark Riley has been given a suspended penalty after being found guilty of two conduct-related charges. Riley fronted the Racing Appeals and Disciplinary (RAD) Board on Wednesday over an incident at Mornington racecourse on May 13 involving him and trackwork rider Jack Dunne. The RAD Board found Riley guilty… Read More »
A week of milestones for Victorian apprentices continued on Wednesday when Jye McNeil celebrated his first city victory at Sandown. McNeil, 18, scored aboard the Matthew Williams-trained Luckyi’mbarefoot in heavy conditions in the Schweppes Handicap (1400m). The apprentice quipped that he was still getting “a few nightmares” about this year’s… Read More »
