Trainer Tony Gollan is hoping a strong first-up run by Raido is a pointer to his first three-state treble. For the first time Gollan will have runners at three metropolitan meetings in different states on Saturday with Raido heading his Brisbane team in the Open Handicap (1200m) at Doomben. Outback… Read More »
GEORGE MAIN STAKES 1600m, $500,000, weight-for-age HISTORY * First run in 1945 when won by Modulation * Group One race from 1980. Run at Warwick Farm in 1983 and 2001. * George Moore won the race nine times between 1949 and 1971 * Tommy Smith trained 12 winners between 1953… Read More »
Trainer Tony McEvoy expects the rise in distance to suit Hey Doc when he chases another stakes race success at Flemington. Hey Doc runs in Saturday’s Group Two Bobbie Lewis Quality (1200m) attempting a fourth black-type win at the track. As a three-year-old Hey Doc won the C S Hayes… Read More »
Horses in England, Ireland and Japan have entered quarantine ahead of travelling to Melbourne for the spring carnival. Three Charlie Appleby-trained Godolphin horses are already undergoing quarantine at Werribee having arrived last Saturday. Twenty seven horses from various stables are expected in Melbourne on September 29. Of the 27, there… Read More »
The Queensland government is remaining tight-lipped, despite growing pressure from the racing industry, about how it intends to distribute money from the new Point of Consumption tax. The POC, which is a 15 per cent levy on all bets on Queensland racing, is set to be introduced on October 1…. Read More »
A racehorse owner has been disqualified for 18 months for knowingly giving a horse an offensive name and subsequently giving false evidence to stewards. Stuart Ruse, who appeared before Racing NSW stewards on Thursday, is the managing owner of a filly he called Andiamo Fica who is by Benfica out… Read More »
Jockey Nash Rawiller is reportedly back in Australia after avoiding charges from Hong Kong’s Independent Commission Against Corruption. The 43-year-old had been stranded in Hong Kong without his passport after being detained by the ICAC after Hong Kong Jockey Club stewards disqualified him for 15 months in April after finding… Read More »
MAKYBE DIVA STAKES 1600m, $750,000, weight-for-age HISTORY * First run in 1948 when won by Lungi * Group One from 2013. Run over 2000m 1948-64. Until 2006 known as Craiglee Stakes NOTABLE WINNERS * Comic Court (1949), Chicquita (1950/51), Sailor’s Guide (1956/57), Light Fingers (1965), Rain Lover (1969), Dulcify (1979),… Read More »
Group One-winning colt Written By is a step closer to his highly anticipated spring return after making a race day appearance at Mornington. Trainer Grahame Begg said it was a good opportunity to take the colt away from his training base at the Pinecliff property on the Mornington Peninsula for… Read More »
Winx can’t get any better – or can she? Her trainer Chris Waller is in awe of the champion he has guided for five seasons, the past three as the undisputed best horse in Australia. As a spring seven-year-old, a time when most mares are being considered as broodmare prospects,… Read More »
A clash with reigning Caulfield Guineas favourite Brutal will provide a stern test of unbeaten colt Declarationofheart’s Classic credentials in his first stakes mission at Flemington. The Anthony Freedman-trained Declarationofheart won a maiden at Geelong in January and stamped himself as a colt on the rise with an impressive return… Read More »
Trainer Archie Alexander has been given permission by Racing Victoria stewards to use Burrumbeet Racecourse as a training track after a strangles outbreak closed his Ballarat stable. A number of horses in Alexander’s stable, labelled an infected place, have shown positive results in blood tests resulting in them being moved… Read More »
He won’t break his Newcastle Cup drought but a second Cameron Handicap is in the sights of Group One-winning local trainer Kris Lees. Lees will saddle up topweight Sense Of Occasion and Prized Icon in the Group Three race in which he landed a first win nine years ago with… Read More »
The Lindsay Park team is relying on promising colt Ocean Knight to deliver the stable a second-straight Danehill Stakes at Flemington. Star filly Catchy won the Group Two Danehill a year ago and senior trainer David Hayes has high hopes for Ocean Knight who is being aimed at next month’s… Read More »
Speedster Ball Of Muscle will bid to defy age and a race hoodoo when he takes on top sprinter Redzel in the Shorts at Randwick. The Joe Pride-trained gelding, a brother to Group One winner Tiger Tees and half-brother to Terravista, has finished second in the race for the past… Read More »
Toowoomba gelding Prioritise will be one of the last runners loaded into the barriers at Doomben to overcome any chance of a repeat of his recent late scratching. Prioritise is ready to run in the Open Handicap (1600m) after being withdrawn at the gates last week when he was to… Read More »
Trainer Matt Dunn’s assault on The Kosciuszko has stepped up a notch but first his attention swings to Doomben with Thunderous Strike. The gelding will be having his third race start in Saturday’s QTIS Three-Year-Old Handicap (1600m). Dunn has a big opinion of the gelding who scored at Ipswich over… Read More »
Trainer Mick Price is expecting a return to racing at Flemington to benefit Grunt when he runs in the Group One Makybe Diva Stakes. Grunt is the least experienced of the 12 runners in Saturday’s 1600m weight-for-age race, but has an imposing Flemington record. He finished third on debut at… Read More »
Trainer Kelly Schweida has a couple of reservations ahead of the speedy Darktown Strutter’s first attempt at 1200 metres. Darktown Strutter has won seven of her 11 starts but will be having her first crack at the distance in Saturday’s Rostron Carlyle Rojas Open Handicp at Doomben. The mare is… Read More »
Hugh Bowman has given champion Winx her final hit-out at Rosehill ahead of her next Group One assignment in the George Main Stakes. Bowman says the 1600 metres of Saturday’s feature at Randwick will suit Winx even better than her last start when she won the race named in her… Read More »
