Racing Victoria stewards have issued a show cause notice to former trainer Robert Smerdon. The former Caulfield-based trainer has surrendered his licence and publicly stated his intentions not to participate in the Racing Appeals and Disciplinary Board hearing of charges laid against him which is due to start on April… Read More »
Three-time Dubai World Cup-winning trainer Bob Baffert is leaving no stone unturned in his quest for another with either West Coast or Mubtaahij. He has put the pair through the starting gates at Meydan before galloping them on the track at Meydan ahead of the race on Sunday AEST. “The… Read More »
Trainer Aaron Purcell is hoping to bow out of his stint in charge of Ciaron Maher’s stable the same way he started. Maher returns to training ranks on Tuesday at the conclusion of a six-month suspension for his involvement over the ownership bona fides of Azkadellia and four other horses… Read More »
Auvray has proved a labour of love for Richard Freedman, a pet project that vindicates his return to full-scale training. Freedman needed coaxing back to a hands-on role in the industry by his trainer brother Michael, and a challenging French import means he has no regrets. Richard Freedman left training… Read More »
Well named filly Fish ‘N’ Snitz has finally got the right set of conditions to prove she is a genuine winter carnival stakes horse. Fish ‘N’ Snitz is by champion sire Snitzel out of the mare Whiting who is a half-sister to former smart stakes horse Specter. The filly has… Read More »
Training partners Mathew Ellerton and Simon Zahra are hoping Easter can bring them a change of luck. The pair has prepared only five winners from their past 50 starters after having a healthy strike-rate earlier in the year. On Saturday they saddle runners in two Group Three features at Caulfield…. Read More »
Queensland’s most prolific winning horse in the past 12 months, De Villiers, is set for his first start for trainer Ben Currie who has won the state’s most races for the same period. Former country galloper De Villiers will be making his Brisbane debut in Saturday’s Sky Racing Handicap (1200m)… Read More »
Kopi Luwak, the equal favourite for the Country Championship final, has been withdrawn from the $500,000 race. Trainer Danny Williams has told stewards the horse has bruising to both front feet and an abscess on his near-fore has burst. Williams regards the problem-plagued Kopi Luwak as one of the most… Read More »
Trainer Aaron Purcell is banking on a class drop and the claim of an apprentice jockey to help Fox Swift regain winning form at Caulfield. A stakes winner last spring at Flemington for trainer Ciaron Maher, Fox Swift will be having her third start for Purcell in Saturday’s Bert Bryant… Read More »
Caravaggio is the latest addition to the Coolmore Australia stallion roster for the next breeding season. The sprinter was unbeaten at two and won last year’s Commonwealth Cup (1200m) for three-year-olds at Royal Ascot. “Caravaggio was a very mature two-year-old that developed into an awesome sprinter,” Coolmore Australia boss Tom… Read More »
Having seen how Darren Weir’s first Sydney Group One winner Gailo Chop has come through his race, Jarrod McLean has no doubt the French import is equipped to defy history in the Tancred Stakes. Weir’s foreman at his Warrnambool base represented Victoria’s leading trainer at Rosehill last Saturday when Gailo… Read More »
Sydney trainer Bjorn Baker is more than an interested observer at the Dubai World Cup, 11 years after he watched Hong Kong’s New Zealand-bred stayer Vengeance Of Rain win the Sheema Classic. Baker now has a more hands-on involvement at the world’s richest race meeting, with Music Magnate one of… Read More »
VINERY STORM QUEEN STAKES 2000m, $500,000 Group One set-weights race for 3YO fillies run at Rosehill. Winner exempt from ballot for Group One $1 million Australian Oaks at Randwick on April 8 HISTORY: * First run in 1979 over 1900m at Canterbury when won by Impede * Before 1992 was… Read More »
Trainer Tony Gollan believes stakes-winning mare Tiyatrolani’s good fresh record and love of 1000m-races can help her overcome a missed trial when she resumes at Doomben. Tiyatrolani makes her first step to the winter carnival when she returns in the Open Handicap (1050m) at Doomben. The four-year-old has had four… Read More »
Patrick Payne will press ahead with plans to start Widgee Turf from an outside barrier at Caulfield. The gelding drew widest in the field of 16 plus one emergency in Saturday’s Group Three Victoria Handicap (1400m). Payne, who will head to Oakbank on Saturday with his team of jumpers, said… Read More »
A strong barrier trial win and the likelihood of a drying track has convinced trainer Michael Costa to take on open company with Magnajoy at Doomben. Costa entered Maganajoy for the Open Handicap (1350m) and the Benchmark 75 (1350m) but decided to go with the harder race. Magnajoy showed she… Read More »
One bright spot for trainer Jerome Hunter has been the recent good form of his horses. The Mornington trainer had a health scare earlier in the year from which he said he had not fully recovered. “I was fit and healthy before but I had a virus attack my heart… Read More »
Trainer Chris Waller has opted to aim rising star D’Argento at the Doncaster Mile rather than a step the colt up to 2400 metres in the ATC Australian Derby. Both the 2018 Doncaster Mile and the Australian Derby (2400m) are on day one of The Championships at Randwick on April… Read More »
Gold Coast gelding Aqua Vite is one of the most consistent horses in Queensland but it is amazing he is racing at all. Aqua Vite showed he was up to top class when he was third behind Raido first-up from a 10-week break in the Listed Goldmarket (1200m) at the… Read More »
The Darren Weir-trained filly at the centre of a controversial scratching from a recent Flemington meeting is at a Ballarat veterinary clinic undergoing treatment for lameness. Limestone was scratched from a race at Flemington on March 17 when vets declared the filly lame in the off fore leg and her… Read More »
