A trip to Melbourne has helped turn promising galloper Taking Aim into a Group One contender in the Queensland winter carnival. Taking Aim justified a $5 into $3.80 CrownBet betting move on Saturday when he held on to beat Dissolution ($6.50) in the Group Three Ken Russell Memorial Classic (1200m)… Read More »
Lance Horan has earned enough to pay someone else to drive him home from Rosehill, with the part-time taxi driver celebrating O’Lordy’s big payday in the Highway Handicap. Horan bred the mare and leases him in partnership with Goulburn trainer Danny Williams who made the astute decision to back her… Read More »
An aborted trip to Brisbane for imported galloper Articus has paid dividends for Brad Rawiller at Flemington. Articus had to settle for a consolation win in the Chairman’s Club Handicap (1800m) on Saturday after being withdrawn from the AD Hollindale Stakes on the Gold Coast. The French-bred stallion was already… Read More »
Viridine has made a successful beginning to his racing career at Rosehill, with New Zealand jockey Rory Hutchings also enjoying a fresh start. Hutchings was thrown off as the two-year-old colt returned to scale – and the stewards are studying his ride over the latter stages of the Fresh For… Read More »
Smart short course horse Prompt Return has had people searching the record books after running a slashing time for his last 600m in the Bat Out of Hell (900m) on the Gold Coast. Prompt Return ($3) claimed the title as Queensland’s best short course horse when he beat the favourite… Read More »
Godolphin Australia boss Henry Plumptre says the global racing organisation will not rush the appointment of a new head trainer to replace John O’Shea. After confirming O’Shea’s resignation on Friday and the installation of Darren Beadman as interim head trainer in Australia, Plumptre said Godolphin would take its time to… Read More »
The five Group One race days of the Brisbane Race Club’s winter carnival will be shown live on free-to-air Racing.com for the first time. Racing Queensland has signed a deal which will allow the meetings to be shown on Racing.com from next Saturday which will feature the Group One Doomben… Read More »
The Bob Baffert-trained Abel Tasman has come from last to win the Kentucky Oaks for the China Horse Club. The filly beat Daddys Lil Darling by 1-1/4 lengths after charging home from last under Mike Smith in Friday’s (Saturday AEST) marquee event at Churchill Downs. The race was run on… Read More »
John Thompson expects Astronomos to benefit from another farm-based between-race recovery when he has the fifth start of his preparation in the Listed Lord Mayor’s Cup at Rosehill. The six-year-old gelding’s first campaign for the Randwick trainer has been a valuable learning experience for Thompson who has modified Astronomos’ previous… Read More »
Darren Beadman has been granted a licence to train for Godolphin although there is still no official word that Australian head trainer John O’Shea has left the organisation. Former champion jockey Beadman, who retired after suffering serious injuries in a fall in Hong Kong, has been O’Shea’s right-hand man at… Read More »
Talented filly Freeze Over had an excuse out of her last-start defeat in Adelaide and trainer John Sadler is hoping to see her bounce back to her best at Flemington. Freeze Over won stylishly on debut at Sandown in late March over 1000m, earning the two-year-old filly a crack at… Read More »
The shoe finally fits, so Brenden Mackay can dream of a Cinderella type ending when Nardoo makes her comeback at Rosehill. More than a year after the talented mare was supposed to resume racing, just making the barriers on Saturday represents a win for the patient Grafton-based trainer. The five-year-old… Read More »
Stampede has led all the way under apprentice Rachel King to win the Wagga Wagga Gold Cup for trainers Gai Waterhouse and Adrian Bott. The four-year-old held off the Chris Waller-trained Life Less Ordinary by half a length with the Lee and Anthony Freedman-trained Cool Chap another 2-3/4 lengths away… Read More »
A change of scene and track conditions will ideally invigorate Preferment on the Gold Coast, as the multiple Group One-winner seeks a return to form before the Doomben Cup. Just over a 12 months ago the now five-year-old horse was on top of his game after wins in the Australian… Read More »
Having already stormed past his previous Commonwealth record for winners in a season, a new mark for metropolitan victories in Victoria looms as the next milestone for Darren Weir. Weir trained 14 winners from 30 races during this week’s three-day Warrnambool carnival which took his season tally Australia-wide to 352,… Read More »
* Expat Ian Wilkes aims to become the first Australian to train the winner of the upcoming Kentucky Derby with three-year-old colt McCracken * Wilkes grew up on a dairy farm in northern NSW, left school at the age of 16, and during the 1980s worked under Australian trainers Paul… Read More »
Expat Australian Ian Wilkes has already trained a Breeders’ Cup Classic winner and will have his first runner in the most famous American race of all when McCraken lines up in the Kentucky Derby. McCraken is the 5-1 joint second favourite for the Run To The Roses at Churchill Downs… Read More »
Trainer Kelly Doughty has had one of her better winter carnival chances go amiss but hopes filly Benfica Princess is ready to fill the void. Benfica Princess will get a major test when she contests the Listed Gold Coast Bracelet (1800m) on Saturday. Doughty is using the race to see… Read More »
Apprentice Beau Mertens gets an opportunity to edge closer to the lead in the Melbourne jockeys’ premiership with a full book of rides at Flemington. Craig Williams holds a five-win advantage in the title race but the reigning premier will be riding at the Group One meeting in Adelaide on… Read More »
Trainer Kevin Kemp is resigned to having to wait at least another week before he can test a theory about Sold For Song. The mare has drawn barrier 16 in the Listed Silk Stocking (1200m) at the Gold Coast on Saturday, continuing her run of bad barriers. Sold For Song… Read More »
