Trainer Kody Nestor will have two runners in the $500,000 Country Championships final after celebrating a quinella in the qualifying heat at Coonamble. Nestor became the first person to ride and train a heat winner of the series when Sneak Preview beat Fast Talking on Sunday. Both horses qualify for… Read More »
Leading New Zealand jockey Opie Bosson has made a quick turnaround to get back to Australia to ride the high-profile Te Akau team at the Sydney carnival. Bosson rode Melody Belle to third in Saturday’s All-Star Mile in Melbourne and returned to New Zealand with trainer Jamie Richards. But with… Read More »
The cost of spectator-free racing will not be known for some time but the Australian Turf Club is insured against losses for its three biggest autumn carnival meetings. Saturday’s showpiece Golden Slipper meeting at Rosehill, featuring five Group One races, will be held behind closed doors while the same is… Read More »
David Eustace hopes a return to racing at The Valley will lead to Loving Gaby recording an overdue autumn Group One victory. Loving Gaby runs in Melbourne’s final Group One race of the season, the William Reid Stakes (1200m) on Friday night. The three-year-old filly has recorded Group One placings… Read More »
The decision to bar spectators from south east Queensland race meetings will have consequences away from racing. The coronavirus is not the only problem facing Queensland authorities as lobbying over race dates and media rights intensifies. Racing Queensland officials will attend a meeting of race club chiefs on Monday when… Read More »
Lindsay Park trainer David Hayes insists Personal is the forgotten horse leading into the Golden Slipper at Rosehill. Hayes has compared Personal, who will be lining up for her fourth start in Saturday’s $3.5 million Golden Slipper, with 2006 Slipper winner Miss Finland. Personal is going to the world’s richest… Read More »
Eagle Farm trainer Kelly Schweida is set for his first million dollar earner after The Odyssey win in the $300,000 The Jewel 3YO. The three-year-old is now being set for feature races in the winter over distances from 1000m to 1200m. Saturday’s win took The Odyssey’s prize money to $920,800…. Read More »
The NSW racing industry support for those still feeling the effects of bushfires continues with distribution of hay and funds in the mid-North Coast region. The Australian Turf Club Foundation will on Monday distribute more money at Wauchope raised from the recent Racing for the Bushfire Appeal to NSW communities…. Read More »
Trainer Tony Gollan has won his fourth Listed Goldmarket Handicap with outsider Snitch. Snitch ($21) got up on the line to beat the unlucky and heavily backed Grey Missile ($2.20) by a nose in a deceptive finish. Gollan has also won the Goldmarket with Spirit Of Boom, Gundy Son and… Read More »
He did not make it into the $5 million All Star Mile but the Aaron Purcell-trained Guizot has managed to land a stakes race victory on the same program at Caulfield. Guizot had been nominated for Saturday’s All-Star Mile, won by West Australian Regal Power, but did not get the… Read More »
Grant Williams has had his journey from West Australia made complete with a one-two finish in the second running of the All-Star Mile at Caulfield. A week after the deflating defeat of Regal Power in the Australian Cup at Flemington, Williams, who trains in partnership with his wife Alana, rebounded… Read More »
James McDonald has starred on a soggy Coolmore Classic day at Rosehill booting home five winners, four of them at stakes level. However, it was a ride he did not win on that he came to the races most confident about. McDonald had been upbeat about the prospects of Coolmore… Read More »
The Provincial Championship qualifying heat at Gosford has been called off because of visibility concerns. Jockeys expressed concerns after heavy rain hit the Central Coast track on Saturday. The surface was safe but the darkening sky coupled with the rain caused the riders to cite visibility as a problem. The… Read More »
Trainer Kelly Schweida again proved a master tactician as he guided The Odyssey to a win in the $300,000 The Jewel 3YO at the Gold Coast. The Odyssey ($4) gave apprentice Stephanie Thornton her biggest win since moving to Queensland with an all-the-way victory. The gelding won the two-year-old version… Read More »
The class of Jennifer Eccles has shone through in the Group One New Zealand Oaks with Jason Waddell steering her from the outside barrier to a popular win in the Classic. Trained by Shaune Ritchie, Jennifer Eccles started the odds-on favourite after two Group Two victories leading into Saturday’s 2400m-feature… Read More »
Regal Power has beaten stablemate Superstorm in an All-Star Mile quinella for co-trainers Grant and Alana Williams and prominent West Australian owner Bob Peters. Ridden by William Pike, Regal Power made up for his placing in last week’s Australian Cup to win the world’s richest race over 1600m. New Zealand… Read More »
Imaging has thrown off any effects from a brutal last-start scrimmage to earn his place in the Doncaster Mile with victory in the Ajax Stakes at Rosehill. The former Irish horse’s introduction to Australian racing was a brawl with Cascadian in the Liverpool City Cup two weeks ago which resulted… Read More »
Trainer Levi Kavanagh’s plan to target the lucrative Inglis Dash with Excess Funds has been rewarded at Caulfield with the three-year-old racing to a convincing victory in the $500,000 race. Gelded after his spring preparation last year, Excess Funds returned from a spell with a win at Flemington last month… Read More »
Premier trainer Chris Waller is taking unprecedented measures as the coronavirus threatens to disrupt the Australian racing industry. Best known for putting the polish on champion Winx, Waller admits he is concerned about the impact the virus could have on his staff and the knock-on effect on his horses. “I’m… Read More »
Trainer Robert Heathcote’s worst worry became a reality when his star gelding Rothfire was beaten into second place in the $500,000 QTIS The Jewel 2YO at the Gold Coast. Toowoomba filly Kisukano ($7) caused one of the biggest feature race upsets in a Queensland racing history when she sailed past… Read More »
