After a lead-up run his trainer rates up with those of his three Blue Diamond winners, two-year-old colt Pariah is ready to follow in their footsteps in the $1.5 million Group One race at Caulfield. Peter Snowden has trained the winners of three of the past six Blue Diamonds at… Read More »
For the second year in a row, Godolphin-owned galloper Tally will chase a Group race win on the undercard to the Blue Diamond Stakes at Caulfield. A year ago Tally won the Group Two Autumn Stakes for three-year-olds over 1800m while on Saturday he lines up at the meeting in… Read More »
Amanda Elliott has become the first woman to head the board of the Victoria Racing Club in its 153-year history. Elliott was elected unopposed to become the 21st Chair of the VRC Board after stepping into an acting role following the departure of Michael Burn in December. She joined the… Read More »
Two of the world’s best jockeys will compete on Blue Diamond Stakes day for the first time with Ryan Moore and Joao Moreira each on live chances in the Group One race Caulfield. Moreira, the champion rider in Hong Kong, will partner the Robert Smerdon-trained Property in Victoria’s premier juvenile… Read More »
It will be all hands on deck for staff at Lindsay Park when they saddle 20 runners at the Blue Diamond Stakes meeting at Caulfield. Those 20 runners are spread across eight of the nine races on Saturday with the stable represented by 11 runners in the three Group One… Read More »
As spring three-year-olds First Seal had the wood on Winx including a dominant victory in the Group One Flight Stakes. In the 2-1/2 years since, First Seal has shown flashes of that brilliance in between several enforced breaks because of hoof problems while Winx has gone on to become a… Read More »
Queensland’s chief harness racing steward David Farquharson has been fired after being on suspension for two months. Queensland Racing Integrity Commissioner Ross Barnett said Farquharson’s employment was terminated as of Friday. He said Farquharson was suspended in December pending an investigation into a matter reported by a racing industry participant…. Read More »
Sentimental Prince’s affinity for jockey Robbie Fradd is expected to reignite the gelding’s winning attitude at Doomben. Sentimental Prince started favourite in an 1800m race at the Sunshine Coast on January 28 on the strength of his two previous wins at Ipswich and Doomben. But he laboured into sixth place,… Read More »
New Zealand trainer Murray Baker has given Turn Me Loose the thumbs up after arriving in Melbourne to oversee the horse’s final preparations for his bid at back-to-back Futurity Stakes wins at Caulfield. Baker, who trains in partnership with Andrew Forsman, had not seen Turn Me Loose for about five… Read More »
Leading Blue Diamond Stakes contender Jukebox is in doubt with Racing Victoria vets not happy with the colt’s action on the eve of the race. Chief steward Terry Bailey told RSN927 the Ciaron Maher-trained two-year-old would be examined again on Friday afternoon after showing signs of lameness in his near… Read More »
Trainer Lawrie Mayfield Smith will renew an association going back to his primary school days when Tyzone races at Doomben. Tyzone was one of the best three-year-olds in north Queensland when trained in Atherton by Roy Chillemii. The gelding won five of his eight starts in north Queensland before Chillemi… Read More »
Golden Slipper winner Capitalist will stand his first season at Newgate Farm for a fee of $55,000. The Peter and Paul Snowden-trained colt won the 2016 Magic Millions-Slipper double and earned more than $3.5 million. He was found to have a small bone chip in the lead-up to the Darley… Read More »
Noble Joey has stepped up in distance to become the first qualifier for the Provincial Championship final at Randwick by holding off a fast-finishing Better Not Blue at Wyong. The four-year-old gelding surged to the front the of 14-strong field from a wide barrier in the 1350m, $150,000 qualifying race,… Read More »
Brisbane trainer Desleigh Forster is preparing to bring two horses to Sydney for Group One races but hopes to make a big impact in Queensland this weekend. Forster is heading south with Doncaster Mile hopeful Too Good To Refuse and Queen Elizabeth Stakes candidate Cylinder Beach. “I was planning to… Read More »
It’s no secret Winx’s rivals are lining up in the Group One Chipping Norton Stakes at Randwick running for second, with a $56,000 bet underscoring her favouritism to claim a 15th successive victory. The TAB estimated the five-year-old mare accounted for 99.73 per cent of the betting in Saturday’s feature… Read More »
Two Victorian apprentices will further their careers with stints riding trackwork at Newmarket in England. Stephanie Thornton and Melissa Julius, who are part of Racing Victoria’s Apprentice Jockey Training Program, head to Newmarket next month for three weeks on a scholarship from the International Federation of Horseracing Authority. Thornton, who… Read More »
Patrick Moloney has had an appeal against an improper riding ban dismissed but has had his penalty reduced by four meetings. Moloney lodged appeals against both the decision and severity of a 28-meeting ban for improper riding aboard Percivall Pott near the 1500m mark of a 2219m race at Sale… Read More »
FUTURITY STAKES 1400m, Caulfield, $500,000, weight-for-age HISTORY * First run in 1898 when won by Resolute. Group One since 1980. NOTABLE WINNERS * Comedy King (1910); Phar Lap (1931); Ajax (1938/39/40); Bernborough (1946); Gunsynd (1972); Manikato (1979/80/81/83); Vo Rogue (1988); Schillaci (1995); Testa Rossa (2000); Fields Of Omagh (2006); Niconero… Read More »
David Hayes is not conceding the Futurity Stakes to Black Heart Bart, giving He’s Our Rokkii a good chance against him at Caulfield. Hayes and his Lindsay Park co-trainers, his son Ben and nephew Tom Dabernig, decided taking on Black Heart Bart a better option than meeting Winx in the… Read More »
Star jockey Dwayne Dunn made the Blue Diamond Stakes at Caulfield his own with a record run of four-straight wins from 2005 to 2008. It’s an achievement the jockey is obviously proud of although as he heads into this year’s race on Roomooz, he jokes that the years have ticked… Read More »
