The Victoria Racing Club will farewell 92 years of history at the end of the Melbourne Cup carnival. The members’ Old Grandstand will be demolished and a new $128 million Club Stand will be built in time for next year’s Cup. The Victorian government, Racing Victoria and Tabcorp have all… Read More »
Global powerhouse Godolphin could have a quarter of the Melbourne Cup field, paying up for six horses at the latest acceptance stage including the favourite Hartnell. There were 32 horses left in contention for the Cup after second declarations were taken on Monday with a maximum of 24 to line… Read More »
Group One-winning sprinter Terravista has easily won a barrier trial at Hawkesbury. Terravista was not asked for a major effort as he took out the 760m-heat in 44.68 seconds on Monday. After originally planning to not race Terravista during spring, trainer Joe Pride is considering running his stable star in… Read More »
Champion jockey Damien Oliver has lost a bid to downgrade his reckless riding charge but still hopes to be allowed to ride in Saturday’s Victoria Derby meeting. The Victorian Civil and Administrative Tribunal on Monday upheld Oliver’s reckless riding charge over his winning ride on Flying Artie in the Blue… Read More »
The Victoria Racing Club will start construction of a new members’ grandstand at Flemington after the Melbourne Cup carnival. The 92-year-old stand will be demolished to make way for a state-of-the-art faciility. The new grandstand, which is due to be completed in time for the 2018 Melbourne Cup carnival, will… Read More »
Champion jockey Damien Oliver will know on Monday if his reckless riding charge has been downgraded and if he can ride in Saturday’s prestigious Victoria Derby meeting. Oliver accepts he is guilty of careless riding over his winning ride on Flying Artie in the Blue Sapphire Stakes on October 12… Read More »
Don’t Doubt Mamma has won two of the lead-up races to the Myer Classic and is poised to chase her first Group One win in the fillies and mare’s feature. Trainer Tony McEvoy resisted temptations of other Group One races during the spring such as the Toorak Handicap, insisting the… Read More »
Happy Trails has run in his last Cox Plate but his trainer is keen to give him the chance to bow out of racing on a better note. The rain on Saturday at Moonee Valley derailed the nine-year-old’s chances in his fifth Cox Plate and he finished last, more than… Read More »
Lightweight Hong Kong-based jockey Chad Schofield will reunite with the Lindsay Park stable when he rides Seaburge in the Group One Cantala Stakes at Flemington. Three-year-old Seaburge will carry 50kg in the Saturday’s 1600m-race in which stablemate, last-start Toorak Handicap winner He’s Our Rokki, will be among his opponents. After… Read More »
Trainer John McArdle is eyeing his second VRC Oaks after Smart As You Think confirmed plans to target the Classic with a victory over older horses at Moonee Valley. McArdle won the Oaks at Flemington 12 years ago with Hollow Bullet and, after her win in a fillies and mares… Read More »
Gold Coast trainer Helen Page’s decision to keep Rudy away from the Sydney and Melbourne spring carnivals could reap a $100,000 bonus. Rudy, the winner of the 2014 Villiers Stakes, will run in a barrier trial on Tuesday with a view to a second win in Sydney’s Group Two summer… Read More »
Matthew Dale is keen to test Fell Swoop over the straight course at Flemington, with the Darley Classic 2016 his next Group One target. The Canberra sprinter recorded his third Group One second-placing in Friday night’s Manikato Stakes at Moonee Valley won by Rebel Dane. His trainer says Fell Swoop… Read More »
Winx is the Usain Bolt of Australian horse racing. The mare turned an expected showdown with Hartnell in Australia’s greatest weight-for-age race into a one-horse show, beating the top gelding by a record eight lengths in her second consecutive Cox Plate victory. The Chris Waller-trained mare was in great order… Read More »
Robert Heathcote admits for one fleeting moment he considered extending his Buffering’s career by one more run. But he only had to remember the look in jockey Damian Browne’s eyes to quickly dismiss the idea of a rich sprint race on Magic Millions day in January. Buffering ran his last… Read More »
Not everything went to plan for connections of Vadamos in the lead-up to the Cox Plate. And not everything went right for the French horse in the race either. The only international runner in this year’s Cox Plate opened up a five-length lead mid-race on Saturday but that was erased… Read More »
Winx has put her champion status beyond doubt with her second consecutive win in the Cox Plate, beating Hartnell by a record eight lengths. WINX FACTS: * Born – September 14, 2011. * Sire – Street Cry. * Dam – Vegas Showgirl. * Cost – $230,000 at Magic Millions yearling… Read More »
In the end Winx made the $3 million Cox Plate a one-horse race. The champion mare made it back-to-back wins in Australia’s greatest weight-for-age race: the first in a record time, the second by a record margin. “It’s a dream, as simple as that,” declared trainer Chris Waller after Winx’s… Read More »
New Zealand three-year-old Sacred Elixir has been promoted to the top of Victoria Derby betting with his win in a lead-up race at Moonee Valley. Sacred Elixir took out the Lucrf Super Vase on Saturday, the final lead-up for the three-year-olds heading to the 2016 Victoria Derby and had his… Read More »
Surround remains the only filly to have won the Cox Plate, but trainer David Vandyke couldn’t have been prouder of Yankee Rose’s placing. Yankee Rose joins the 2008 placegetter Samantha Miss as a three-year-old filly to finish third in Australia’s weight-for-age championship and it was enough to give Vandyke goosebumps…. Read More »
Billed as a two-horse race, the Cox Plate has turned out to be about just one – Winx. The defending titleholder in Saturday’s weight-for-age championship at Moonee Valley was expected to face a serious challenge from Hartnell with the race billed as a repeat of the Bonecrusher-Our Waverley Star duel… Read More »
