The State’s Country Cups schedule has again proven its significant social and economic impact, with Racing and Wagering WA chair Karen Farley declaring the recent TABtouch Pinjarra Cup a resounding success. With some 4000 punters flocking into the picturesque Pinjarra Park course, it capped a magnificent big-race double for the… Read More »
Fresh off Australian Cup success last weekend, Ciaron Maher will chase another 2000-metre feature this weekend at Caulfield. Like the Australian Cup, which Maher won with Light Infantry Man, Victoria’s leading trainer will have multiple runners in the Group 3 Easter Cup. Future History and Night Endeavour are certain starters, while Normandy… Read More »
Blake Shinn shapes as a key beneficiary of the postponement of Saturday’s Rosehill meeting with the top Melbourne rider snapped up to fill vacancies created by James Mcdonald’s inability to ride at the meeting. McDonald, who was engaged for a number of key chances at Saturday’s fixture, has commitments in Dubai… Read More »
One of this Saturday’s four Group 1s at Randwick has lost a drawcard runner with unbeaten sprinter Private Harry set to bypass the $3 million T J Smith Stakes. The Harry Angel colt’s co-owner Kurrinda Bloodstock announced on Monday morning that the last-start The Galaxy winner had been sent to the… Read More »
A late autumn campaign last year in Adelaide saw Benedetta claim her first win at the highest level in The Goodwood and this time trainer Jason Warren is eyeing Brisbane Winter Carnival features after a crack at the All Aged Stakes in Sydney. “It is daunting to see some of the names… Read More »
The Mick Price and Michael Kent Jnr stable will have two runners in a Stakes race at Caulfield. Resuming Globe and comeback galloper Ayrton are set to clash in the Group 3 Victoria Handicap (1400m) on Saturday. Ayrton won the race in 2023 and has had one run back from a near 12-month… Read More »
WIN OF THE DAY Wow! That was some win by Bernie Miller’s Jokers Grin in the Rock Magic Stakes (1000m). It showed all the hall marks of an above average horse. Jockey Pat Carbery turned nothing into something. Victory looked all but improbable until the final 50m when the son of Maschino burst… Read More »
Phillip Stokes and OTI Racing and start mapping a campaign aimed at culminating on November 4 after Deakin won Saturday’s Listed Roy Higgins (2600m) at Flemington. The imported gelding not only earned connections $180,000 and a second-straight Stakes success after his runaway win in the Listed Torney Cup, but also a prized… Read More »
Trainer Ciaron Maher collected his first Australian Cup, but it was not with the horse he was expecting. Saddling up three runners in the Group 1 weight-for-age contest over 2000m on Saturday, Light Infantry Man provided Maher with his maiden win, breaking a run of two successive wins in the race by… Read More »
Star New Zealand filly Alabama Lass has made a successful hit and run mission to Melbourne with victory up the straight at Flemington. A winner of five of her eight starts on home soil, with a further three seconds, Alabama Lass led throughout to claim the Listed HKJC World Pool… Read More »
The Group 1 Tancred Stakes meeting will go ahead on Tuesday after persistent rain prompted officials to postpone the 10-race card. The track was rated a slow 7 on Saturday morning but with 50mm of rain forecast to fall throughout the day, an early call was made to move it…. Read More »
The conditions were not in Steady Ready’s favour, but the father and daughter training team of Tony and Maddysen Sears had the confidence in their enduring trier to win their second King Of The Mountain feature at Toowoomba and for the gelding victory at his third attempt. Steady Ready finished second… Read More »
Robbie Griffiths and connections will bid to keep the winning run of Enxuto going when he steps out at Flemington. Following dual victories at Sandown and a last start success at Flemington, Enxuto will take the next step when he runs in the Curragh Handicap (1600m) on Saturday. Griffiths concedes it will… Read More »
Trainer Grahame Begg has applauded Racing Victoria and the Victoria Racing Club with their programming of the HKJC World Pool Sprint Classic. The Listed race for three-year-olds over 1100m on Saturday carries $500,000 in prize money and has attracted 18 runners. Begg said it was the perfect lead-in race towards the… Read More »
Godolphin and James Cummings will chase a third straight win in the Australian Cup when Zardozi steps out in the Group 1 contest on Saturday. Cascadian won the 2000m weight-for-age contest in 2023 and again last year, both times with Ben Melham in the saddle. This year Jamie Melham chases her second… Read More »
Wide barriers are the order of the day for Annabel Neasham and Rob Archibald’s team at Rosehill and that might not be a negative. Heavy rain is predicted on Saturday and Archibald is hoping that if it does eventuate, the deteriorating track conditions will favour horses drawn out. “We’ve got… Read More »
James Mcdonald is almost without peer as a jockey but his judgement of horseflesh will be put to the test when he partners River Of Stars in the Tancred Stakes at Rosehill. One of six runners for trainer Chris Waller in the staying feature, River Of Stars is among two Yulong-owned, European… Read More »
The Phillip Stokes stable is chasing some blacktype for a couple of fillies in the Clare Lindop Stakes (1600m) at Morphettville this Saturday. Stokes saddles up Comanche Miss and Pelevecchio as the pair try and achieve ‘Black Type’ status before there is an influx of fillies for the bigger races in coming… Read More »
The Lindsay Park team of Ben, Will and J D Hayes hope their two sprinters Joyful Fortune and Acromantula do not bring each other undone in a Stakes race at Flemington. The pair meet in the Listed Bob Hoysted Handicap (1000m) on Saturday with each drawing on opposite sides of the track… Read More »
Michael Kent Jnr admits he isn’t quite sure what to expect from former Irish mare Sakti when she makes her local debut in the Emancipation Stakes at Rosehill, but he is confident she can forge a good career in Australia. The lightly raced four-year-old, a Listed winner and multiple stakes placegetter overseas,… Read More »
