The All-Star Mile has found a permanent home at Flemington which will ensure the race will attains Group 1 status by 2026. However, the flip side is the ASM will be run for $1.5 million less than the $4 million that was on offer this year. The ASM will be… Read More »
Rachael Cunningham knows the feeling of being a Grand National Steeplechase winning trainer which she is hoping to replicate at Ballarat on Sunday. Bee Tee Junior gave the Pakenham-based trainer National success in 2020 during COVID with no-one on course. Not one for nostalgia, Cunningham has a picture of Bee Tee Junior… Read More »
Trainer James Cummings and the Godolphin team will have a two-pronged attack on three-year-old filly’s race at Moonee Valley as they look to go back-to-back in the contest. Photograph and Diamond Firetail head to the Vale Black Caviar Plate (1200m) on Saturday, looking to follow the victory of Inhibitions 12 months earlier…. Read More »
No stable wants to lose a Group One performer, particularly if they believe the best is still to come. So when the previous owner of Kimochi put the mare up for sale earlier this year, Gary Portelli went to great lengths to ensure she came back to him. Knowing the Yulong Investments… Read More »
Former European mare Via Sistina has already provided a taste of her talents in Australia, and her stable is seeing all the right physical signs to suggest there is more to come. A devastating winner of the Group 1 Ranvet Stakes (2000m) at her Sydney debut in the autumn, the high-class… Read More »
The Trent Busuttin and Natalie Young stable are excited at the prospects of seeing their impressive debut winner Daggers back in action at Moonee Valley. Successful over 1300m at Sandown earlier in the month, Daggers lines up in the Brooks Running AU Plate (1200m) on Saturday. Busuttin said he did not… Read More »
Tough gelding Cepheus has outclassed his rivals to win the Rowley Mile at Hawkesbury. Nash Rawiller has labelled Cepheus a “warhorse” following the eight-year-old’s fourth stakes success in the Listed Rowley Mile at Hawkesbury, the win pushing the gelding’s prizemoney to just shy of $2.5 million. Horse and jockey have developed a… Read More »
The Idyllic Prince Stakes (1300m) at Belmont on Saturday is race that trainer Jim Taylor would dearly love to win. Taylor gets his opportunity with classy mare Searchin’ Roc’s, who resumes and has been backed into favouritism. The $125,000 Listed event was rebranded in celebration of one of Taylor’s best… Read More »
Ballarat trainer Thomas Carberry says it would be amazing if his sprinter Scuderia could pick up some Black Type in a Stakes race at Moonee Valley. Scuderia runs at her favourite track on Saturday in the Listed Norman Carlyon Stakes (1000m), but Carberry is realistic enough to know the mare faces an… Read More »
Jack Turnbull hopes Jennilala does not suffer separation anxiety when she makes her return to racing at Moonee Valley. Jennilala is the constant companion of Pride Of Jenni in the Ciaron Maher stable with the pair at each other’s side. Both mares are owned by Tony Ottobre and Jennilala is set to… Read More »
Under-rated mare Semana wasn’t far off Zougotcha in a brace of autumn features, and trainer Ciaron Maher is banking on her residual fitness to help bridge that gap as she seeks to claim an elusive Group One. Semana and stablemate Detonator Jack will fly the flag for the Maher stable in the first… Read More »
David Payne isn’t going to Randwick expecting his Silver Shadow Stakes roughie Trafalgar Square to upstage Group One winner Manaal, but he does believe his filly can perform much better than her long odds suggest. At $71, Trafalgar Square is one of the outsiders in Saturday’s field, while ATC Sires’ Produce Stakes… Read More »
Jockey Beau Mertens has a special affinity with Attrition and will go anywhere to continue his association with the galloper. That association will take Mertens to Morphettville Parks on Saturday where Attrition lines up in the Listed Leon Macdonald Stakes (1400m) first-up on Saturday. Mertens was a successful apprentice who battled it… Read More »
Hall Of Fame trainer Les Bridge says a tilt at The Everest is almost certainly off the table for Celestial Legend, confirming the Golden Eagle as his stable star’s primary mission. Speaking on Queensland’s RadioTAB on Thursday, Bridge revealed the horse’s owner Bon Ho had never been overly keen on pursuing… Read More »
Lightly raced Raikoke has tested the patience of the Mick Price and Michael Kent Jnr stable, but they expect the gelding to reward them when he kicks off his campaign at Moonee Valley. The now four-year-old runs in the Dr Sheahan Plate (1200m) on Saturday, his first outing since finishing last in… Read More »
A past Everest experiment that backfired is shaping Chris Waller’s early spring agenda for Group One winner Joliestar as he bids to ensure history doesn’t repeat. Twelve months ago, connections of stablemate Zougotcha considered the mare an Everest contender and Waller designed her program accordingly, training her as a sprinter and launching… Read More »
David Payne has already won the Group One Flight Stakes twice and he has his sights on a third with brilliant Warwick Farm debut winner Shohisha. The filly had to overcome a chequered passage in the straight, bullocking off the fence to force her way between runners before surging through… Read More »
Trainer Mick Nolan and jockey Luke Nolen joked post-race who had the correct surname after they combined to land a winner at Sandown. Lightly raced Stylish Secret took out the Thoroughbred Club Of Australia Plate (1500m) on Wednesday to give trainer Nolan his second city success. Nolan was the longtime foreman for Mick… Read More »
Fresh from ending a 22-month drought from the winner’s list, Williamsburg will attempt to keep his momentum rolling in the Listed Rowley Mile at Hawkesbury. The five-year-old scored his first victory since the 2022 Dulcify Quality when he led throughout over 1500m at Rosehill earlier this month and co-trainer Sterling Alexiou… Read More »
Jockey Daniel Stackhouse thought he was OK to ride the favourite Athanatos at Sandown despite a heavy knock to the face as the horses paraded before the race. However, when Stackhouse arrived at the start for the Sportsbet Photo Finish Refund Plate (1300m) on Wednesday, blood was streaming from his mouth and… Read More »
