Ahead of Surprise Baby’s bid to secure a Melbourne Cup berth, the TAB has taken a big bet on the lightly raced local stayer to win Australia’s most famous race. The Paul Preusker-trained gelding is in to $18 for the 2019 Melbourne Cup, with the TAB reporting one punter placed… Read More »
Doncaster Mile winner Brutal makes his highly anticipated spring return in the Premiere Stakes at Randwick and he is not there to make up the numbers. The Hawkes Racing four-year-old takes on Classique Legend, one of the top fancies for the $14 million Everest, and Osborne Bulls who will be… Read More »
A change in plans for two Everest contenders has led to the Group Two Gilgai Stakes at Flemington shaping as an important pointer to the $14 million sprint in Sydney. Heavy rain in the lead-up to The Shorts at Randwick two weeks ago prompted connections of both Santa Ana Lane… Read More »
THE METROPOLITAN HANDICAP 2400m, $750,000, handicap HISTORY * First held in 1863 and won by Regno * First held at Randwick in 1866 as the Great Metropolitan Stakes over two miles (3200m) * From 2001 the race has been run at 2400m, following numerous changes to distance * Upgraded to… Read More »
The changing face of racing’s spring carnival could signal a shift in the role of the Epsom Handicap, according to premier trainer Chris Waller. Saturday’s Randwick meeting has long been the showpiece program of Sydney’s springtime action with the Group One Epsom at its centrepiece. But the introduction of new… Read More »
Mystic Journey must pass a crucial distance test in the Group One Turnbull Stakes to keep the Cox Plate dream alive. But trainer Adam Trinder is confident the star Tasmanian mare and equal 2019 Cox Plate favourite will do just that at Flemington on Saturday. “She’s trained right on from… Read More »
Sixteen years after strapping Clangalang before his Epsom Handicap win, Amy Usher will make her Sydney metropolitan race day debut as a trainer with Lamelo. Andrew Adkins will ride Lamelo in the Saturday’s Group Three Breeders’ Plate, Sydney’s first race of the season for two-year-old colts and geldings at Randwick’s… Read More »
It has been almost 20 years since a mare won the Group One Metropolitan Handicap and trainer Mark Newnham believes Scarlet Dream is capable of breaking the drought. The Gai Waterhouse-trained Coco Cobanna was the last mare to win the Group One staying feature in 2001 and like Scarlet Dream,… Read More »
A small field will contest Melbourne’s first two-year-old stakes race of the season, including two juveniles who already have valuable experience. Saturday’s Listed Maribyrnong Trial Stakes (1000m) at Flemington attracted seven acceptors on Wednesday but has been reduced to five after scratchings. The line-up includes the Grahame Begg-trained Mildred and… Read More »
FLIGHT STAKES 1600m, $500,000, set weights 3YO Fillies HISTORY * Sydney spring carnival’s premier race for three-year-old fillies * Race named after champion horse Flight, the highest stakes winning mare in Australasia at the time and winner of the W S Cox Plate in 1945 and 1946 * Most recent… Read More »
Tea Rose Stakes winner Funstar and runner-up Probabeel have a stranglehold on Flight Stakes betting but rival trainer Jason Coyle is incredulous more trainers are not taking them on. A field of six fillies will contest Saturday’s $500,000 Flight Stakes (1600m) at Randwick and prize money aside, the Group One… Read More »
TURNBULL STAKES * Group One, 2000m, $500,000, set-weights plus penalties, four-year-olds and upwards. Run at Flemington on Saturday, October 5, 4.25pm HISTORY * First run as the Royal Park Stakes in 1865 and won by The Sign * Renamed multiple times, earning its current name in 1948 after then-VRC chairman… Read More »
The presence of some of the country’s best weight-for-age sprinters in Sydney and Melbourne has prompted a belated change of plans for Deploy who has been sent north in search of a confidence-boosting win. The only option for the seven-year-old at Randwick on Saturday was the Premiere Stakes (1200m) which… Read More »
Aquis Farm has confirmed they have acquired a controlling interest in the Gr.1 All Aged Stakes winner and The Everest favourite Pierata to stand the 2020 stud season at Aquis Farm in the Hunter Valley. A winner of the Gr.1 All Aged Stakes in a blistering time of 1:20.64, Pierata’s… Read More »
Tye Angland will join 7 Racing’s spring carnival team as a guest expert, working alongside renowned sports commentator Bruce McAvaney. The announcement was made on Friday with Angland set to make his debut for 7 Racing at Randwick’s Epsom Handicap day meeting this weekend. A former top jockey, Angland became… Read More »
The Victorian Racing Club (VRC) has announced plans to introduce more twilight race meetings at Flemington during Victoria’s summer months. The four new twilight meetings will include two Saturday race meetings along with a Sunday meeting in February and a mid-week meeting in March. “The VRC will introduce twilight racing… Read More »
As the right-hand man to Gai Waterhouse for many years, Mark Newnham learned a thing or two about preparing two-year-olds from the six-time Golden Slipper-winning trainer. It is hardly surprising then that Newnham, now a successful trainer in his own right, will saddle up two runners in the first juvenile… Read More »
Supernova is out of the Metropolitan Handicap with co-trainer Michael Hawkes confirming the horse will instead chase a Melbourne Cup berth via the Bart Cummings at Flemington. The winner of Saturday’s Bart Cummings (2520m) is exempt from a Melbourne Cup ballot and Hawkes says the Flemington race has always been… Read More »
Enticing Star has been retired with trainer Chris Waller’s slot in the $14 million Everest now vacant, opening the way for Nature Strip to get a start. One of two mares sent to Waller from leviathan West Australian owner Bob Peters, Enticing Star ran below par in Saturday’s Golden Pendant…. Read More »
What began as a job for extra cash during a gap year has turned into something quite extraordinary for Jess Taylor as she prepares for two Group One rides on Sydney’s most significant race day of the spring. It will not be the 28-year-old’s first experience in the Group One… Read More »
