Consistent Alward broke through for an overdue win to give champion trainer Chris Waller winners in three states on Saturday. Alward ($7) scored his first win since August when he wore down leader Kubis ($7.50) to score by a half neck in the Ascot Green Handicap (2000m) at Doomben. The… Read More »
Luck has finally gone the way of Oceanex with the mare fighting bravely to secure a first stakes race victory at Flemington. A winner over the course and distance in January, Oceanex took out the Group Two Matriarch Stakes (2000m) on Saturday which her trainers, Mick Price and Mick Kent… Read More »
A breathtaking performance from Nature Strip in the Darley Sprint Classic has captured the powerful sprinter his third Group One win for the year. The Chris Waller-trained Nature Strip made a one-act affair of Saturday’s $2 million weight-for-age race over the 1200m straight course at Flemington, leaving some established sprinters… Read More »
Known to each other side from the other side of the world, James Doyle and Humbolt Current have reconnected to win at Rosehill. The top English jockey rode Humbolt Current, then trained by William Haggas, to victory for Her Majesty the Queen at Windsor in July last year. The son… Read More »
Peter Snowden will consider raising the bar for California Longbow after the progressive stayer landed his fourth career win in the Ranvet Handicap at Rosehill. Rachel King ensured Saturday’s 1800-metre race was a true test when she took Foreign Territory to the front from a wide gate and set a… Read More »
True Self has provided Irish trainer Willie Mullins with his first win on Australian soil with a stylish victory in the Queen Elizabeth Stakes at Flemington. The mare picked up a $200,000 bonus for her connections following Saturday’s win after being balloted from Tuesday’s Melbourne Cup. Mullins, who first came… Read More »
Promising colt Banquo has added to a memorable Melbourne Cup carnival for trainer Danny O’Brien and highlighted his own potential with a Listed race win at Flemington. Three-year-old Banquo’s victory in Saturday’s Springtime Stakes (1400m) was the latest winner for O’Brien during this year’s Melbourne Cup carnival, with the trainer… Read More »
Given up ON by Australian billionaire Gerry Harvey, Hit The Target has repaid the faith of trainer and part-owner Stephen Jones. The Scone horseman sTuck fat with the Hit The Target and got his reward with a hard-fought Highway Handicap (1500m) victory at Rosehill. Jones stepped up to fill the… Read More »
Trent Busuttin and partner Natalie Young’s plans to target the back end of the spring campaign has paid off with Savvy Oak returning to winning form at Flemington. But Saturday’s Very Special Kids Pin And Win Plate over 2000m was not their original choice. A South Australian Derby placegetter in… Read More »
Summer plans for stakes-placed filly Lucicello are uncertain but winning jockey Jason Collett has no doubt she can make her presence felt this campaign. The Chris Waller-trained three-year-old resumed off a let-up in Saturday’s Shopper Media Handicap (1100m) at Rosehill and quickly rounded up her rivals to score comfortably. It… Read More »
Veteran galloper High Cost continued to make a mockery of predictions he would never race with his ninth win at Doomben. High Cost ($19) charged through late to beat Sister Kitty Mac ($51) by a head with a long head The Wild One ($2.10) in the [email protected] Handicap (1110m). Sheree… Read More »
Talented filly Lady Banff was the cheapest buy among trainer Matt Dunn’s yearlings this year but she could turn out to be one of his best. Lady Banff ($2.80) jumped straight to the lead and was too good in beating Mary Valley ($3.70) by a length with 2-3/4 lengths to… Read More »
The luckless Melbourne Cup runner Il Paradiso will remain in Australia after local interests bought a majority share in the horse following his third in the Cup. Il Paradiso was the eye catcher in Tuesday’s Melbourne Cup having missed the jump the UK stayer threaded his way through the field… Read More »
Jockey Jamie Mott will be out of the saddle for an extended period after breaking his tibia and fibula in a horror four-horse fall at Cranbourne on Friday night. Mott was aboard the heavily backed Alsvin in the second last race of the Cranbourne meeting when the fall occurred. Other… Read More »
Irish mare True Self missed out on a Melbourne Cup start but is a short-priced favourite to claim a consolation in the Group Three Queen Elizabeth Stakes at Flemington. The Willie Mullins-trained True Self went close to chasing down subsequent Melbourne Cup runner-up Prince Of Arran in the Group Three… Read More »
During his days as a sports and racing journalist Brian Burke often wrote stories about battlers making good but he never thought he would be the subject of one. Burke bred and part-owns Soxagon who is aiming for his third straight win in a 1600m-race at Doomben on Saturday. Soxagon… Read More »
Co-trainer Ben Hayes cannot split So Si Bon and Fifty Stars as the stable’s best chances of ending the Melbourne Cup carnival with a Group One win. The pair will be one half of a quartet of Mackinnon Stakes (2000m) runners for Lindsay Park on Saturday, along with Caulfield Stakes… Read More »
Hartnell may be attracting most of the Godolphin attention ahead of his final race but his trainer is also looking forward to Knickpoint racing at Flemington. Unbeaten in two starts on the NSW provincial circuit, Knickpoint runs for the first time at stakes level on Saturday in the Springtime Stakes…. Read More »
Star jockey Kerrin McEvoy only needs to cast his mind back to April to gain confidence about Japanese horse Kluger’s ability to run well in the Mackinnon Stakes at Flemington. McEvoy rides Kluger in a race for the first time in Saturday’s weight-for-age Group One $2 million Mackinnon Stakes (2000m)… Read More »
Effects from the bushfires ravaging the NSW mid-north coast have forced racing officials to postpone the final four races at Kempsey. The decision to abandon the back-end of Friday’s meeting, including the $40,000 Kempsey Cup (1450m), was made because of the amount of smoke and ash in the air. Officials… Read More »
