BRISBANE Dec 27 AAP – Champion jockey Chris Munce admits he will have to be at the top of his when he resumes from a short break with two key rides at Doomben on Saturday. The four-time Brisbane premiership-winning jockey had a rare break over Christmas after being suspended for… Read More »
South Australian trainer Richard Jolly elected to stay at home but his gelding Karacatis did all the talking with a stirring win in the feature race at Caulfield on Boxing Day. Teenage jockey Damian Lane said far from showing a lack of confidence by not accompanying his horse to Melbourne,… Read More »
An eight-year-old with a history of tendon trouble added to Chris Waller’s unstoppable run in Sydney racing at Randwick on Thursday. I’m Imposing, an imported stayer who found his way into Waller’s premiership-winning stable after starting his Australian career as a member of Lloyd Williams’s string, was precise in his… Read More »
In a superb training performance, the Meagher Racing team has produced DEVIL Heart to win at her first start in two years at the Sunshine Coast on Thursday. DEVIL Heart had not raced since her debut in December 2011 when she was sent out second favourite but finished last in… Read More »
Peter Snowden couldn’t have been more matter-of-fact about Pleiades’ sub-par return to racing. “I thought she went terrible and I was bitterly disappointed,” he said. Pleiades never figured when she resumed with a down-the-track performance and the mystery only deepened for the departing Darley trainer when she returned to winning… Read More »
Darren Weir is hoping to use Saturday’s Moonee Valley meeting as a springboard towards the Mornington Cup for promising stayer Prince of Penzance. Weir rates Prince of Penzance, one of three horses from his stable racing on Saturday, as his best chance at the Moonee Valley meeting. So do punters… Read More »
Unraced outsider Empress O’Reilly had to survive a protest and a late rider replacement to win the Joe Brown Plate for two-year-olds at Caulfield on Thursday. The filly’s declared jockey, apprentice Thomas Sadler, couldn’t make the 55kg weight and it fell to fellow junior rider Katelyn Mallyon to climb aboard… Read More »
Chris Waller trained Royal Descent to win the ATC Oaks in her first campaign of racing and he might have to ask Made to Order to replicate the feat. Royal Descent started her run towards last season’s Oaks triumph with a Canterbury midweek win in December and while Made to… Read More »
John Sargent is hoping his trans-Tasman stable can end the week in better shape than it began as he prepares Cathay Lady to finish her year in the same manner as 2012. Sargent lost VRC Oaks winner Kirramosa for the autumn when a bone chip was discovered not long after… Read More »
Trainer Liam Birchley is confident he will be proved correct on two fronts with his Magic Millions hopefuls Missy Longstocking and Sagatona at Doomben on Saturday. Missy Longstocking has her final hitout before the Magic Millions Guineas in the Vo Rogue Plate (1350m) while Sagatona will be trying to force… Read More »
Despite being less than halfway through the current season, Phillip Stokes is three wins shy of equalling last term’s Adelaide trainers’ premiership-winning tally. Tony McEvoy prepared 34 winners to claim the 2012/13 Adelaide trainers’ title but Stokes’s treble at last Saturday’s Morphettville meeting brought him to within three of that… Read More »
Not much went right for Lucky Lucky Lucky in Brisbane during the middle of the year. But trainer Steve Englebrecht is convinced the winter carnival campaign has served its purpose and he is hoping the horse can repay him for the second time this preparation at Randwick on Thursday. After… Read More »
All-conquering trainer Chris Waller will turn his talents to resurrecting the career of import Brigantin who makes his Sydney debut at Canterbury on Saturday. The former French galloper has been out of luck since his arrival in Australia in the spring of last year. His third in the 2012 Geelong… Read More »
Resuming in Thursday’s Equiano Speed Yearlings Heat is the second step on a possible Caulfield Cup journey for the Chris Hyland-trained Bombalatomba. Bombalatomba posted respectable finishes in Group One races as a three and four-year-old before a throat issue cut short his spring five-year-old campaign. Hyland said Bombalatomba’s progress from… Read More »
Tommy Berry might be sidelined because of suspension but Tulloch Lodge’s No.1 jockey still promises to have an influence in the outcome of the Summer Cup. The Gai Waterhouse-trained Travolta was in contention for a Perth Cup start but Berry recommended the horse stay at 2000m after an all-the-way win… Read More »
Injury curtailed the racing career of Dream Ballad and the half-brother to Tie The Knot has had limited opportunities at stud. But his progeny have a fan in Guy Walter who prepared Tie The Knot to 13 Group One wins and also trained Dream Ballad to win the Listed Dulcify… Read More »
Morphettville trainer Richard Jolly says it was always his intention to run handy sprinter Karacatis in the Listed Christmas Stakes at Caulfield rather than an assignment on his home track. Jolly also accepted to run Karacatis in a $50,000 race in Adelaide on Boxing Day but drawing barrier two in… Read More »
Premier trainer Robert Heathcote believes Saturday’s B J McLachlan Stakes is a mini Magic Millions which could make or break some supposed stars. Heathcote has the unbeaten Pinch River in the McLachlan (1200m) at Doomben but he is opposed to the three horses at the top of the Magic Millions… Read More »
Magic Millions Classic hopes will go on the line at Canterbury when several youngsters bid to earn a spot in the $2 million race. Of the 10 runners in Saturday’s TAB Ipad App Plate (1200m), seven are entered for the Gold Coast feature. Victorian colt Nordic Empire is the most… Read More »
Rain could upset a few trainers targeting black-type races at Ellerslie on Thursday, but John Bary is rubbing his hands with glee at the prospect. The Hastings trainer has Survived in the Group One Zabeel Classic, Recite in the Group Two Eight Carat Classic and The Hombre in the Listed… Read More »
