The South Australian family training team of Gary and Nichole Searle and daughter Brianna Callanan have their sights set on a Melbourne Cup start with Sir Kingsford. A trip to Flemington for the Listed Andrew Ramsden (3200m) on Saturday secures the winner a Melbourne Cup ballot exemption into November’s showpiece. Nichole Searle… Read More »
Joe Pride isn’t sure how Estadio Mestalla has been allocated two kilos more than a Group 1 winner in the Luskin Star Stakes, but he does know the consistent gelding will give his all. The seven-year-old posted his most significant win in last year’s Listed Winter Stakes (1100m) and has… Read More »
Filly Sequista has often been her own worst enemy, but trainers Gerald Ryan and Sterling Alexiou are convinced she has the quality to win at black-type level. Already stakes placed in the 2024 Inglis Nursery (1000m) and finishing on the heels of the placegetters in Tempted’s Percy Sykes Stakes (1200m),… Read More »
Charlotte Littlefield wants to see her exciting filly Concord Connie produce a repeat performance before allowing herself to dream bigger. Concord Connie produced a stunning performance to win at her third race start at Flemington on Anzac Day, recording a six-length win in slick time. The filly returns to Flemington on Saturday to… Read More »
Harlem Queen hasn’t quite followed the career trajectory she appeared to be on at three, but off the back of a smooth build-up to her latest preparation, trainer Nathan Doyle is optimistic she can regain some consistency to her form. The mare resumes in Saturday’s Dark Jewel Classic (1400m) at… Read More »
The Queensland Derby aspirations for Different Gravy will go on the line when he steps out at Flemington. Trainer Henry Dwyer set his sights on the northern states Derby after Different Gravy scored in a Listed race over 1800m at Flemington on Melbourne Cup Day last year. Dwyer had originally planned… Read More »
The nervous wait to see if Napoleonic would sneak into the Doomben 10,000 is over with the scratching of Abounding paving the way for the colt to take his place in the Group 1 sprint. Connections have endured an anxious week after the three-year-old was originally named second emergency for… Read More »
With a bevy of stakes-class sprinters currently in the stable, Peter Snowden is in the enviable position of juggling his team between a rich variety of feature races. A fortnight ago, he took out the Hawkesbury Gold Rush (1100m) with Zealously, while last week King Of Roseau and Beadman delivered… Read More »
The Melbourne Cup qualifier at Flemington was never in the planning for Zakouma until his last start effort at Flemington After three successive wins, Zakouma went to Flemington on Anzac Day and was expected to take out the benchmark 100 2000m contest in which he was a heavily backed favourite. But the race turned into… Read More »
The Carnival has left town and Nichole Searle would like to think it can result in a deserved victory for Tosen Water when racing returns to the Parks track at Morphettville this Saturday. The six-year-old mare will look to go one better than her past two runs in the $65,000… Read More »
Chris Waller will have a typically robust team for the two-day carnival at Scone but among the horses he is most looking forward to seeing step out is the resuming Sun God. The five-year-old will be among up to 18 runners for the champion trainer when he kicks off his… Read More »
A week after landing a feature race double at the stand-alone Gosford meeting, jockey Kerrin McEvoy will be hoping for a similar haul at Scone where he has rides in all six black-type races over the two-day carnival. McEvoy, who captured the $500,000 The Coast (1600m) aboard Athantos and the… Read More »
The well performed, Grant and Alana Williams trained Western Empire will resume at Belmont in the Group 3 Belmont Sprint over 1400m on Saturday. It was a case of ‘no cigar’ for the son of Iffraaj over the Summer Carnival at Ascot, but there was plenty to like about Western… Read More »
Young horseman Nacim Dilmi continues to make inroads for Domeland with I Am Carrot bringing up his 30th win for them courtesy of an impressive performance on the Randwick Kensington track. Dilmi, who formerly worked for Godolphin, took over the role as private trainer for the racing and breeding operation… Read More »
Warwick Farm trainer Gregory Hickman has been entrusted with preparing Future History for a start in the Melbourne Cup. Future History will have his first start for the Hickman stable in the Group 3 Chairman’s Handicap (2000m) as he builds for Australia’s most famous race later in the year. A… Read More »
Just under a year ago Angela Jones and Zarastro were cut down, literally in the final stride, by a flying Joliestar with James McDonald urging the then four-year-old to the narrowest of victories in the Group 1 Kingsford Smith Cup over 1300m, denying both Jones and Zarastro a first Group… Read More »
Multiple Group 1 winner Private Eye will be Joe Pride’s headline horse at Doomben, but he expects stablemate The Black Cloud to prove a more than handy understudy. Evergreen campaigner Private Eye tackles the $1.5 million Doomben 10,000 (1200m), while The Black Cloud will join him on the float trip north in… Read More »
He fetched a record price at the breeze-up sales, and now Tron Bolt appears set for a Group 1 bid following his comprehensive midweek win at Randwick’s Kensington track. A $900,000 buy for Hermitage Thoroughbreds – the highest price paid for a colt at an Inglis Ready2Race sale – Tron… Read More »
Last week Pride Of Jenni slapped her opposition into submission in the Group 2 Hollindale Stakes. She did that as an eight-year-old so, apart from all of the other hype which came with the win, she scored one for the older brigade … and the two eight-year-olds, Private Eye and… Read More »
The adage of a jockey having a saddle will travel does not sit with South Australian trainer Garret Lynch who uses the motto ‘have horse float, will travel’. Lynch racks up thousands of kilometres a year travelling around South Australia from his base at Murray Bridge and currently sits on top of the state’s trainers’… Read More »
