Trainer Rick Worthington has been patient with three-year-old filly Golden Sunshine but his efforts are paying off after she won her second race from as many starts at Warwick Farm on Saturday. An Inglis Classic sale filly bought to run as an early two-year-old, problems with her feet kept Golden… Read More »
Trainer Robbie Laing has maintained his impressive strike rate in early-season juvenile races with the win of Direct Charge in the Group Three Maribyrnong Plate (1000m) at Flemington. The most experienced runner in the field, Direct Charge ($18) fought off two challenges, finally outlasting the equal favourite Crack A Roadie… Read More »
A Brisbane trainer caught with equipment used for “stomach-tubing” a horse has been disqualified for 12 months. Victorian stewards found Nathan Schofield guilty of two charges as a result of a raid on stables at Geelong on Melbourne Cup day. Stewards scaled a fence around the stables and filmed Schofield… Read More »
Chief steward Terry Bailey accused former trainer Tony Karakatsanis of not knowing the difference between a chaff bag full of hay and one containing a bucket, a funnel, some powders and two lengths of plastic tubing. Karakatsanis has told an inquiry into the discovery of the equipment used for stomach-tubing… Read More »
Darren Weir isn’t getting carried away with long-term aspirations for Puissance De Lune but he might have to if the stayer wins again at Flemington. Weir will saddle up the last start eight-length Bendigo Cup winner in Saturday’s Queen Elizabeth Stakes (2600m) and said the import hadn’t taken a backward… Read More »
Desleigh Forster shelved plans to send Adebisi to Sydney first-up and instead expects the stakes winner to launch his campaign on the right note at home in Brisbane. Last year’s George Moore Stakes winner will have a pipe-opener to his defence of that Group Three event when he steps out… Read More »
Bjorn Baker has built an impressive strike rate on his new home track and has three live chances to improve on it at Warwick Farm on Saturday. Since moving from New Zealand in 2011 to set up his own training base at Warwick Farm, Baker has won five races at… Read More »
In an ideal world, Lloyd Williams would race his horses only in Melbourne and only at Flemington. On that score, Emirates Stakes favourite Fawkner is close to being his ideal horse. Fawkner comes to his first Group One race with victories at each of his past four starts, all of… Read More »
They are half-brothers, barn mates and travelling companions but on Saturday Temple Of Boom and Spirit Of Boom will be Group One rivals. The Tony Gollan-trained duo will line up in the Patinack Farm Classic down the 1200m straight course at Flemington. Affectionately labelled the `Boom Brothers’ by punters and… Read More »
James McDonald’s hopes of riding on Emirates Stakes day were dashed on Friday when he failed in his appeal against a careless riding ban from his Melbourne Cup ride. The suspension rules him out of his four rides at Flemington on Saturday including important mounts on Secret Admirer in the… Read More »
It’s been a rocky road to the track for seven-year-old L’Esprit, but trainer Andrew Homann says the fiery gelding is finally delivering on his promise. “He’s by far the best horse I’ve ever put a saddle on,” Homann said. “He might be seven (years old), but in his head he… Read More »
Caulfield Cup winner Southern Speed has been retired after an uneasy spring of mixed form and injury. Trainer Leon McDonald said the decision came after a thorough assessment of the damage to the mare’s nearside suspensory ligament that caused her to miss the Melbourne Cup. The daughter of American stallion… Read More »
Dual Group One winner Streama has been scratched from Saturday’s Emirates Stakes at Flemington. The Guy Walter-trained mare, withdrawn on veterinary advice, was to have been ridden by leading Sydney jockey Hugh Bowman. Bowman will now switch to the Gwenda Markwell-trained Rolling Pin. The scratching paves the way for first… Read More »
Bede Murray needed to be convinced to start Darci Be Good in Thursday’s Hawkesbury Gold Cup but it proved a wise move as the gelding raced to victory in the Group Three feature. Murray also had World Wide in the $150,000 event and his trainer son Paul had Alma’s Fury,… Read More »
The fate of jockey Danny Nikolic’s bid to have a two-year ban from racing overturned is unlikely to be known until next month. Nikolic’s appeal hearing against his disqualification before the Victorian Civil and Administrative Appeals Tribunal (VCAT) on Thursday was adjourned until November 28. The rider will then be… Read More »
Mike Moroney isn’t pretending he can recapture past glories with the one-time star “miler” Wall Street. But he is more than happy to try and coax another Group One victory out of an old horse who is as honest in his old age as he was talented in his prime…. Read More »
The Kevin Moses-trained All Legal has ended the recent dominance of the Darley team in the Ladies Day Cup at Hawkesbury by taking out Thursday’s Listed event. Peter Snowden-trained, Darley-owned runners had won the $100,000 race for the past three years and had two competitors in this year’s renewal. But… Read More »
Dear Demi’s road to the Oaks has been full of potholes with the filly the victim of bad barriers, bad luck and bad rides. On Thursday at Flemington, she still had an ordinary barrier but a gem of a ride from Jim Cassidy finally produced the right result for trainer… Read More »
A cheque for $600,000 helped restore an old friendship at Flemington on Thursday. But it didn’t prevent colourful owner John Singleton from telling it like it is. Singleton privately paid out on jockey Jim Cassidy after his ride on Dear Demi in last Saturday’s Wakeful Stakes. After the filly won… Read More »
It took a millionaire owner to repel the internationals in the Melbourne Cup and it might take another to do the same in Saturday’s Queen Elizabeth Stakes. Lloyd Williams, who built Melbourne’s Crown casino in the early 1990s, kept the Cup in Australia when his stayer Green Moon won on… Read More »
