It was only four months ago former AFL coach Denis Pagan was granted a trainers’ licence and since then he has made an extraordinary transition to his late-career passion. Pagan has already trained a city winner and on Saturday at Flemington, he finds himself with a runner in the Group… Read More »
Trainer Stephen Massingham has his star performer, The Harrovian, in action at Doomben on Saturday in an Open Quality race. The Cairns based trainer certainly doesn’t over-complicate things and he has a very clear and concise view of what The Harrovian can and cannot do. “No, the distance won’t be… Read More »
Racing Victoria vets have today inspected 31 of the top 35 horses in the Order of Entry for the Melbourne Cup (3200m) to determine their suitability to accept at Saturday’s 4.30pm deadline. The Mick Price and Michael Kent-trained Oceanex and the Michael Moroney-trained Chapada both presented with lameness in the… Read More »
John O’Shea will be making sure he is wearing his lucky purple tie when All Saints’ Eve competes for a slice of the $7.5 million Golden Eagle pie on Halloween. The Randwick horseman might be a no-nonsense trainer but he has a superstitious streak. A talented rugby league player in… Read More »
Aidan O’Brien’s travelling foreman T J Comerford believes the stable is in a good position to land its first Melbourne Cup with Anthony Van Dyck and Tiger Moth. O’Brien is keen to win the race and the closest he has come was when Johannes Vermeer finished second to Rekindling ,… Read More »
The impressive rate of improvement Olympic Class has made in his first preparation has convinced trainer Michael Costa to chase city success. Bought at the Inglis Classic sale for only $18,000, Olympic Class was backed from $14 into $9.50 and won like an odds-on pop at his first start in… Read More »
Alligator Blood, the reigning Queensland Racing Horse Of The Year, will carry his home state’s hopes in the $7.5 million Golden Eagle at Rosehill on Saturday. The David Vandyke trained son of All Too Hard basically swept all before him during a concentrated three-year-old campaign which reached a high point… Read More »
Adam Trinder believes Mystic Journey is back to her best but her stumbling block in the Empire Rose Stakes could be a horse the trainer sees as a younger version of his star mare. “I keep looking at Odeum’s form as a three-year-old filly and it’s almost the same as… Read More »
In terms of being proactive and endorsing new initiatives, Racing New South Wales has dominated the national racing scene in recent years. As well as the high profile new ‘races’ it has instigated with great success, the bread and butter benefits which have brought in on a regular have been… Read More »
Ballarat trainer Matt Cumani is a fan of the Victoria Derby and believes it should remain at 2500 metres and not be reduced in distance. The annual debate regarding the Derby journey is again in play and Cumani regards the race as a test of a young horse’s staying ability…. Read More »
A more mature Wild Ruler will face his moment of truth when he lines up against a top-class field in the Coolmore Stud Stakes at Flemington. The colt showed promise as a juvenile but had a tendency to over-race and was at times his own worst enemy. But as a… Read More »
Gordon Richards will cherish his Everest experience with Gytrash for a long time to come, but a consolation victory in the Yes Yes Yes Stakes will make it even sweeter. While Gytrash could not match the finishing burst of winner Classique Legend in the $15 million Everest show-stopper, he did… Read More »
With the form that the Ciaron Maher and David Eustace stable is in at the moment, any feature race runner they bring to the track is well worth a second glance. With regard to the $2 million Victoria Derby at Flemington on Saturday, Let’s Karaka Deel is that runner and… Read More »
Gold Coast trainer Michael Costa has sent out fifteen winners from his last fifty runners … a strike rate of thirty percent which places him up with the best of them on the strike-rate table. Those fifteen winners came via the efforts of no less nine different individual horses underlining… Read More »
Victoria Racing Club chairman Amanda Elliott says they are bitterly disappointed with the state government’s decision not to allow owners at Flemington during the Melbourne Cup carnival. Racing Minister Martin Pakula confirmed on Wednesday that it was too soon for connections to be permitted to gather on course, a decision… Read More »
Doubt has been cast over one of the key Melbourne Cup runners less than a week out from the race after undergoing a veterinary examination. Oceanex was inspected by Racing Victoria vet Dr Grace Forbes on Thursday and was reportedly not 100 percent happy with her action. Co-trainer Mick Price… Read More »
Kembla Grange trainer Kerry Parker only ever has 20 or so horses in work and one of them, Think It Over, is a live chance in the $500,000 Rosehill Gold Cup. The horse was a strong last-start winner of the Group Three Craven Plate on October 17 and Parker is… Read More »
Racing Victoria Stewards have issued seven charges against trainer Bryce Stanaway regarding his conduct during the race meeting at Bendigo Racecourse on Saturday, 17th October 2020 and in the subsequent days. Bryce Stanaway’s horse Moorabool was eased out of the eighth race in the home straight at Bendigo by its… Read More »
A last-ditch attempt to get Pondus a start in the Melbourne Cup has been narrowly thwarted by Princess Jenni, who has held off the Irish raider in the Bendigo Cup. The Joseph O’Brien trained-Pondus was number 39 in the Melbourne Cup order of entry and desperately needed to win on… Read More »
Track conditions will determine whether Dame Giselle gets a chance to take on the older horses in the $1 million Yes Yes Yes Stakes at Rosehill. The filly has enjoyed a superb campaign, claiming the first three legs of the Princess Series and finishing fourth to subsequent Spring Champion Stakes… Read More »
