With clarity over the spring carnival programs, trainer Mike Moroney is getting his stable’s leading prospects back to work including Cups contender Aktau and Everest hopeful Tofane. The Melbourne spring carnival program was locked in last Friday, with Racing Victoria deciding to keep the traditional dates and not adopt a… Read More »
The disappointment of missing out on a Brisbane winter carnival opportunity has been emphasised for a second time in as many starts for staying prospect Stockman. Rated a genuine Queensland Derby chance, Stockman had to settle for a win in much lesser grade at Warwick Farm on Monday. Trainer Joe… Read More »
A new-season race that has been a traditional spring starting point for many of Sydney’s best sprinters will figure in a switch of handicapping conditions. The Missile Stakes, a Group Two sprint over 1200m, will be run as a set-weights with penalties event for the first time this year. Since… Read More »
The Hawkes Racing team is likely to turn its attention to spring with rising three-year-old Scenic Warrior after the colt landed a city win at Warwick Farm in his second start. Carrying the colours worn by his Group One-winning sire Proisir and the former Hawkes-trained Caulfield Guineas winner Divine Prophet,… Read More »
Racing fans will have to wait a bit longer for the debut of champion Winx’s younger half-sister. Covent Garden, a two-year-old filly, was scratched from a race at Warwick Farm on Monday with the public holiday meeting to be run on a heavy track. She was entered to make her… Read More »
Trainer John O’Shea has opted not to press on further into winter with promising gelding Opacity. Opacity continued a rise through the grades with a narrow win at Randwick on Saturday in the third start of his campaign, taking his overall record to five wins from seven starts. Immediately after… Read More »
Chris Waller at least provided Brenton Avdulla with enough horsepower to end a lean trot in the saddle even if the champion trainer was unsure if a recent pep talk jolted the frustrated jockey into form. Avdulla rode two winners for Waller at Randwick on Saturday as part of a… Read More »
With less than two months of the Australian racing season remaining, co-trainers Ciaron Maher and David Eustace find themselves in premiership battles on more than one front. The stable won three Group One races this season, courtesy of Loving Gaby’s sprint double at The Valley in the Manikato Stakes and… Read More »
An unchanged Victorian spring program will force leading stable Lindsay Park to revise carnival plans for two stars due to return from injury. Tom Dabernig, who with Ben Hayes takes over the reins at Lindsay Park after David Hayes’ departure to Hong Kong, had tentatively worked out a spring program… Read More »
Almost six years to the day since Winx made a winning debut at Warwick Farm, her half-sister Covent Garden will kick off her racetrack career at the same western Sydney venue. Winx posted the first of 37 wins in a midweek race on June 4, 2014 and Covent Garden will… Read More »
Trainer Peter Snowden is likely to follow a proven pattern with King’s Legacy in pursuit of more Group One success with the star colt. Snowden is preparing to welcome the dual Group One winner back into stable life with the Group One Golden Rose to be the rising three-year-old’s first… Read More »
The Matriarch Stakes is on the radar of top filly Vanna Girl if she can finish her winter campaign on a high. Vanna Girl will be chasing four wins in a row and her third stakes race on the trot in the Group Two The Roses (2000m) at Doomben on… Read More »
Rostropovich has been given the all-clear to take the next step along the road to a possible return to the racetrack. The Lindsay Park-trained stayer has not raced since suffering a pelvic injury when finishing last in the 2019 Melbourne Cup. Rostropovich underwent a scintigraphy bone scan at the Goulburn… Read More »
Jockeys Michael Cahill and Jim Orman have been suspended in the wash-up from the Group One Stradbroke at Eagle Farm. Cahill rode Trekking and was found guilty of causing interference to Niccanova at the 1000m He was suspended for seven days, starting next Sunday. Niccanova’s rider Jim Orman was also… Read More »
Improving stayer Stardome could add to trainer Chris Waller’s already strong hand in the Group Three Tattersall’s Cup after his win at Eagle Farm. Waller had half the field in the Group Three Chairman’s Handicap at Doomben on May 30. He had the first six across the line in the… Read More »
The wins by Queensland horses in the Group One Stradbroke Handicap and JJ Atkins has set up an intriguing battle for the state’s horse of the year award. The Queensland Horse of the Year award will be presented in September after voting starts at the end of July. Australian Guineas… Read More »
The Epsom Handicap and Golden Eagle figure among the spring options for Opacity who has continued building on a promising start to his racing career with another Randwick win. The John O’Shea-trained gelding got to the right part of the track out wide in Saturday’s TAB Handicap (1600m) and burst… Read More »
Lightly raced Jolly Sailor has continued his rise through the ranks with an impressive all-the-way victory at Flemington. The Henry Dwyer-trained three-year-old notched his third win from four career starts with his victory in the Bagot’s Cowshed Handicap on Saturday. Having earlier scored aboard Creedence for Matt Cumani, apprentice Michael… Read More »
The locals dominated the features at Eagle Farm while a star sprinter produced an outstanding return at Randwick. All that and more in this weeks edition of ‘The Good, The Bad and The Ugly’. KEY NEWS: Rothfire Wins JJ Atkins…Everest Calling? Queensland youngster Rothfire confirmed his status as the best… Read More »
Vassilator has broken through for a long overdue win by snatching victory in the last stride at his favourite track. Success in the VRC Heritage Handicap at Flemington on Saturday was Vassilator’s first in more than two years and his third overall in a career spanning 22 starts. All three… Read More »
