Last-start Hareeba Stakes placegetter Snitzkraft has been withdrawn from the Listed Anniversary Vase but trainer Phillip Stokes still has a strong hand at the Caulfield meeting with Mr Quickie and Flying Krupt. Snitzkraft has been scratched from Saturday’s Anniversary Vase (1400m) because of a wide draw but Stokes has South… Read More »
Victorian trainer Brent Stanley’s punt to send Violate to Sydney in the hope of getting a start in the Doncaster Mile has paid off. Violate was first emergency when acceptances were taken on Tuesday and gained a start in Saturday’s $3 million Doncaster Mile at Randwick after the scratching of… Read More »
Toowoomba trainer Ben Currie will now face 42 separate allegations after stewards issued him with a further prohibited substance charge. The charge came on Friday, the eve of the Toowoomba Weetwood meeting where Currie will have up to 20 runners including key chances in the feature Toowoomba Cup and Weetwood… Read More »
Ciaron Maher has opted to apply gear changes to both his Anniversary Vase contenders and is hoping the move pays off with improved performances by Naantali and Kemono in the Listed race. After winning at Caulfield over the Anniversary Vase distance of 1400m four starts ago, Naantali has finished second… Read More »
Trainer Daniel Bowman is following a similar approach towards a planned start in his hometown Cup at Warrnambool with Magnapal as he did a year ago. The rising 10-year-old runs in Saturday’s Le Pine Funerals Handicap at Caulfield en route to either the Easter Cup at Caulfield on April 20… Read More »
THE 154TH DONCASTER MILE * The world’s richest Group One mile (1600m) handicap worth $3 million. HISTORY * Highlight of first day of The Championships at Randwick. * First run in 1866 when it was won by Dundee and has since been won by many of the finest horses to… Read More »
New Zealand training partners Roger James and Robert Wellwood have not completely ruled out a Sydney Cup start for Rondinella after her Group One third in the Tancred Stakes. James said they would wait until after the weekend’s racing to make a decision. “It was the intention that she come… Read More »
A week after they were in rivals in Dubai, Hugh Bowman will join forces with Godolphin in three Group One races on the opening day of The Championships at Randwick. Bowman missed last Saturday’s Tancred Stakes meeting at Rosehill to ride Brave Smash in the Al Quoz Sprint in Dubai… Read More »
Veteran trainer Richie Stephenson believes things have finally swung his way as he chases his first Toowoomba Cup. Stephenson has won hundreds of races, many of them at Toowoomba’s Clifford Park, but the Cup has eluded him in 50 years of trying. “And nothing would give me greater pleasure if… Read More »
A year after winning a thrilling Australian Derby on Levendi, Melbourne jockey Mark Zahra believes he has a genuine chance to go back-to-back in the Classic at Randwick aboard Declarationofheart. Levendi gave Zahra his first Australian Derby success 12 months ago when he got home by a nose after a… Read More »
El Dorado Dreaming has been scratched from the Doncaster Mile with a respiratory infection giving first emergency Violate a start in the $3 million race at Randwick. Trainer Kris Lees has been monitoring the 2018 Sires’ Produce Stakes winner this week but veterinary advice is El Dorado Dreaming will not… Read More »
As a 16-year-old apprentice, Patrick Payne won the Doncaster Handicap at Randwick to claim the first Group One win of his stellar riding career. On Saturday, 27 years after guiding Soho Square to that front running win, Payne has his first chance to win the famous race as a trainer… Read More »
Less than two-and-a-half years after having his first race ride, Victorian apprentice Lachlan King has the opportunity at racing’s elite level on one of the country’s biggest race days. King, 20, has his first ride in a Group One race in Saturday’s $3 million Doncaster Mile at Randwick on lightweight… Read More »
Trainer Matt Dunn will feel his way this winter with proven stakes performer Sovereign Nation who resumes at Toowoomba. Sovereign Nation has drawn barrier one as he attempts to continue his good first-up record in Saturday’s Listed $150,000 Weetwood Handicap. It is part of a two-state feature race assault by… Read More »
The 2019 Southern Hemisphere breeding season will see the arrival in the Hunter Valley of the only undefeated US Triple Crown winner. Justify won each of his six career starts including four at Group 1 level when becoming just the 13th Triple Crown winner in history. “Justify was a phenomenal… Read More »
Yesterday, in Sydney, a Strategic Plan for racing in NSW was released. And it is brilliant. Now, while there are many things to unpack about it, one that stood out like dog’s balls is this: Right now, on the eve of the Inglis Easter Yearling Sale, is perhaps the best… Read More »
The Australian Turf Club Foundation has started rolling out its drought relief funds for racing industry participants across several towns in the NSW Central and Western Districts. Thoroughbred trainers in Nyngan, Trangie, Narromine, Dubbo, Gligandra, Coonamble, Cobar and Cuttabri will receive bales of hay and the Walgett Jockey Club will… Read More »
THE ATC AUSTRALIAN DERBY 2400m, $2 million, set weights HISTORY * First run in 1861 and won by Kyogle, the Derby is firmly established as the No.1 three-year-old Classic in the country. * Past winners include Grand Flaneur (1880), Poseidon (1906), Gloaming (1918), Heroic (1924), Phar Lap (1929), Peter Pan… Read More »
After accepting with three horses for the meeting on his home track, Henry Dwyer will start only one of the trio at Caulfield. Dwyer will rely on Order Of Valour in the Thomas North Handicap on Saturday sending Swampland to Adelaide for her first run in 10 months. Heir To… Read More »
Trainer Chris Munce looks to have three good chances to celebrate the anniversary of one of his most important wins as a young jockey on Saturday. The Toowoomba meeting marks 30 years since he rode Count Henri to win the 1989 Weetwood Handicap for trainer Harold Cox. At the time… Read More »
