In 2021 being the season of Charlie Appleby, it’s the Bahrain International Trophy on Friday that surely culminates a magnificent year in winning 17 Group and Grade One races. Adayar was magnificent in taking out in the Derby Stakes at Epsom, courtesy of a dare-devil ride by Adam Kirby, followed… Read More »
Rhys Radford scaled his greatest heights as a trainer when Great Shot won the Group 1 Railway Stakes (1600m) and he doesn’t lack any confidence that he can repeat the win at Ascot on Saturday. In a big upset at double figure odds four years ago, Great Shot caused a… Read More »
Kembla Grange trainer Theresa Bateup will be looking to make the most of her home track advantage as Metropolitan racing hits the Illawarra region on Saturday. While she is without a runner in Saturday’s $1 million feature The Gong, Theresa Bateup is confident her local runners will make their presence… Read More »
Racehorse owners and spectators are set to have greater race day interaction with their trainers and jockeys following the removal of the ‘racing bubble’. The mounting yard precinct and horse stall areas have been off-limits for owners since the last lockdown commenced in August. But with the racing participants vaccination rate of 98%, come… Read More »
With 11 winners (22%) and a further 11 placings (44%) from his past 50 runners, trainer Gary Portelli is in a rich vein of form at present. He’ll be hoping to add to the win column when he lines up his consistent sprinter Spaceboy in the inaugural running of the $300,000 The… Read More »
The Mick Price and Michael Kent Jnr stable is looking to the future by starting Quantum Mechanic in the Ballarat Cup. Quantum Mechanic is the equal highest-rated runner in Saturday’s 2000m Listed race, with the Chris Waller-trained Yonkers, while it is also her first time at the journey. After finishing fourth in the Group 1 Toorak Handicap (1600m) at Caulfield… Read More »
A solid gallop at Cranbourne was all the Trent Busuttin and Natalie Young stable needed to see from Rich Hips to send the mare to NSW. Busuttin and Young picked out The Gong (1600m) at Kembla Grange on Saturday with the lure of the $1 million in prize money a contributing factor. Rich Hips returned to winning form last start, taking… Read More »
Melbourne Cup placegetter Spanish Mission could be the headline act for the Zipping Classic if he continues to please his new trainer, Peter Moody. The Group 2 Zipping Classic (2400m) will this year be run at Caulfield on November 27, two weeks later than its previous date at Sandown. Spanish Mission was purchased… Read More »
Experienced jockey Pat Carbery has won most of WA’s top races, but the Group 2 Sky Racing WA Guineas (1600m) is one race that so far has eluded him. Placings aboard Ragazzo D’Oro (2016), Say Geronimo (2014), Saint Bro (2013) and Trimagic (2002) is the closest Carbery has gone to… Read More »
Metropolitan racing remains provincial as Golden Eagle runner-up and Illawarra local Count De Rupee headlines the third running of the $1 million The Gong. Metropolitan racing returns to Kembla Grange this Saturday for the third edition of Illawarra’s feature race, The Gong (1600m). Having fallen heartbreakingly short in The Golden… Read More »
In racing if it’s all about timing then the Gangemi stable are counting down to the Ascot Masters and Saturday’s $1 million Group 1 Heineken 3 Railway Stakes (1600m) with great delight. Along with Dan Morton, Chris and Michael Gangemi are the hottest training act in Perth and importantly have… Read More »
Fresh from success in Saturday’s Group 3 Euroz Hartleys WA Champion Fillies Stakes (1600m), Kyra Yuill will get a chance for more feature race glory aboard The Velvet King in this Saturday’s Railway Stakes (1600m). The ride on the multiple Group 3 winner became available after Chris Parnham elected to ride… Read More »
Lindsay Park are considering options for Zayydani with the good prize money on offer in the Ballarat Cup attracting their attention. A last start winner of the Group 2 Matriarch Stakes (2000m) at Flemington on the final day of the Melbourne Cup Carnival, the Ben and JD Hayes-trained Zayydani has been nominated for the Listed Ballarat Cup (2000m) on Saturday. The Ballarat Cup… Read More »
The Tony and Calvin McEvoy stable will have to play a waiting game to see if Silent Sovereign will get a start in her hometown Cup. Transferring their Melbourne base from Flemington to Ballarat earlier this year, the McEvoy’s would dearly love to win the Listed $500,000 Ballarat Cup (2000m)… Read More »
Bjorn Baker is hoping a tough effort in a strong middle-distance race has laid the perfect foundation for Soldier Of Love to be a force in the $1 million The Gong. A Randwick winner over a mile in October, Soldier Of Love extended to 2000 metres last start and didn’t… Read More »
An in form sprinter got a well deserved big money race win, a local saluted in the Cranbourne Cup while a leading jockey is the subject of strong rumours re the covid jab. All that and more in this weeks edition of ‘The Good, The Bad and The Ugly’. KEY… Read More »
Connections of Lost And Running are already daring to dream of another Everest bid after the rising talent rounded out a bright spring with victory in the $1 million The Hunter. In what has been a preparation designed to season the five-year-old against the country’s best sprinters, Lost And Running has… Read More »
Long-time local trainer Robbie Griffiths has finally landed his hometown Cup with the dogged victory of King Magnus on a waterlogged Cranbourne track. Shortened from 2025m to 1600m and held on a Saturday for the first time, King Magnus ploughed through the heavy conditions to give Robbie Griffiths and Mathew de Kock their first win in… Read More »
It was the milestone moment that almost wasn’t. Newcastle-based apprentice Dylan Gibbons has celebrated the biggest win of his fledgling career with a deft frontrunning ride aboard Festival Dancer in the Group 3 Spring Stakes (1600m) after his manager originally declared him unavailable for the mount. Gibbons, who usually rides at the… Read More »
Torrens has demonstrated his versatility and proven his recent stakes win was no fluke with another dominant staying performance in the $300,000 The Beauford. One of the most improved horses in training, Torrens was getting beaten in benchmark races in Brisbane 12 months ago but since joining the Lauri Parker stable mid-year,… Read More »
