A one-kilogram penalty for in form stayer So You Are after his win in the Bendigo Cup is enough to secure the Bjorn Baker-trained galloper a start in the Melbourne Cup. So You Are is now number 24 in the Order of Entry for the Cup and has got there… Read More »
Newcastle trainer Kris Lees isn’t expecting to turn giant slayer in the $10 million Golden Eagle, but he is confident Rivellino and Night Agent can belie their triple-figure odds and pick up a decent prizemoney cheque for their owners. The pair were priced at $101 apiece by bookmakers on Thursday… Read More »
Trainer Bjorn Baker is not shying away from the task that confronts Unleeshing at the mares first shot at Group 1 company. Not only will Unleeshing be racing at the highest level for the first time when she contests the Empire Rose Stakes (1600m) at Flemington on Saturday, it will… Read More »
Joe Pride identified two target races for Headley Grange this spring, and while the sprinter had no luck in the first one, the trainer says he is a live chance to atone in the second. The Group 1 winner will take his place in Saturday’s $3 million Russell Balding Stakes… Read More »
As head of Australia’s largest stable preparing for racing’s biggest week of the year, Ciaron Maher might not get the chance to get down to the newsagent and buy a Tattslotto ticket this week. But that doesn’t mean he is without an entry in a lottery and the ticket he… Read More »
Around three hours before his high-profile big sister, Sheza Alibi, races for the lion’s share of $10 million in the Golden Eagle, Nomadic will chase a feature race win of his own in the Four Pillars Midway at Randwick. Group 3 placed as a juvenile, the half-brother to the star… Read More »
Stakes performer Campaldino has been below his best this spring, but his trainers haven’t given up on coaxing him back to form, starting in the Sydney Gold Cup at Randwick. Along with making some changes to his regular routine, co-trainer Adrian Bott has taken the gelding’s blinkers off, and is… Read More »
The VRC Oaks had not been a race that had been on the radar for champion trainer Chris Waller. It was only last year that Waller finally saddled his first runner in the Classic, a race that dates back to 1861 which coincided with the first staging of the Melbourne… Read More »
The absence of Pride Of Jenni from the Group 1 race for mares on Victoria Derby Day will make it less about attrition. Pride Of Jenni won the Empire Rose Stakes (1600m) at Flemington in 2023 and again last year and was set to be a star attraction again on… Read More »
Hankee Alpha was sent to trainer Cindy Alderson with the intention of winning the ‘Grey’s Race’ on day three of the Melbourne Cup Carnival. But such was the emphatic nature of the mare’s Australian debut win at Flemington that the goal posts have shifted. The Group 3 Rising Fast Stakes… Read More »
Gerald Ryan knows better than to underestimate the genius of rival trainer Peter Moody, despite the unconventional preparation Black Caviar’s former conditioner has given Golden Eagle favourite Sheza Alibi. The latter is a solid $1.80 favourite for Saturday’s $10 million feature after drawing ideally in barrier six, but there remains… Read More »
Any hope of seeing ‘black odds’ for superstar mare Sheza Alibi in the Golden Eagle this Saturday may have been quashed after she drew barrier six in the $10 million Group One. In its second year at Royal Randwick, 18 horses can run in the four-year-old restricted race and bookmakers re-opened… Read More »
Champion trainer Chris Waller says there will be double reason to celebrate should Soulcombe win the Bendigo Cup. Victory, or for that matter a top three finish in the Group 3 Bendigo Cup (2400m) on Wednesday, will get Soulcombe a start in the Melbourne Cup (3200m) at Flemington next Tuesday…. Read More »
Jamie Melham has failed in her bid to have a careless riding suspension reduced and will miss Derby Day at Flemington on Saturday. Melham, who famously won the Caulfield and Melbourne Cups on Half Yours last year, was due to ride among others brilliant Sydney filly Satono Glow in the… Read More »
Going straight from a maiden to the Carbine Club Stakes isn’t the path Clinton McDonald planned for Conquer The World, but he’s not letting that shake his confidence in the gelding. The Toronado three-year-old will graduate from a big Cranbourne maiden win to the 1600-metre Group 3 at Flemington on… Read More »
A shock win with Land Legend was the main thing Ciaron Maher took out of The Might And Power, but it was not the only positive to come from the Caulfield event. The defeat of Sheza Alibi in the 2000-metre Group 1 gave the white-hot trainer confidence that the boom… Read More »
The Victoria Derby put Trent Busuttin and Natalie Young on map in Australia, but the 2500-metre Group 1 has provided them with nothing but heartbreak since their 2011 win with Sangster. The Cranbourne training partners ran second in last year’s Flemington Classic with longshot Arcora, 12 months after Sunsets finished… Read More »
Tommy Berry opted for spontaneity over strategy when it came to tactics aboard and Lazzura, and the classy mare was good enough to get the job done in the $2 million The Invitation at Randwick. From a wide draw, Berry was in two-minds over whether to be positive or negative in… Read More »
Trainer Ciaron Maher has strengthened his Melbourne Cup numbers with Juja Kibo winning a ‘Golden Ticket’ via victory in the Moonee Valley Cup. A last start winner of The Metropolitan (2400m) at Randwick on October 3, Juja Kibo produced a powerful finish to claim the Group 2 Moonee Valley Gold Cup (2500m)… Read More »
Proxima Dea is certainly no oil painting but she has a growing army of admirers after maintaining her perfect race record in the Group 1 $2 million Spring Champion Stakes (2000m) at Royal Randwick today. And her trainer, the maestro David Payne, is understandably the number one ticket-holder in the… Read More »
