Crystal Web has bounced back from a first-up defeat to become the latest stakes winner from his family in the Listed MSS Security Stakes at Flemington on Saturday. The half-brother to ill-fated 2010 Golden Slipper winner Crystal Lily benefited from an unimpeded run in the 1100m straight race to give… Read More »
If the stars align and if racing lives up to its uncanny knack of delivering unusual coincidences, the last Melbourne Cup winner and the next will both win at Flemington on Saturday. Green Moon, the most recent Cup champion, is favourite to add the Group One Australian Cup to his… Read More »
The resurgent David Hayes is looking to the support card at Flemington on Super Saturday to provide the day’s highest quality contest – and to give him another stakes success. Hayes rates the Group Two Kewney Stakes (1400m) as the race of the day on a program that includes the… Read More »
The misfortune of three other jockeys has provided Jake Noonan with a chance to launch his senior career in Saturday’s Group One Australian Cup. Noonan has retained the ride on last start Flemington winner Niconoise but only after suspensions to Brad Rawiller, Stephen Baster and trainer David Hayes’ stable rider… Read More »
The excuses flowed freely after Victoria Derby winner Fiveandahalfstar finished second in the Autumn Classic at Caulfield two weeks ago. The slow pace didn’t suit him, he was underdone and his main missions in Sydney were still ahead of him. But to Mark Kavanagh who trained the winner Super Cool,… Read More »
Brett Prebble returns to the scene of his Melbourne Cup win on Green Moon with the assurance the stayer is in better form than when he won Australia’s biggest race. Prebble reunites with Green Moon in the Group One Australian Cup (2000m) at Flemington on Saturday, intent on adding the… Read More »
They have dominated the first Group One race of the Sydney autumn for almost a decade and on Saturday Gai Waterhouse and Chris Waller will be out to continue their reign. The two training heavyweights have claimed eight of the past 10 Chipping Norton Stakes between them, Waller the past… Read More »
Steps In Time can emulate former top mare Hot Danish on Saturday by becoming a dual winner of the Listed Wiggle Quality. She will be one of two John O’Shea-trained mares in the 1400m Warwick Farm feature along with Colorado Claire. Hot Danish is the only horse to have won… Read More »
As the owner of one of six Chris Waller hopefuls in Saturday’s Chipping Norton Stakes, Terry Henderson isn’t sure where Gatewood sits in the premier trainer’s pecking order. But he does knows where the import sits in his own. Henderson’s OTI Syndicate will be represented in Saturday’s Group One at… Read More »
Fitness, form and Warwick Farm. They are the key ingredients trainer Bjorn Baker is hoping can help Havana Rey measure up against some of the country’s best gallopers at Warwick Farm on Saturday. The four-year-old is among the 14 acceptances for the Chipping Norton Stakes (1600m), the first Group One… Read More »
Warm favourite Moment Of Change has come up with a middle barrier for the $1 million Newmarket Handicap at Flemington on Saturday. Moment Of Change, who has drawn gate seven, has been at the top of Newmarket betting since he finished second to champion stablemate Black Caviar in the Lightning… Read More »
Sydney trainer Peter Snowden has entered two horses in his bid for back-to-back Black Opal Stakes wins at Canberra. Snowden won last year’s $250,000 two-year-old feature with subsequent Group One winner Epaulette and he has nominated one colt and one filly for Sunday’s Listed race. His colt Sidestep has raced… Read More »
Group One-winning stablemates Appearance and Streama will clash for the first time this autumn in Saturday’s Wiggle Stakes at Warwick Farm. Trainer Guy Walter said the mares had the same targets culminating in the Doncaster Mile and would probably follow the same path via the Coolmore Classic and the Queen… Read More »
Past events ensured jockey Peter Robl tempered his enthusiasm over the improving Golden Slipper fortunes of Assail despite the filly’s barrier trial win on Tuesday. The central figure in one of the hardluck stories of the racing year so far when she was a race-day scratching from the Magic Millions… Read More »
More Joyous will have set a weight-carrying record for a mare if she is to defend her Doncaster Mile victory. The eight-time Group One winner has been given topweight of 59.5kg for this year’s Doncaster on April 20, two kilograms more than she carried in 2012. Cuddle (1936) and Sunline… Read More »
An impressive first-up performance is enough to ensure Green Moon opens favourite for the Australian Cup. Online bookmaker sportsbet.com.au has placed the Melbourne Cup winner at the top of betting on $4.40 for the Group 1. Star West Australian Mr Moet is second pick at $4.50 with Super Cool ($6.00)… Read More »
The “what-ifs” surrounding the absence of the Australian Guineas pre-post favourite All Too Hard at Flemington on Saturday will never be definitively answered. But Jim Conlan and long-time owner Jonathan Munz are entitled to at least one well-earned response after Ferlax claimed the Group One feature. “Who cares.” “It’s a… Read More »
Star colt Pierro has kept his unbeaten Sydney record intact – but only just. The odds-on favourite for the Group Two Hobartville Stakes at Rosehill, Pierro had to dig deep to hold off Rebel Dane who stamped himself as a genuine contender for the big autumn races with his short-head… Read More »
Gai Waterhouse has strengthened her claims for a fifth Golden Slipper with Sweet Idea cementing her berth with victory at Rosehill on Saturday. The runner-up in the Magic Millions in January, Sweet Idea ($6.50) stormed home to win the Group Two Silver Slipper (1100m) and gained automatic entry to the… Read More »
A determined stakes win by Catkins at Rosehill on Saturday has given trainer Chris Waller food for thought as he plans a bigger target for the autumn carnival. Catkins ($10) inflicted the first defeat on equal favourite Golden Sunshine ($3.80) in the Listed Fireball Quality (1100m) when she gained the… Read More »
