Month: September 2019

Mystery Creek trainer Neil O’Dowd has set promising jumper Aigne some lofty goals later this year after his impressive 7-3/4 length victory in the Team Wealleans Hurdle (3500m) at Arawa Park on Sunday. Although he was pleased with the win, O’Dowd admitted to feeling slightly anxious heading into the race. “It was a very good run, Michael (Roustoby, jockey) timed it well and went at the right time,” O’Dowd said. “But your heart is in your mouth because it was only his second hurdle start and he was up against…

Outgoing trainer Bruce Marsh could not have scripted his farewell meeting any better when he led in his favourite horse, old marvel Supernova, as his last Singapore winner on Sunday. The 69-year-old New Zealander has called a day on his 14-year-old stint at Kranji with the stable being handed over to his assistant-trainer Jason Ong from Monday. Already a successful trainer at his Woodville stables in New Zealand before he made the big move in 2005, Marsh carried on as the quiet achiever he has always been to go and…

A double at Ruakaka on Saturday has kept the momentum going for Byerley Park trainers Shaun and Emma Clotworthy after experiencing their best result in the past season. The couple saddled up 20 winners from their stable last term, four more than 2017-18, and with about six weeks of the current season completed they already have four wins on the board. Tipping Point was the first of their Ruakaka winners and the other victory came from Orakei Overlord, who began his career with Pukekohe trainer Patsy Riley and has returned…

The George Main Stakes looms as a campaign-defining race for Verry Elleegant with trainer Chris Waller to weigh up the mare’s options after the Group One event. Waller admits Verry Elleegant’s first run as a four-year-old when she beat just one runner home in the Group One Winx Stakes was a head-scratcher. She ended her Classic year as the winner of the Vinery Stud Stakes and Australian Oaks and had two trials before the Winx on August 24. The trainer changed her work around on Saturday morning. “I just wasn’t…

Glory Days wins the 2019 Gr.1 Auckland Cup at Ellerslie Photo: Trish Dunell It’s not often that a trainer leaves a racecourse with a smile on their face after finishing out of the money but that was the case for Waverley’s Bill Thurlow at Flemington on Saturday. Thurlow was reflecting on the performance of his Gr.1 Auckland Cup (3200m) winner Glory Days, who demonstrated a good turn of foot under the steadier of 60.5kgs as she stormed into fifth over 1700m to close out the programme at Melbourne’s racing headquarters.…

Talented winter galloper Herengawe came of age at Awapuni on Saturday when he out-toughed his rivals to score his first win at stakes level when he took out the Gr.3 Boehringer Ingelheim Metric Mile (1600m). Bred and owned by talented jumps rider Isaac Lupton, the Joanne Moss-trained five-year-old has impressed as he has made his way through the grades since commencing his current campaign back in April. After winning three of his first five starts in this preparation, he produced a determined run for third in the Listed Opunake Cup…

Boom three-year-old Catalyst treated his three-year-old rivals with contempt when he produced a devastating home straight sprint to capture the Gr.3 Cambridge Stud Northland Breeders’ Stakes (1200m) at Ruakaka. The Darci Brahma gelding overcame some trouble early in the run home to dash clear in the closing stages of the contest, winning with consummate ease by over two and a half lengths from pacemaker Exuberant with local galloper Zelenski back in third. Successful in the Listed El Roca-Sir Colin Meads Trophy (1200m) at his last start after settling on the…

Underrated mare Lucyinrio caused a minor upset when she outgunned a small but select field of open grade sprinters over 1200m at Ruakaka on Saturday. The lightly raced eight-year-old, who came north to a new Cambridge base with trainer Kylie Little when she moved there from Opaki late last season, had struck first up at Ruakaka when successful over a similar distance on June 15. Stepped up to 1400m for her subsequent start at the venue a fortnight later, the Captain Rio mare disappointed when dropping out in the run…

Debutant Tom Cat gave his rivals a full sight of his jet exhausts in the S$75,000 Restricted Maiden race over 1100m on Friday night. Like the F-14 jet fighter he is named after, the New Zealand-bred Wandjina three-year-old blasted off to the front after making light of his wide alley, throttling down midrace to an uncontested lead before flicking back on the afterburners in the straight. Tom Cat immediately put a big space between him and his rivals to go and score as he pleased, even if standby starter Fountain…