Month: November 2019

Dark Dream scoring at Class 1 level with Zac Purton in the plate. Frankie Lor will launch his star sophomores Furore and Dark Dream at the Group 3 Sa Sa Ladies’ Purse Handicap (1800m) at Sha Tin on Sunday, 3 November. Furore (113lb) was Hong Kong’s standout four-year-old last term thanks to wins in the BMW Hong Kong Derby (2000m) and Hong Kong Classic Mile (1600m), while Dark Dream (118lb) was not far behind, posting close-up finishes in the three Classic Series contests and ending the campaign with a fine…

Exultant wins the 2018 LONGINES Hong Kong Vase. Exultant starts out towards the defence of his Group 1 LONGINES Hong Kong Vase (2400m) crown with a weighty task in the Group 3 Sa Sa Ladies’ Purse Handicap (1800m) on Sunday, 3 November. Hong Kong’s star stayer is slated to shoulder 133lb in a hot edition of the historic race, which features stablemate and last year’s winner Time Warp (122lb), as well as Southern Legend (127lb) and BMW Hong Kong Derby hero Furore (113lb). Trainer Tony Cruz is satisfied with his…

HK-based Joao Moreira has been confimed as the rider of Melbourne Cup favourite Constantinople. Hong Kong-based Joao Moreira has been booked to ride favourite Constantinople in the Melbourne Cup with the owners deciding not to wait for the outcome of an appeal by Glen Boss on race eve. Boss had been booked for Constantinople in Tuesday’s $8 million race after the horse’s eye-catching fourth in the Caulfield Cup but the jockey incurred a six-meeting careless riding suspension at Randwick last Saturday. Boss lodged an appeal, with that appeal scheduled to…

Trainer Grahame Begg believes Miss Siska is over the odds in the Group 1 Empire Rose Stakes. Trainer Grahame Begg believes Miss Siska is peaking at the right time for the Empire Rose Stakes at Flemington and is convinced the mare is well over the odds for the Group One race. A half-sister to multiple Group One-winning sprinter Hay List, Miss Siska went close to winning the Queen of the Turf (1600m) for fillies and mares at Randwick during the Sydney autumn carnival at odds of $41 when she was…

Arc-winning jockey Pierre-Charles Boudot will ride Coolmore’s Never No More in the Golden Eagle. A stint with premier trainer Chris Waller whetted jockey Leigh Roche’s appetite for Australian racing and the Irishman is hoping to return with a bang aboard international raider I Am Superman in the inaugural Golden Eagle. Roche was apprenticed to Dermot Weld in Ireland and spent eight years working for the dual Melbourne Cup winning trainer before heading to Australia for a three-month stint in late 2016. He is thrilled to be back at Rosehill on…

Godolphin will rely on Bivouac with Microphone (above) scratched from the Coolmore Stud Stakes. Group One-winning colt Microphone has been scratched from the Coolmore Stud Stakes at Flemington with the Godolphin operation left to rely on favourite Bivouac in the $1.5 million race. The James Cummings-trained Microphone was ruled out on Friday afternoon because of an unsatisfactory result after a routine blood test. His withdrawal leaves a field of 14 for Saturday’s Group One 1200m-straight-track sprint for three-year-olds with Microphone’s stablemate Bivouac the $3.30 favourite. Bivouac won the Group One…

Stephen Baster is to retire from riding for a new career in real estate and more family time. After a distinguished 28-year career in the saddle, Stephen Baster is calling it quits at the conclusion of the Melbourne Cup carnival. Baster fronts up for his final Victoria Derby meeting at Flemington on Saturday with three rides including Chief Ironside in the Group One Cantala Stakes (1600m), a race he won in 2006 aboard Divine Madonna. A new career in real estate on the Mornington Peninsula beckons allowing Baster more time…

Best Of Days won last years Cantala Stakes from Le Romain and Peaceful State THE CANTALA STAKES The $2 million Cantala is a Group One handicap race over 1600m at Melbourne’s Flemington Racecourse It will run as race eight at 4.35pm AEDT on Saturday, November 2 HISTORY First run in 1881 over 1600m and won by Courtenay Made a Group One race in 1979 Re-named and switched with the Mackinnon Stakes on Derby Day in 2016 NOTABLE WINNERS Carbine (1890), Phar Lap (1930-31-32), Aquanita (1960 -61), Wenona Girl (1963), Storm…

Co-trainer Paul Snowden is keen on the chances of the stable’s duo in the Redzel Stakes. Having won the first two editions of the Everest with Redzel, Peter and Paul Snowden will chase a sentimental win in the race named in honour of the sprinter. The father and son trainers saddle up Signore Fox and Brave Song in the $1 million Redzel Stakes (1300m) at Rosehill on Saturday with the latter in line for an additional $750,000 bonus if he wins courtesy of having a lead-up start in the Sydney…