Year: 2019

Maximum Security has ended a mixed season with victory in the Grade One Cigar Mile. Maximum Security has ended a tumultuous season with a decisive victory in the Grade One Cigar Mile at Aqueduct in New York. Earlier this year the colt became the first horse to be disqualified for interference in the 145-year history of the Kentucky Derby. That was one of only two defeats in an otherwise exceptional campaign. The three-year-old trained by Jason Servis and owned by Gary and Mary West won six races from eight starts…

Masami Matsuoka passes the post on Win Bright. Win Bright produced a performance hallmarked with toughness to go with his considerable class to complete the Group 1 double of the LONGINES Hong Kong Cup (2000m) and April’s FWD QEII Cup (2000m) for trainer Yoshihiro Hatakeyama and jockey Masami Matsuoka. In doing so the steel-grey son of Stay Gold held off the late lunge of Ireland’s Magic Wand to assure the 2019 LONGINES Hong Kong International Races meeting will be remembered as a standout day for Japan’s horsemen, as Win Bright…

Admire Mars wins the Mile in the silks of late owner Riichi Kondo. Admire Mars and an inspired Christophe Soumillon came to the fore in what was an emotional occasion for the Japanese racing industry in the Group 1 LONGINES Hong Kong Mile (1600m) at Sha Tin today (Sunday, 8 December). It was not, perhaps, the result that the home town audience yearned for, with the hat-trick seeking Beauty Generation looking as if he would defy his advancing years when cruising into the lead at the 400-metre mark. Unfortunately for…

Beat The Clock wins the Sprint under Joao Moreira. Trainer John Size and jockey Joao Moreira spoke of vindication and feeling humbled in an unusually emotion-charged response to their win with Hong Kong’s most consistent sprinter Beat The Clock in the LONGINES Hong Kong Sprint (1200m), today (Sunday, 8 December), at Sha Tin. Moreira declared he would cherish the win “all my life” while Size wiped away a tear or two after the ever-reliable Beat The Clock beat stablemate Hot King Prawn with sprinting’s would-be-king Aethero, the 1.5 favourite, the…

Glory Vase triumphs under Joao Moreira. Glory Vase streaked away with the Group 1 LONGINES Hong Kong Vase (2400m) at Sha Tin this afternoon, Sunday, 8 December. The Japanese raider with the most fitting of names carried Joao Moreira to his fifth LONGINES Hong Kong International Races win – soon to be six – and his first since he guided Satono Crown to a thrilling Vase score in 2016, also for Japan. “He ran amazing; the emotion is getting the better of me but that’s what it’s about, winning big…

Trainer Chris Waller is likely to have two runners in the Group Two Villiers Stakes at Randwick. Premier Sydney trainer Chris Waller is likely to have at least two runners in Randwick’s summer showpiece, the Group Two Villiers Stakes. The winner of Saturday’s 1600m-race gains an automatic start in the Group One Doncaster Mile in April. Waller has won the Villiers once with Honor In War when the race was held over 1400m in early January 2008 after equine influenza halted Sydney racing. Honor In War was awarded the race…

Jockey Larry Cassidy has been riding through the pain barrier with kidney stones. Veteran Larry Cassidy has again shown there are no tougher sports people than jockeys. Cassidy was doubled over in pain with a sudden kidney stone attack at Sunshine Coast track work this week. “I have had them before and anyone who has also had them will tell you the pain is unbelievable,” Cassidy said. “Lucky I was just about to mount a horse and not around at the 600 metres.” “I had rides at 54kg on Saturday…