Year: 2019

Julius and Jason Waddell hit the front just short of the winning post at Te Rapa Photo credit: Trish Dunell Giant galloper Julius gave his rivals weight and a beating when he ground out a gutsy victory at Te Rapa on Saturday. Having just his second start after recovering from a tendon injury that saw him officially retired just over twelve months ago, the John Bell-trained eight-year-old had to call on all his undoubted talents to take out the Group 3 J Swap Contractors Sprint (1400m) and register his eighth…

Promising mare Seasons has made amends for the one poor run of her career to win at Randwick. Seasons has put her trainer’s autumn carnival plans back on track, bouncing back from a first-up flop to score a determined victory at her home track of Randwick. The mare disappointed at her return from a lengthy break when she was caught wide and finished down the track over 1000 metres at Kembla Grange last month. Trainer Les Bridge blamed himself for the poor run and said in hindsight, it was the…

Superich is looking to snap a 12-month winless streak. Frankie Lor knows what it takes to win the BMW Hong Kong Derby (2000m) having swept last season’s Four-Year-Old Classic Series and on Sunday (15 December) at Sha Tin he’ll be well-represented with two of his candidates stepping out ahead of the series opener, which is only a month away. Irish import Decrypt (123lb) is among the mix of hopefuls aiming at the Hong Kong Classic Mile on 27 January and will make his Hong Kong debut in Sunday’s Class 2…

The Doomben meeting has been called off with a sudden storm dumping more than 100mm of rain on the racecourse in 30 minutes. Friday’s final four races were lost when it became apparent the water would not run away in time to allow racing to resume. The Listed Calaway Gal Stakes and Listed Phelan Ready Stakes are likely to be run at Doomben on Wednesday. Two heats of the Jockeys Origin Challenge were also abandoned reducing the series to three heats. The storm flooded the parade ring, betting ring, winners…

Jockey Ben Thompson has not taken long to register his first winner since returning to Victorian racing from Singapore. Thompson rode 29 winners in Singapore during the 2019 season, which ended on Sunday, but decided not to extend his stay. The 22-year-old returned home earlier this week and had one ride at Sandown on Wednesday and one at Echuca the following day before notching his first win since his return at Moe on Friday. He got off the mark in the fourth race on the card on the Phillip Stokes-trained…