Month: January 2020

Group One winner Microphone headlines entries for the Listed Kensington Stakes at Flemington. The Listed Kensington Stakes at Flemington is shaping as a small but select field with the eight nominations headlined by Group One-winning colt Microphone and Group Two winner Time To Reign. Nominations for Saturday’s 1000m straight-track sprint have been extended until Tuesday, with the entries also featuring another three-year-old colt taking on older horses, Group Three winner Sartorial Splendor. Five-year-old All Too Royal, last-start winner of the Listed Christmas Stakes at Caulfield, and Standish Handicap runner-up Bold…

Bushfire smoke haze has forced officials to call off racing in Vic at Caulfield and Yarra Valley. Victorian racing at Caulfield and Yarra Valley has been abandoned because of hazardous air quality. Racing Victoria called the two meetings off on Wednesday morning saying conditions were unlikely to improve in the afternoon. Smoke haze from bushfires in NSW and Victoria has made the air unsuitable for racing. It is the second day in a row meetings in Victoria have been called off, with Tuesday’s meeting at Werribee abandoned. The qualifying tournament…

Super Seth (l) the only horse to beat Alligator Blood (r) is building towards his race return. While Alligator Blood has played a starring role during summer culminating in his emphatic Magic Millions Guineas win, the only horse to have beaten him is steadily building towards his return. Caulfield Guineas winner Super Seth stepped out in a jump-out at Flemington last Friday and will have another next week before making his race return. Super Seth charged home late to grab the David Vandyke-trained Alligator Blood in the final stride in…

Trainer Gary Portelli will run Dio D’Oro at Rosehill if the predicted rain comes. Like everyone in NSW, trainer Gary Portelli wants to see rain and hopes the forecast for the rest of the week is correct. If the predicted wet weather eventuates on Thursday and Friday, it will also be a bonus for the Portelli-trained Dio D’Oro at Rosehill on Saturday. “We need rain obviously to help with the fires so hopefully we get as much as they say we will,” Portelli said. “If it looks like we are…

Adelaide trainer Gordon Richards is planning an assault on Melbourne’s feature sprints with Gytrash. After having his spring campaign cut short after one start, promising Adelaide speedster Gytrash is building towards a return in one of Melbourne’s feature sprints. Gytrash was a luckless second in the Group Three The Heath (1100m) at Caulfield on August 31 before he was sidelined through injury. Trainer Gordon Richards, who has fellow four-year-old Bold Star heading to Saturday’s Listed Kensington Stakes at Flemington, said Gytrash was on a path towards a return in the…

Ben Foote with jockey Samantha Collett after Saturday’s Levin Classic victory. Photo: Peter Rubery (Race Images Palmerston North) Cambridge horseman Ben Foote savoured a special day on Saturday with his star filly Travelling Light helping him get the Group 1 monkey off his back when successful in the Levin Classic (1600m). The jumps jockey-turned trainer is generally only associated with a handful of raceday runners these days, with his principal focus on breaking and pre-training in addition to preparing horses for breeze-up sales or trading them privately. Bred and raced…

Veteran galloper Sampson. Photo: Race Images Howie Mathews is hoping “the old boys” will be the toast of Trentham on Saturday. The 66-year-old Otaki trainer will saddle up 10-year-old Sampson, the oldest horse in the Group 3 NZ Campus of Innovation and Sport Wellington Cup (3200m), in a bid to notch his second win in the staying feature, 41 years after he trained Big Gamble to win it in the hands of Toby Autridge. Mathews obviously has fond memories of Big Gamble’s win and he laughs when he thinks of…