Month: January 2020

Speedster Tarzan is ready to prove he is more than a 1000m-specialist in the MM Snippets. Speedy gelding Tarzan’s lone win at 1200 metres has given his trainer Stuart Kendrick hope he can take out the $1 million Magic Millions Snippets Quality at the Gold Coast. Tarzan has proved to be one of the best short-course specialists in Queensland having won 16 races, 15 between 1000m to 1100m. The gelding will be having his seventh attempt at 1200m in the Snippets and he has won only once in his attempts…

Trainer Richard Litt has former Irish horse National Guard ready to show his best at Randwick. His homeland is known for producing racehorses blessed with stamina but until recently, Richard Litt has had limited opportunities to train stayers. The New Zealand-born, Sydney-based horseman is happy that trend is changing thanks to stable star Castelvecchio, runner-up to recently crowned Japanese champion Lys Gracieux in the Cox Plate, and Christmas Cup winner Morton’s Fork. European import National Guard is the latest budding stayer to step out for Litt and the trainer is…

A gelding operation is set to help Sandown winner Wilmot Pass realise his early promise. Highly regarded in his early days by the Anthony Freedman stable, lightly raced three-year-old Wilmot Pass has shown some of that promise to land his first city win at Sandown. Wilmot Pass enjoyed an economical run midfield in Wednesday’s Ladbrokes Back Yourself Handicap (1200m) under Mark Zahra before sprinting through near the inside in the straight once a gap appeared. Having his fifth start and second of his current campaign since being gelded, Wilmot Pass…

Lys Gracieux, a brilliant winner of the 2019 Cox Plate, has been named Japan’s Horse of the Year. Cox Plate winner Lys Gracieux has been named Japan’s Horse of the Year, receiving 271 votes from a possible 274. The mare won three Group One races in 2019, the Takarazuka Kinen, Cox Plate and Arima Kinen, all with Australian jockey Damian Lane aboard. Trained by Yoshito Yahagi, Lys Gracieux was also named the best older filly or mare. The Horse of the Year title is the highest honour given to JRA-registered…

Luvaluva is an early favourite to build on her summer record in the Listed January Cup at Randwick. After re-establishing herself as a winner, Luvaluva will start the short-priced favourite to enhance her record in the January Cup at Randwick. The John Sargent-trained mare won the Group Three Summer Cup on December 26 over the same 2000m-course as Saturday’s Listed race. Her previous victory came in the Adrian Knox Stakes, also over the Randwick 2000m, in April 2018. A few months earlier she won the Group Two Wakeful Stakes (2000m)…

Highly touted Muntaseera is among 273 second acceptances for the Blue Diamond Stakes. The major stables are well-represented among the 273 two-year-olds who remain in contention for the Group One Blue Diamond Stakes after the second acceptance stage. The Lindsay Park stable boast 39 juveniles among the second acceptors, which were released on Wednesday, while Snowden Racing has 38, one more than the stable of co-trainers Ciaron Maher and David Eustace. Godolphin has 19 juveniles still in contention for this year’s renewal of the $1.5 million race at Caulfield on…

Emerging Bumper Blast will be out to cap a meteoric rise through the summer ranks at Flemington. A small field is set to contest the Listed Chester Manifold Stakes at Flemington with seven of the eight acceptors striving for their first victory at stakes level. Among those is the promising Robert Hickmott-trained Bumper Blast who makes his stakes racing debut having risen through the grades with three wins from his five starts. Bumper Blast’s connections pinpointed Saturday’s Chester Manifold (1400m) as a winnable option for his introduction to stakes racing…

Alexis Badel wins the 2019 January Cup on Simply Brilliant. Alexis Badel will never forget his victory aboard the Frankie Lor-trained Simply Brilliant in last year’s January Cup. The Frenchman hit the floor hard just a few strides after sealing a first Group race win in Hong Kong and limped through the post-race formalities while nursing his fractured wrist. “The stewards even called me in and gave me two days and a HK$25,000 fine, so I was like this (holding my hand to my chest), pretty white and couldn’t walk.…