Month: April 2020

No luck for Cumani with Showdown barriers

AAP

Trainer Matt Cumani will have two runners in the $850,000 Showdown for two-year-olds at Caulfield. Trainer Matt Cumani does not know what he has done to continually to have poor barrier draws for his runners. Cumani has two starters in Saturday’s $855,000 feature, The Showdown, at Caulfield and again cannot believe his bad luck. Last-start Echuca winner Khoekhoe has gate 10 with Coup De Tonnerre, second to his stablemate at Echuca, drawn out in 16. “It’s lovely to have a couple of runners in a good race but I just…

Holyfield set for Group 1 Champagne Stakes

AAP

Ciaron Maher and David Eustace will rely on Holyfield in the Group One Champagne Stakes at Randwick. Two-year-olds from the Ciaron Maher Racing team have been to the fore in a host of feature races this season but a juvenile Group One win has so far eluded the stable. Holyfield gets the chance to change that in Saturday’s Champagne Stakes (1600m) at Randwick, the fourth of five Group One races for two-year-olds in Australia for the season. Maher and co-trainer David Eustace had six runners in the Group One Blue…

Eduardo set for return outing at Caulfield

AAP

Talented sprinter Eduardo will return to racing in the Listed Bel Esprit Stakes at Caulfield. Cranbourne trainer Sarah Zschoke has been looking forward to the day lightly raced sprinter Eduardo returns to the race track. That day is Saturday in the Listed Bel Esprit Stakes (1100m) at Caulfield, a race the sprinter finished third in 12 months ago. Niggling ailments that neither Zschoke or rider Brian Park could put their finger on, resulted in an aborted spring campaign after running third in the McEwen Stakes and seventh in the Group…

Hopes high for resumption of French racing

AAP

France Galop remains hopeful of resuming racing behind closed doors in May. French racing was staged without spectators last month before France Galop announced a suspension of meetings between March 17 and April 15 due to the coronavirus pandemic. While French President Emmanuel Macron has extended the country’s lockdown until May 11, France Galop and LeTROT, which is the governing body of trotting racing, are “in discussion with the government authorities to explore the possibility of a return to racing behind closed doors as quickly as possible”. A statement from…

Listed race on radar for 2YO Panna Cotta

AAP

Trainer Mark Newnham has a late-season stakes race in his sights for filly Panna Cotta after the juvenile resumed from a spell with a maiden win at Randwick. Panna Cotta stepped out for her second career start in Wednesday’s Hyland Race Colours Plate (1100m) for two-year-old fillies on Randwick’s Kensington track and settled just behind the lead from a wide draw before making her winning run in the straight. Ridden by Josh Parr, Panna Cotta ($5) beat the Chris Waller-trained Kiku, who closed strongly along the rail late, by a…

Saudi prize money withheld over court case

Editor BOAY

The Jockey Club of Saudi Arabia is withholding Maximum Security’s winning prize money for the $20 million Saudi Cup after trainer Jason Servis was indicted on federal charges in the United States. The trainer is one of 27 people indicted by the District Attorney for the Southern District of New York in Manhattan as part of an investigation into alleged doping of horses. Servis sent out Maximum Security to win the world’s richest race in Riyadh in February, but prize money for the 1800m race will not be paid until…

Group One winner retired to stud

Editor BOAY

Brutal (NZ), a New Zealand-bred son of O’Reilly, has been retired and will stand at Newgate Farm in Australia this spring. A winner at two, the Team Hawkes-trained entire went on to win five of his 10 starts including last year’s Gr.1 Doncaster Mile (1600m). The four-year-old was being set for Queensland Winter Carnival features using the Gr.1 Stradbroke Handicap (1400m) as a springboard to a possible start at Royal Ascot before Racing Queensland called off the carnival due to the Covid-19 pandemic. “It’s disappointing but that’s the way the…

End of the Road for Wellfield sire

Editor BOAY

Road To Rock, the sire of dual Hong Kong Horse Of The Year Beauty Generation, passed away last week. The Wellfield Lodge stallion had been battling laminitis issues in recent years and the tough decision was made to euthanise the dual Group One winner. “He has had laminitis issues, which we have been managing for some time,” Wellfield Lodge director Bill Gleeson said. “It got to the stage last week where we had to make a welfare decision on him, which was unfortunate.” Road To Rock recorded victories in the…

LA Buoyed by Preparation for Sydney Sale

Editor BOAY

With less than 24 hours to go before the online Inglis Sydney Easter 2020 Sale, there’s the usual pre-sale nerves amongst the team at LA but there’s also a sense of real achievement of having left no stone unturned in preparing and presenting the select draft of four blue blood fillies in very different circumstances. LA’s Sam Williams feels the farm has helped itself in preparation for the unique nature of the sale by a long-held focus on digital and social media as well as being able to rely on…

Camilleri’s veteran Bendigo double act

Editor BOAY

Rob Camilleri, one of Australian greyhound racing’s hottest trainers, is eyeing a veteran Bendigo double this afternoon with two of Victoria’s most durable campaigners – Rajasthan and Slingshot Hammer. Both are fast approaching their fourth birthday; last year’s Sandown Cup hero Rajasthan, the winner of 33 of his 86 starts, will turn four in May. He’ll be followed just one month later by his great mate Slingshot Hammer, which has the remarkably similar record of 35 from 89. “We’re over the moon with how they’re both going,” said Lara-based Camilleri,…