Month: April 2020

Not An Option will contest the Group 1 Champagne Stakes on Saturday. Photo: Race Images Palmerston North Not An Option will be carrying the weight of his stable when he contests the Group 1 Champagne Stakes (1600m) at Randwick on Saturday. The promising two-year-old has become the only active runner for Cambridge trainer Tony Pike and he is hoping his charge can deliver on Saturday. The son of Not A Single Doubt pleased his connections with his first-up effort in Australia when placing in the Group 3 Kindergarten Stakes (1100m)…

Eagle Farm Racecourse will be ready to resume racing behind closed doors later than planned. Eagle Farm racecourse will have a slightly extended hiatus with pressure to reopen it sooner easing. Racing Queensland, which is in charge of the Eagle Farm renovations, had always planned to rest the track for up to six weeks but that will now be eight weeks. The track has not hosted a meeting since March 25 and the next one is planned for May 23. Eagle Farm’s course proper chopped up during the seven meetings…

NZ trainer Tony Pike will have two-year-old Not An Option in the Group One Champagne Stakes. New Zealand trainer Tony Pike has decided not to press ahead with another Sydney Group One start for The Bostonian. Six of the gelding’s 10 wins have been in Australia including his three at Group One level, the latest the Canterbury Stakes (1300m) on March 7. He was runner-up to Dreamforce in the George Ryder Stakes (1500m) on March 21 and Pike had planned to run him in Saturday’s All Aged Stakes. The trainer…

Doncaster third Brandenberg (r) will again take on the older horses in the All Aged Stakes. Dual Group One-placed colt Brandenburg will race in blinkers for the first time in the All Aged Stakes at Randwick. Brandenburg has been kept ticking over after his last-start third in the Group One Doncaster Mile on April 4 with a view to the weight-for-age All Aged. After Brandenburg worked in blinkers over 1000m on Tuesday morning at Randwick, trainer John Sargent confirmed it was all systems go for Saturday’s All Aged (1400m) for…

Alligator Blood’s second swab test from Magic Millions has come back positive to altrenogest. A second sample has confirmed the prohibited substance altrenogest in the swab taken from Alligator Blood after he won the Magic Millions 3YO Guineas at the Gold Coast. Trainer David Vandyke will now face a stewards’ inquiry at a date to be set. If he is found guilty of presenting horse to race with a prohibited substance it is likely he would face a fine but Alligator Blood would be disqualified from first place in the…

Trainer Mark Newnham is keen to get 2yo Write On to Melbourne for a rich VOBIS race. The significant prize money on offer in The Showdown at Caulfield is the incentive for Sydney trainer Mark Newnham to send lightly raced colt Write On south for the race. The 1200m-sprint for two year-olds has a purse of $855,000 with first prize money of $450,000 and is restricted to the progeny of VOBIS Sires stallions. The Showdown, to be run for the second year on Saturday, is the richest race on the…

Derby winner Quick Thinker is not who Mark Newnham wanted Gone Bye to meet in the Frank Packer. Mark Newnham has had the Frank Packer Plate as Gone Bye’s autumn goal for some time but admits he was not expecting the gelding to be taking on a Group One winner. Quick Thinker, winner of the Australian Derby, headlines Saturday’s nominations and is the even-money favourite ahead of acceptances on Wednesday. The Murray Baker and Andrew Forsman-trained colt will be chasing his third-straight feature win on Saturday after the Group Two…