Month: May 2020

Ting’s Star shoots for Amazing five at the Valley

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Amazing Star winning under Zac Purton. Photo: HKJC Happy Valley specialist Amazing Star (NZ) (Darci Brahma) is shooting for his fifth win at the city circuit this season when he faces off against talented rivals in the Class 2 Ho Chung River Handicap (1200m) on Wednesday. The Jimmy Ting trainee has relished racing around the Valley’s tight turns and has enjoyed a rapid rise, with four wins from five starts this season having doubled his rating to a career-high mark of 100. A win on Wednesday would put the New…

Ablaze entered for two Sandown jumps races

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Grand Annual Steeplechase winner Ablaze (NZ) (Raise The Flag) may attempt to extend his unbeaten run over jumps having been nominated for two races at Sandown. Trained by Ciaron Maher and David Eustace, Ablaze is entered in both the Australian Hurdle and Australian Steeplechase on Sunday – feature races on the jumps calendar. The Grand Annual (5500m) at Warrnambool is the longest race on the Australian calendar and Ablaze defeated Gold Medals (NZ) (Elvstroem) and Zed Em (NZ) (Zed), the previous two winners of that race, on May 5. Gold…

Youthful Hawke’s Bay team prepare for spring

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Unlaced will do her future racing in Australia. Photo: Peter Rubery (Race Images Palmerston North) Guy Lowry and Grant Cullen are looking to the youth in their stable ahead of spring racing. The Hastings trainers have recently lost promising three-year-old Unlaced to Australian shores and Lowry doesn’t think she will be the last they will farewell in the next couple of months. The daughter of Niagara won two of her six races in New Zealand and finished runner-up on two occasions before her fourth-placing in the Group 2 Lowland Stakes…

Paua and the Passion

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Former New South Wales trainer Steve White rose to prominence in greyhound racing courtesy of megastar Paua To Burn’s lofty racetrack deeds. Paua To Burn’s dual Sapphire Crown Classic (2004 & 2005) victories, plus wins in the 2005 Golden Easter Egg, 2004 Laurels, 2005 Temlee and 2006 Rookie Rebel, elevated her to demigod status in the sport. In fact, she was inducted into the AGRA-GCA Hall of Fame in 2007. White packed his bags for Victoria in 2015 and ‘set up shop’ among the picturesque landscape of Buln Buln East…

Roger back on the job

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Roger That winning the Gr.1 Auckland Cup (3200m). Photo: Trish Dunell Tauranga horseman Antony Fuller has Gr.1 Auckland Cup (3200m) winner Roger That (NZ) (Shinko King) back ticking over but he isn’t getting ahead of himself as he looks to place his stable star this spring. The farmer turned horse trainer prepares the rising eight-year-old from his Bay Of Plenty property. “We’re just working him quietly and not doing anything too serious until we know where we are going. He is ticking over and he seems fine,” Fuller said. “The…

White Robe Lodge release fees

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Raise The Flag, who is having a standout season, heads the roster at $6,000+GST. White Robe Lodge have announced the 2020 service fees for their three resident stallions. Raise The Flag, who is having a standout season, heads the roster at $6,000+GST. The regally bred son of Sadler’s Wells has made an impact on the staying and jumping features in Australia as the sire of Gr.1 Sydney Cup (3200m) winner Etah James and Warrnambool Grand Annual Steeplechase (5500m) winner Ablaze. “We acknowledge that given the current climate times certainly aren’t…

Racing appreciative of Government support

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Trainer Shaune Ritchie. Photo: Trish Dunell Cambridge trainer Shaune Ritchie is one of many industry participants appreciative of Minister for Racing Winston Peters announcement last week of a $72.5 million COVID-19 emergency support package for the racing industry. Ritchie said it was important that members of the general public understand that the $1.6 billion industry supports 15,000 full-time racing industry jobs. “I got a chart through the other day and it has been on facebook a couple of times and I thought it was quite interesting,” Ritchie said.  “It said…

Moroney looking to summit Everest

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Tofane winning the Gr.1 All Aged Stakes (1400m). Photo: Bradleyphotos.com.au Michael Moroney believes he has the mare to “knock the bastard off”. Last start Gr.1 All Aged Stakes (1400m) heroine Tofane (NZ) (Ocean Park) has made a real impression on the trans-Tasman trainer who is eyeing a possible tilt at The Everest (1200m), the world’s richest turf race, at Randwick in the spring. “We are just waiting for them to confirm prizemoney for The Everest,” Moroney said. “We might attack that, which does change a lot what you do in…

Moroney considers Harlech for Aust spring

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Harlech is likely to join Moroney’s Melbourne stable. Photo: Trish Dunell Mike Moroney’s already impressive spring team is likely to be bolstered with the addition of a promising young galloper from the trainer’s New Zealand stable. Moroney, whose Melbourne yard is taking all before it this season, has identified Harlech (NZ) (Darci Brahma) as a potential Australian carnival horse. A rising four-year-old, Harlech is a Group Two winner over 1400m in New Zealand and was twice a runner-up at Group One level this season in the NZ 2000 Guineas and…

Rich Hill Stud release 2020 fees

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Rich Hill Stud stallion Vadamos. Photo: Supplied Despite the ongoing racetrack and sale ring success achieved by their stallions prgoeny over the last 12 months, Rich Hill Stud have elected to keep their fees largely unchanged for the 2020 breeding season. “Rich Hill stallions have always offered breeders the opportunity to not only breed a good racehorse but also achieve a profitable return in the sale ring,” Managing Director John Thompson said. Karaka’s leading freshman sire of 2020 Vadamos will remain at $15,000+GST and was a revelation at this year’s…