Cambridge trainer Tony Pike had a number of talented gallopers in action at the Ellerslie trials on Tuesday, including comeback galloper Sacred Elixir (NZ) (Pour Moi). The now six-year-old was retired from racing in Hong Kong after a suspensory injury, with his most recent run in November 2017. Pike, who prepared the son of Pour Moi to win the Gr.1 JJ Atkins (1600m) as a two-year-old before finishing runner-up in the Gr.1 VRC Derby (2500m) is delighted to have his top-class galloper back in his Cambridge stable and was encouraged…
Month: July 2020
Hayward ready for Battle
Breeder-owner Allan Hayward reckons he had a justifiable reason for missing Battle Time’s (NZ) (Battle Paint) first-up run in June, he was getting married. With Battle Time engaged for the Preferment @ Brighthill Farm 1200 at Te Rapa on Saturday, Hayward and his wife Marcia plan to be on-course but that will depend on his other love, his Rotorangi dairy farm. “We’re hoping to be there but we’ve just started calving and the cows have to come first so we’ll just see,” Hayward said. Either way, Hayward will be sure…
Coles duo hunting Southern spoils
Timaru trainers Mel and Warwick Coles are taking two horses down to Ascot Park’s Friday meeting and they are hoping they can come home with a quinella. Chokito (NZ) (Vespa) and Button (NZ) (Ego) will contest the Welcome Back To Southern Racing (760m) and both fillies are thriving according to their trainers. Two-year-old filly Chokito had been in fine form prior to lockdown and her connections are hoping she can pick-up where she left off on Friday. The daughter of Vespa had won two of her five starts, and placed…
Riodini settling into Sydney life
New Zealand three-year-old Riodini (NZ) (Proisir) has joined the Sydney stable of Gai Waterhouse and Adrian Bott. The Group Three winner won four of his six starts for Pukekohe trainer Nigel Tiley and was placed in the Gr.1 Levin Classic (1600m) and Gr.2 Auckland Guineas (1600m). The son of Proisir has joined Waterhouse and Bott with a view to targeting lucrative races in the spring, with the A$7.5 million Golden Eagle (1500m) a potential target. “He has certainly mixed it with the best in New Zealand and looks to be…
Showmanship to Victoria
The Bob Peters-owned Showmanship (NZ) (Showcasing) is currently en route from Western Australia to Victoria where he will join a quartet of well-credentialed stablemates. Leading Perth trainer Grant Williams has arrived in Victoria with stable stars Regal Power (Pierro), Arcadia Queen (Pierro), Superstorm (Sebring) and Perfect Jewel (Redoute’s Choice) with Showmanship to join them at Brent Stanley’s Sutton Grange property just outside of Castlemaine. Showmanship is the winner of five of his six starts and the New Zealand bred son of Showcasing adds further ammunition for Peters ahead of a…
Justa Charlie out for redemption
Justa Charlie (NZ) (Shinko King) has been beaten just once over the steeples and he is out to redeem that sole defeat this year. The rising 12-year-old finished runner-up to Max (NZ) (Gallant Guru) in last year’s Waikato Steeplechase (3900m) and the race will once again be one of his targets this term. The son of Shinko King put in a solid first-up effort when finishing runner-up on the flat over 2060m at Wanganui last month, which came as a pleasant surprise to trainer Harvey Wilson. “We were thrilled to…
First runners back for Ritchie stable
Cambridge trainer Shaune Ritchie is back in the game this weekend. Having watched from the sidelines for the first month as racing resumed after the enforced COVID-19 pandemic break, Ritchie will produce his first runners since March at Te Rapa on Saturday. Noted stayers The Good Fight (NZ) (High Chaparral) and Excalibur (NZ) (Tavistock) will tackle the Pathways – The Immigration Specialists 1400, while She’s A Smash Hit will tackle the Happy Birthday Matt Stent 1100 earlier in the day. “It’s nice for our team to be back in action,”…
Inaugural national breeding awards highlight bumper weekend
New Zealand thoroughbred breeders will congregate in the Waikato next month to celebrate their achievements at the inaugural NZTBA National Breeding Awards, hosted by the Waikato branch of the NZTBA. The function will take place at the Don Rowlands Centre, Lake Karapio, near Cambridge on August 22 and will coincide with the annual gavelhouse.com Waikato Stallion Parade weekend. The inaugural awards will include the NZ Breeder of the Year Award and Eight Carat Broodmare of the Year Award, previously presented at the New Zealand Thoroughbred Racing Awards. The prestigious Breeder…
Outgoing McKenzie hails Racing Industry Act
Dean McKenzie believes his time at the helm of New Zealand racing reform is ending on a high with the passing of the Racing Industry Act. An accomplished administrator both within and outside of racing, McKenzie was appointed chair of the Ministerial Advisory Committee when it was established by Racing Minister Winston Peters in 2018 following the release of the Messara Report. McKenzie was then made chair of the Racing Industry Transition Agency (RITA) in July 2019, and he became executive chair when RITA took over from the New Zealand…
Begg happy with low draw for Romancer
An inside barrier draw for Romancer (NZ) (Redwood) in a 1600m handicap at Flemington has trainer Grahame Begg hopeful the gelding can land the first win of his current campaign. Romancer heads into Saturday’s James Dunbar’s Flemington Inn (1600m) off an unplaced finish in the Listed Winter Championship Series Final over the same course and distance last Saturday week. But Begg believes drawing barrier two in the current field of 12 gives Romancer a better chance to figure on Saturday, with apprentice Teo Nugent to claim 2kg off the gelding’s…