Talented mare Media Sensation (I Am Invincible) backed up an eye-catching performance at the Ellerslie trials earlier this month with a comprehensive front-running effort to take out the feature event for the fillies and mares at Pukekohe on Saturday, the Gr.2 Dunstan Feeds Auckland Thoroughbred Breeders’ Stakes (1400m). Successful at the elite level as a three-year-old when winning the Gr.1 New Zealand 1000 Guineas (1600m), the now five-year-old I Am Invincible mare hadn’t been seen at the racetrack since finishing second at Ellerslie back in early March. Trainers Peter and…
Month: November 2020
Brix provides Harvey with first stakes winner
Trainer Glen Harvey capped a week he will never forget when two-year-old filly Brix (NZ) (Sweynesse) upset predictions by taking out the Listed Fasttrack Insurance 2YO Stakes (1100m) at Pukekohe on Saturday. Harvey produced one of the feelgood success stories out of the annual NZB Ready To Run Sale on Wednesday when he turned a $5,100 outlay into $230,000 through the sale of his Reliable Man colt, that he purchased as a weanling off New Zealand Bloodstock’s online sales platform gavelhouse.com, to Hong Kong trainer Francis Lui. In his first…
Bull’s biggest moment
It was Chicago Bull’s defining moment. Yes he’d already won 59 races, a stack of them features, and more than $2 million in stakemoney, but last night’s dominant $300,000 Group 1 Fremantle Cup win was the pinnacle, so far at least. It was just over two years ago in Auckland he had that freakish accident which left him with a broken back and his career in tatters, just when it seemed he was on the verge of greatness. Trainer Gary Hall Sr nursed him back to the races, but at…
Luke John going places
By Michael Guerin The days of consolation races look over for Luke John. And that means stepping up against the best three-year-olds around for the Christmas carnival at Alexandra Park next month. The son of Mach Three made it three wins in his last four starts with his most professional victory yet against older rivals at Alexandra Park on Friday night. He worked to the lead early for Tony Herlihy and had an in-form pacer in Jack Ryan covered around the home bend and won like a horse heading places.…
Harvey looking to end week on a high
Cambridge trainer Glen Harvey will be looking to cap what has been a memorable week in style when he lines-up Miss Ipenema (NZ) (Sacred Falls) and Brix (NZ) (Sweynesse) in the Listed Fasttrack Insurance 2YO Stakes (1100m) at Pukekohe on Saturday. Earlier in the week, just down the road at New Zealand Bloodstock’s Karaka sales complex, Harvey sold two horses at the Ready To Run Sale, and recorded a pleasing profit on lot 120, the Reliable Man gelding out of Zabeel mare Ziffel. He had purchased the gelding for $5,100…
Miss Federer retired
The latest in a long line of knee issues has ended the racing career of multiple stakes winner Miss Federer (NZ) (Swiss Ace). “She’s been retired,” Riccarton trainer Andrew Carston said. “She’s already had two lots of knee surgery, and unfortunately she’s chipped a knee again.” Carston paid just $10,000 to buy the daughter of Swiss Ace at Karaka 2018. Raced by a syndicate of 17 owners, Miss Federer won five races and $163,035 in stakes. She captured the Listed Welcome Stakes (1000m) and Gr.3 Woburn Farm 2YO Classic (1200m)…
True Enough heads to spelling paddock
Murray Baker and Andrew Forsman have sent Group One winner True Enough (NZ) (Nom du Jeu) out for a spell after two sub-par performances this spring. The Nom Du Jeu gelding rose to stardom last season with victories in the Gr.1 Zabeel Classic (2000m), Gr.2 Coupland’s Bakeries Mile (1600m) and Gr.3 Spring Sprint (1400m), along with placings in the Gr.1 Captain Cook Stakes (1600m), Herbie Dyke Stakes (2000m) and New Zealand Stakes (2000m). However, this season he has finished last in both the Spring Sprint and the Gr.2 Tauranga Stakes…
Ballarat Cup tilt for Irish Flame
Mornington trainer Brett Scott received the news he had been waiting for when he found out his in-form galloper Irish Flame (NZ) (Zed) had gained a start in the Listed Ballarat Cup (2000m). Irish Flame was first emergency but secured a run when Power Scheme (Fiorente) was scratched on Friday morning. The former champion jumps jockey now has two ex-New Zealand gallopers in the race in Our Big Mike (NZ) (Don Eduardo) and Irish Flame. Scott is pleased with the outcome as he regards Irish Flame as the best chance…
First stakes tilt for talented mare
Cambridge trainer Alex Oliveira is expecting more of the same from Only In Jakarta (Snitzel) when she contests the Listed Haunui Farm Counties Bowl (1100m) at Pukekohe on Saturday. The five-year-old mare kept her undefeated record intact when winning at Te Rapa last month and has continued to impress Oliveira. The first emergency for the race, Only In Jakarta gained her place in the field after the scratchings of Short Fuse (NZ) (Per Incanto) and Endless Drama (Lope de Vega), and will jump from barrier nine in the 14-horse field.…
Shezzacatch on Levin Classic trail
A stakes winner at her only start to date, Hawke’s Bay filly Shezzacatch (NZ) (Savabeel) is set to command plenty of attention in the opening race at Awapuni on Saturday. Trained by Guy Lowry and Grant Cullen for breeder and part-owner Tony Rider, the daughter of Savabeel began her career with a hiss and a roar in the Listed El Roca-Sir Colin Meads Trophy (1200m) at Hastings on September 19. Among the outsiders of the field at $36, Shezzacatch came out of the pack with a brilliant late burst to…